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A 


DESCRIPTIVE  AND  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT 

OF 

HYDRAULIC  AND  OTHER  MACHINES 

FOH 

RAISING  WAT  E  R, 

Ancient  anti  JJHotrern: 

WITH  OBSERVATIONS  ON  VARIOUS  SUBJECTS 

CONNECTED  WITH  THE 

* 

MECHANIC  ARTS: 

INCLUDING  THE  PROGRESSIVE  DEVELOPMENT  OF 

THE  STEAM  ENGINE: 


DESCRIPTIONS  OF  EVERY  VARIETY  OF  BELLOWS,  PISTON,  AND  ROTARY  PUMPS — FIRE  EN¬ 
GINES — WATER  RAMS — PRESSURE  ENGINES — AIR  MACHINES — EOLIPILES,  &C.  REMARKS  ON 
ANCIENT  WELLS — AIR  BEDS — COG  WHEELS — BLOWPIPES — BELLOWS  OF  VARIOUS  PEOPLE — 
MAGIC  GOBLETS — STEAM  IDOLS,  AND  OTHER  MACHINERY  OF  ANCIENT  TEMPLES.  TO  WHICH 
ARE  ADDED  EXPERIMENTS  ON  BLOWING  AND  SPOUTING  TUBES,  AND  OTHER  ORIGINAL 
DEVICES — NATURE’S  MODES  AND  MACHINERY  FOR  RAISING  WATER.  HISTORICAL  NOTICES 
RESPECTING  SIPHONS,  FOUNTAINS,  WATER  ORGANS,  CLEPSYDRiE,  PIPES,  VALVES,  COCKS,  &C. 

IN  FIVE  BOOKS. 

ILLUSTRATED  T5Y  NEARLY  THREE  HUNDRED  ENGRAVINGS. 

THIRD  EDITION, 

REVISED  AND  CORRECTED - TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED,  A  SUPPLEMENT 

BY  THOMAS  EWBANK. 


It  is  a  cruel  mortification  in  searching  for  what  is  instructive  in  the  history  of  past  times,  to  find  the 
exploits  of  conquerors  who  have  desolated  the  earth,  and  the  freaks  of  tyrants  who  have  rendered  na¬ 
tions  unhappy,  are  recorded  with  minute  and  often  disgusting  accuracy — while  the  discovery  of  useful 
arts,  and  the  progress  of  the  most  beneficial  branches  of  commerce,  are  passed  over  in  silence,  and  suf¬ 
fered  to  sink  into  oblivion.  Robertson's  India. 


NEW  YORK: 

GREELEY  &  McELRATH,  TRIBUNE  BUILDINGS. 


184  9. 


I 


T  3 
°!0O 

£13% 
i  W 


Iff 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1842,  by  Thomas  Ewbank,  in  the  Clerk’s  Offica 

of  the  Southern  District  of  New-York. 


4 


Dill,  Stereotyper,  128  Fulton  at 


THE  GETTY  CENTER 
LIBRARY 


PREFACE. 


Circumstances  having  led  me,  in  early  life,  to  take  an  interest  in 
practical  hydraulics,  I  became  anxious  to  obtain  an  account  of  all  the  con 
trivances  employed  by  different  people  to  raise  water — whether  for  domes¬ 
tic,  agricultural,  mining,  manufacturing,  or  other  purposes  ;  and  great  was 
the  disappointment  I  felt  on  learning  that  no  book  containing  the  informa¬ 
tion  I  sought  had  ever  been  published.  This  was  the  case  between  thirty 
and  forty  years  ago  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  numerous  journals  and  other 
works  devoted  to  the  useful  arts,  it  is  in  a  great  measure  the  case  still.  No 
one  publication,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  has  ever  been  devoted 
to  the  great  variety  of  devices  which  the  human  intellect  has  developed 
for  raising  liquids.  That  such  a  work  is  wanted  by  a  large  class  of 
mechanics,  if  not  by  others,  can  hardly  be  questioned ;  and  it  is  somewhat 
surprising  that  it  was  never  undertaken. 

It  appears  from  La  Hire’s  Preface  to  Mariotte’s  Treatise  on  the  Motion 
of  Fluids,  that  the  latter  philosopher  often  expressed  a  determination  to 
write  “  on  the  different  pumps  and  other  engines  which  are  in  use,  or  which 
have  been  proposed,”  but  unfortunately  he  did  not  live  to  carry  his  design 
into  effect.  The  celebrated  work  of  Belidor,  from  its  extent,  and  the  variety 
of  subjects  embraced  and  illustrated,  stands  at  the  head  of  modern  works 
on  hydraulic  devices  ;  but  of  the  four  large  volumes,  a  small  part  only  is 
devoted  to  machines  for  raising  water,  and  many  such  are  not  noticed  at 
all  :  besides,  the  cost  of  the  work  and  the  language  in  which  it  is  written 
will  always  prevent  it  from  becoming  a  popular  one  with  American  or 
English  machinists. 

Having  in  the  course  of  several  years  collected  memoranda  and  procured 
most  of  the  works  quoted  in  the  following  pages,  I  have  attempted  to  pre¬ 
pare  a  popular  volume  on  the  subject — something  like  the  one  I  formerly 
longed  for — feeling  persuaded  that  it  will  be  as  acceptable  to  mechanics 
under  circumstances  similar  to  those  to  which  I  have  alluded  as  it  would 
then  have  been  to  myself.  Every  individual  device  for  raising  water  has, 
of  course,  not  been  described,  for  that  would  have  been  impossible  ;  but 
every  class  or  species  will  be  found  noticed,  with  such  examples  of  each 
as  will  enable  the  general  reader  to  comprehend  the  principle  and  action 
of  all.  In  addition  to  which,  inventors  of  hydraulic  machines  can  here 
see  what  has  been  accomplished,  and  thus  avoid  wasting  their  energies 
on  things  previously  known. 


IV 


PREFACE. 


In  a  work  of  this  kind  little  that  is  new  can  be  expected  ;  I  have  not, 
however,  servilely  copied  any  author,  but  have  written  the  whole  as  if 
little  had  been  written  before.  I  have  sought  for  information  wherever  I 
could  find  it;  and  with  this  view  have  perused  more  volumes  than  it  would 
be  prudent  to  name.  A  few  gleanings  which  modern  writers  have  passed 
over  have  been  picked  up — two  or  three  ancient  devices  have  been  snatched 
from  oblivion,  as  the  atmospheric  sprinkling  pot  and  the  philosophical  bel¬ 
lows,  and  some  erroneous  opinions  have  been  corrected  ;  that,  for  example, 
respecting  the  origin  of  the  safety  valve.  There  is  little  room  for  the 
charge  of  arrogance  in  claiming  this  much,  since  it  is  all  I  have  to  claim 
and  it  is  nothing  but  what  a  little  industry  in  any  one  else  would  have 
realized.  Several  devices  of  my  own  have  also  been  introduced  which 
must  speak  for  themselves.  On  referring  to  old  works  that  are  expensive 
or  of  rare  occurrence  I  have  generally  quoted  the  very  words  of  the  writers, 
under  the  impression  that  some  of  these  works  will  not  long  be  met  with 
at  all.  For  the  convenience  of  perusal  the  work  is  broken  into  chapters, 
and  as  much  miscellaneous  matter  has  been  introduced,  an  index  is  added. 
The  general  arrangement  and  division  of  the  subject  will  be  found  at  the 
close  of  the  first  chapter. 

In  tracing  the  progress  of  any  one  of  the  primitive  arts,  it  is  difficult  to 
avoid  reference  to  others.  They  are  all  so  connected  that  none  can  be  per¬ 
fectly  isolated.  I  have  therefore  introduced  such  notices  of  inventions  and 
inventors  as  seemed  useful  to  be  known  :  facts  which  appeared  interesting 
to  the  writer  as  a  mechanic,  he  supposed  would  not  be  wholly  without 
interest  in  the  opinion  of  his  brethren.  In  this,  I  am  aware,  it  is  easy  to 
to  be  mistaken  ;  for  it  is  a  common  error  to  imagine  that  things  which  are 
interesting  to  ourselves  must  be  equally  so  to  others.  As,  however,  all 
those  devices  that  contribute  to  the  conveniences  of  life  will  ever  possess 
an  intrinsic  value,  the  hope  is  indulged  that  the  following  account  of 
several  important  ones,  although  it  may  present  little  attraction  to  general 
readers,  will  at  least  be  found  useful  to  those  for  whom  it  is* more  espe¬ 
cially  designed.  It  certainly  is  not  what  I  could  wish,  but  it  is  the  best  I 
could  produce.  I  am  sensible  that  it  has  many  imperfections,  and  there 
are  doubtless  many  more  which  have  not  been  perceived.  That  I  have 
often  been  diverted  from  the  subjects  embraced  in  the  title-page  is  true  ; 
and  as  the  whole  was  written  at  long  intervals,  even  of  years,  a  want 
of  order  and  connection  may  be  perceived  in  some  parts,  and  obscurity  felt 
in  others.  All  that  I  can  offer  to  diminish  the  severity  of  criticism,  is  freely 
to  admit  there  is  much  room  for  it. 

In  noticing  various  hydraulic  devices,  I  have  endeavored  to  award  honor 
to  whomsoever  it  was  due  :  to  say  nothing  of  the  ancients,  with  whom  most 
of  them  originated,  it  may  here  be  observed  that  the  Germans  were  the 
earliest  cultivators  of  practical  hydraulics  in  modern  times.  The  Dutch 
(part  of  that  people)  contributed  to  extend  a  knowledge  of  their  inven¬ 
tions.  It  was  a  Dutchman  who  constructed  the  famous  machinery  at  Marli, 
and  England  was  indebted  to  another  for  her  first  water- works  at  London 
Bridge.  The  simplest  pump-box  or  piston  known,  the  inverted  cone  of 
leather,  is  of  German  origin,  and  so  is  the  tube-pump  of  Muschenbroek. 
Hose  for  fire-engines,  both  of  leather  and  canvas,  was  invented  by  Dutch¬ 
men.  They  carried  the  chain-pump  of  China  to  their  settlements  in  India, 
and  also  to  Europe.  Van  Braam  brought  it  to  the  U.  States.  A  German 
invented  the  air-pump,  and  the  first  high  pressure  steam-engine  figured  in 
books  was  by  another.  As  regards  hydraulic  machinery,  the  Dutch  have 
been  to  the  moderns,  in  some  degree,  what  the  Egyptians  were  to  the 
ancients — their  teachers.  The  physical  geography  of  Holland  and  Egypt 


PREFACE. 


V 


necessarily  led  the  inhabitants  of  both  countries  to  cultivate  to  the  utmost 
extent  the  art  of  raising  water.  Wind-mills  for  draining  water  off  land 
first  occur  (in  modern  days)  in  Holland.  It  is  indeed  the  constant  employ 
ment  of  this  element — wind — that  preserves  the  Dutch  from  destruction 
by  another  ;  for,  as  a  nation,  they  are  in  much  the  same  predicament  they 
formerly  put  unruly  felons  in,  viz  :  confining  each  in  a  close  vault  with  a 
pump,  and  then  admitting  a  stream  of  water  that  required  his  unceasing 
efforts  to  pump  out,  to  prevent  himself  from  drowning. 

The  French  have  contributed  the  neatest  machine  known  ;  the  ram  of 
Montgolfier — theirs  is  the  double  pump  of  La  Hire,  and  the  frictionless 
piston  of  Gosset — La  Faye  improved  the  old  tympanum  of  Asia — Papin 
was  one  of  the  authors  of  the  steam-engine,  and  Le  Demour  devised  the 
centrifugal  pump.  Rotary  pumps  and  the  reintroduction  of  air-vessels  and 
fire-engines  rest  between  Germany  and  France.  Drawn  leaden  pipes 
were  projected  by  Dalesme.  The  English  revived  the  plunger  pump  and 
stuffing-box  of  Moreland,  and  furnished  the  expanding  metallic  pistons  of 
Cartwright  and  Barton — the  steam-engines  of  Worcester  and  Savery,  New¬ 
comen  and  Watt — the  pneumatic  apparatus  of  Brown,  and  motive  engines 
of  Cecil  and  others — Whitehurst  was  the  first  to  apply  the  principle  of 
the  ram,  and  the  quicksilver  pump  was  invented  by  Hawkins — Hales 
invented  the  milling  of  sheet  lead,  and  the  first  drawn  pipes  were  made 
by  Wilkinson.  Switzerland  contributed  the  spiral  pump  of  Wirtz — Ame¬ 
rica  has  furnished  the  riveted  hose  of  Sellers  and  Pennock,  the  motive 
machine  of  Morey,  and  high  pressure  engines  of  Evans  ;  and  both  have 
given  numerous  modifications  of  every  hydraulic  device.  The  Italians 
have  preserved  many  ancient  devices,  and  to  them  the  discoveries  of  Gal- 
lileo  and  Torricelli  respecting  atmospheric  pressure  are  due.  Porta  has 
given  the  first  figure  of  a  device  for  raising  water  by  steam,  and  Venturi’s 
experiments  have  extended  their  claims. 

Remarks  have  occasionally  been  introduced  on  the  importance  of  the 
mechanic  arts  and  the  real  dignity  attached  to  their  profession,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  degraded  state  in  which  operatives  have  ever  been  held  by 
those  who  have  lived  on  their  ingenuity  and  become  enriched  by  their 
skill.  But  this  state  of  things  we  believe  is  passing  away,  and  the  time  is 
not  distant  when  such  men,  instead  of  being  deemed,  as  under  the  old 
regime,  virtual  serfs,  will  exert  an  influence  in  society  commensurate  with 
their  contributions  to  its  welfare.  And  where,  it  may  be  asked,  is  there 
a  comfort,  or  convenience,  or  luxury  of  life,  which  they  do  not  create  or 
assist  to  furnish,  from  the  bread  that  sustains  the  body  to  the  volume  that 
informs  the  mind  1 

Few  classes  have  a  more  honorable  career  before  them  than  intelligent 
mechanics.  Certainly  none  have  better  opportunities  of  associating  their 
names  with  those  of  the  best  of  their  species.  Science  and  the  arts  open 
the  paths  to  true  glory  ;  and  greater  triumphs  remain  to  be  achieved  in 
both  than  the  world  has  yet  witnessed.  Human  toil  has  not  been  dispensed 
with,  but  it  certainly  will  be  superseded,  in  a  great  measure,  if  not  alto¬ 
gether,  by  forces  derived  from  inanimate  nature.  A  great  part  of  the  globe 
is  yet  a  desert,  inhabited  by  beasts  of  prey,  or  by  men  more  savage  than 
they ;  whereas  the  Creator  designs  the  whole  to  be  a  garden  and  peopled 
with  happy  intelligences,  as  in  the  first  Eden.  It  is  much  too  common  to 
seek  ephemeral  distinction  on  the  troubled  sea  of  politics  or  party  ;  but  of 
the  thousands  who  launch  their  barks  upon  it,  how  few  ever  reach  the 
haven  of  their  wishes  !  The  greater  part  are  soon  engulphed  in  oblivion, 
while  not  a  few,  exhausted  by  useless  struggles,  are  bereft  of  their  ener¬ 
gies  and  quickly  sink  in  despair — but  no  fame  is  more  certain  or  more 


VI 


PREFACE. 


durable  than  that  which  arises  from  useful  inventions.  Whitney  and 
Whittemore,  Evans  and  Fulton,  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  cotton  gins, 
carding  machines,  steam-engines,  and  steam-boats  are  known  on  these 
continents,  and  when  contemporary  politicians  are  wholly  forgotten — in 
fact  most  of  these  are  so  already.  The  name  of  Watt  will  be  known  while 
that  of  every  warrior  and  monarch  and  statesman  of  his  day  has  perished ; 
and  so  it  ought  to  be,  for  with  few  exceptions,  he  contributed  more  to  the 
happiness  of  his  species  than  have  such  men  from  the  beginning  of  time. 
No  one  is  now  interested  in  learning  any  thing  respecting  the  sanguinary 
Bull  of  Burgundy  and  his  wily  antagonist,  the  eleventh  Louis  of  France, 
whose  contests  kept  for  years  the  European  world  in  an  uproar  ;  and  the 
latter,  not  content  with  murdering  his  species  by  wholesale,  in  his  old  age 
slew  infants  that  he  might  acquire  new  vigor  by  bathing  in  their  blood  : 
but  as  long  as  time  endures,  the  world  will  revere  the  names  of  their 
contemporaries — Gottenburg,  Koster,  Faust,  and  Schceffer  and  their  asso¬ 
ciates  in  printing  and  type-founding. 

Science  and  the  arts  are  renovating  the  constitution  of  society.  The 
destiny  of  nations  cannot  be  much  longer  held  by  political  gamblers,  wealthy 
dolts,  titled  buffoons,  and  royal  puppets  ;  these  no  longer  sustained  by 
factitious  aids  must  descend  to  their  own  level.  Theories  of  governments 
will  not  be  opposed  to  nature  and  carried  out  in  violation  of  her  laws  ;  but 
practical  science  will  be  the  ruling  principle ;  and  practical  philosophers 
will  be,  as  God  designed  they  should  be,  the  master  spirits  of  the  world. 
The  history  and  progress  of  the  useful  arts  will  soon  become  a  subject  of 
general  study.  Historians  will  hereafter  trace  in  them  the  rise  and  fall  of 
nations  ;  for  power  and  preeminence  will  depend  upon  new  discoveries  in 
and  applications  of  science.  Battles  will  soon  be  fought  by  engineers 
instead  of  generals,  and  by  mechanism  in  place  of  men.  But  battles,  we 
trust,  will  hereafter  be  few  ;  for  if  ever  men  were  called  upon  by  that 
which  is  dear  to  them  and  their  race — by  that  which  is  calculated  to  rouse 
the  purest  feelings  and  exterminate  the  worst  ones,  it  is  to  denounce  that 
spirit  of  military  glory  which  encourages  and  induces  offensive  wars.  Take 
away  all  the  false  glare  and  pomp  of  wars,  and  tyranny  will  expire — for  it 
would  have  nothing  to  support  it.  Put  war  in  its  true  light,  and  no  well 
regulated  mind  would  ever  embrace  it  as  a  profession. 

To  poets  and  writers  of  romance,  the  annals  of  mechanism  present  un¬ 
explored  sources  of  materials.  They  are  mines  of  the  richest  ores — 
fields  teeming  with  the  choicest  fruits  and  flowers.  Here  are  to  be  found 
incidents  as  agreeable  and  exciting  in  their  natures,  and  as  important  in 
their  effects  as  anything  that  can  be  realized  by  the  imagination  alone  ; 
such  too,  as  present  nothing  to  offend  the  finest  taste,  or  conflict  with  the 
purest  morals.  When  novelists  have  worn  out  the  common  ground  ;  (and 
they  seem  already  to  have  done  so,)  when  mere  sentiment  grows  flat,  and 
the  exhibition  of  the  passions  becomes  stale  ;  when  politics,  history  and 
love  are  exhausted — works  founded  on  the  origin,  progress,  and  maturity 
of  the  useful  arts  will  both  charm  the  imagination  and  improve  the  judgment 
of  readers.  Does  an  author  wish  to  introduce  characters  who  have  left 
permanent  impressions  of  their  genius  upon  the  world]  Where  can  he  find 
them  in  such  variety  as  in  the  race  of  inventors  ?  Is  he  desirous  of  enrich¬ 
ing  his  pages  with  singular  coincidences,  curious  facts,  surprising  results 
— to  fascinate  his  readers,  and  cause  them  to  anticipate  the  end  of  his  pages 
with  regret  ]  Let  him  detail  the  circumstances  that  led  to  the  conception, 
and  accompanied  the  improvement  of  those  inventions  and  discoveries  that 
have  elevated  civilized  man  above  the  savage. 

Is  such  a  writer  desirous,  for  instance,  to  entertain  the  sex  ]  He  could 


PREFACE. 


VH 


hardly  do  it  more  effectually  than  by  writing  a  volume  on  the  labors  of 
primitive  spinsters,  ere  the  distaff  was  adopted,  or  the  spindle  (the  original 
fly-wheel)  was  invented ;  by  detailing  the  circumstances  that  gave  birth 
to  those  implements,  with  the  trials,  observations,  customs  and  anecdotes 
connected  with  their  introduction  and  their  uses — imagining  the  congra¬ 
tulations  that  were  poured  upon  the  artist  who  wove  the  first  web  in  a 
loom,  and  the  praises  bestowed  upon  the  author  of  that  machine  and  the 
shuttle — recalling  the  times  and  scenes  when  groups  of  laughing  females 
were  hastening  to  examine  the  first  colored  mantles ;  and  recording  the 
bursts  of  admiration  which  dropped  from  them  (in  all  the  force  of  oriental 
hyperbole)  upon  witnessing  the  processes  by  which  purple  and  scarlet 
and  crimson  and  green,  &c.  were  produced — recounting  the  methods  by 
which  the  art  of  dyeing  wrought  a  revolution  in  costume,  and  how  it  be¬ 
came  one  of  the  great  sources  of  wealth  to  Babylon  and  Tyre — referring 
to  the  gratification  which  the  invention  of  needles  and  pins,  of  thimbles 
and  combs,  conferred  on  ancient  dames  ;  and  noticing  the  influence  of 
these  in  improving  the  dress  and  deportment  of  women — describing  the 
trials  of  artists  before  they  succeeded  in  perfecting  these  instruments,  and 
so  on,  until  every  addition  to  domestic  dwellings,  to  household  furniture, 
and  to  dress  be  reviewed — until  every  thing  which  a  modern  lady  possesses 
over  an  Indian’s  squaw  be  brought  forward  and  described,  with  all  the 
known  facts  and  circumstances  associated  with  its  history  and  application ; 
— and  thus  form  a  series  of  essays  on  the  arts,  in  which  every  line  would 
be  poetry,  and  every  incident  new. 

A  new  species  of  drama  might  here  take  its  rise  ;  one  possessing  equal 
attractions  and  exhibiting  equally  interesting  pictures  of  human  life,  as 
any  thing  which  writers  of  comedy  or  tragedy  have  yet  produced.  Here 
are  characters  and  customs  of  every  variety,  age,  and  nation — incidents 
and  adventure  in  the  greatest  profusion — the  extremes  of  misery  and  bliss, 
of  poverty  and  wealth,  of  suffering  virtue  and  unrequited  toil,  and  their 
opposites.  Here  the  humblest  individuals  have,  by  industry  and  ingenuity, 
risen  from  obscurity  and  astonished  the  world.  Mechanics  have  become 
kings  like  the  old  potter  of  Sicily,  (Agathocles,)  Aurelius  the  blacksmith 
of  Rome,  and  Leitz  the  tinker  who  founded  the  caliph  dynasty  of  the 
Soffarites.  Kings  have  left  their  thrones  to  become  workmen  in  brass  and 
silver,  wood  and  iron  ;  as  Demetrius  at  his  lathe,  iEropus  making  lamps 
and  tables,  Charles  V.  in  his  watchmaker’s  shop  ;  and  if  some  bizarre 
examples  are  wanted,  there  is  still  to  be  seen  the  mantua-making  apart¬ 
ment  of  Ferdinand  VII.  with  specimens  of  his  work. 

A  play  might  be  founded  on  the  fairs  held  at  Delos,  (the  Pittsburg  of 
of  the  old  Greeks,)  where  merchants  (observes  Pliny)  assembled  from  all 
parts  of  the  world  to  purchase  hardware  and  bronze.  An  island  whose 
artists  were  ennobled  for  the  beauty  and  finish  of  their  works  in  the  metals, 
and  who  particularly  excelled  in  brazen  feet  for  chairs,  tables,  and  bed¬ 
steads,  and  in  statues  and  other  large  works  in  brass.  Then  there  was 
the  workmen  of  ASgina,  who  beat  all  others  in  fabricating  branches  and 
and  sockets  of  candelabra;  while  those  of  Tarentum  produced  the  best 
pedestals  or  shafts.  In  connection  with  which,  there  is  the  singular  story 
of  the  Lady  Gegania,  who,  after  giving  50,000  sesterces  for  a  bronze  candle¬ 
stick,  adopted  its  ill-favored  and  hump-backed  maker  for  her  companion 
and  heir. 

How  rich  in  interest  would  a  dramatic  scene  be  if  laid  in  an  antediluvian 
smith’s  shop  !  (Forges  have  always  been  places  of  resort.)  To  notice 
the  characters  of  the  visitants,  listen  to  their  remarks,  examine  the  instru¬ 
ments  fabricated  by  the  artist,  his  materials,  fuel,  bellows,  and  other  tools  1 


V1U 


PREFACE. 


There  is  not  a  more  interesting  scene  in  all  the  Iliad  than  the  description 
of  Vulcan  at  work.  But  if  such  a  distance  of  time  is  too  remote,  there  is 
the  forge  of  Kawah,  the  blacksmith  of  Ispahan,  he  whose  apron  was  for 
centuries  the  banner  of  the  Persian  empire.  The  forge  of  Aurelius  also, 
where  he  made  the  sword  by  which  he  was  while  emperor  slain. 

A  scene  might  open  in  the  barber’s  shop  of  Alexandria,  in  which  the  boy 
Ctesibius  used  to  play,  and  where  the  first  scintillations  of  his  genius 
broke  out ;  while  his  subsequent  speculations,  his  private  essays  and  public 
experiments,  some  of  which  were  probably  exhibited  before  the  reigning 
Ptolemies,  might  be  brought  into  view — his  pupil,  Heron,  and  other 
philosophers  and  literati  might  also  be  included  in  the  plot.  Of  the  con¬ 
nection  of  barbers  with  important  events  there  is  no  end — there  was  the 
tatling  artist  of  Midas,  the  spruce  hair-dresser  of  Julian  the  emperor,  the 
inquisitive  one  that  saved  Caesar’s  life  by  listening  to  the  conversation  of 
assassins — the  history  of  the  silver  shaving  vessel  with  which  the  benevo¬ 
lent  father  of  Marc  Anthony  relieved  the  pecuniary  distresses  of  a  friend 
— there  was  the  wicked  Oliver  Dain ;  and  the  ancestor  of  Tunstall,  the 
famous  Bishop  of  Durham,  was  barber  to  William  the  Conqueror  :  hence 
the  bishop’s  coat  of  arms  contained  three  combs. 

Who  would  not  go  to  see  a  representation  of  the  impostures  of  the 
heathen  priesthood  1  Men  who  in  the  darkest  times  applied  some  of  the 
finest  principles  of  science  to  the  purposes  of  delusion  !  With  what 
emotions  should  we  enter  their  secret  recesses  in  the  temples  ! — places 
where  their  chemical  processes  were  matured,  their  automaton  figures  and 
other  mechanical  apparatus  conceived  and  fabricated,  and  where  experi¬ 
ments  were  made  before  the  miracles  were  consummated  in  public.  But 
it  is  impossible  to  enumerate  a  tithe  of  the  subjects  and  incidents  for  the 
drama  that  might  be  derived  from  the  history  of  the  arts  :  they  are  more 
numerous  than  the  mechanical  professions — more  diversified  than  articles 
of  traffic  or  implements  of  trades.  The  plots,  too,  might  be  rendered  as 
complicated,  and  their  denouement  as  agreeable  or  disagreeable  as  could 
be  desired :  and  what  is  better  than  all,  in  such  plays  the  moral,  intel¬ 
lectual  and  inventive  faculties  of  an  audience  would  be  excited  and  im¬ 
proved — science  would  pervade  every  piece,  and  her  professors  would 
be  the  principal  performers. 

THOS.  EWBANK. 

JVew-York,  December,  1841. 


CONTENTS 


BOOK  I. 

PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  DEVICES  FOR  RAISING  WATER. 

CHAPTER  1. 

The  subject  of  raising  water  interesting  to  philosophers  and  mechanics — Led  to  the  invention  of  the 
steam  engine — Connected  with  the  present  advanced  state  of  the  arts — Origin  of  the  useful  arts 
lost — Their  history  neglected  by  the  ancients — First  inventors  the  greatest  benefactors — Memorials 
of  them  perished,  while  accounts  of  warriors  and  their  acts  pervade  and  pollute  the  pages  of  his¬ 
tory — A  record  of  the  origin  and  early  progress  of  the  arts  more  useful  and  interesting  than  all 
the  works  of  historians  extant — The  history  of  a  single  tool  (as  that  of  a  hammer)  invaluable — In 
the  general  wreck  of  the  arts  of  the  ancients,  most  of  their  devices  for  raising  water  preserved — 

Cause  of  this — Hydraulic  machines  of  very  remote  origin — Few  invented  by  the  Greeks  and  Ro¬ 
mans — Arrangement  and  division  of  the  subject  ....  .1 

CHAPTER  II. 

Water — Its  importance  in  the  economy  of  nature — Forms  part  of  all  substances — Food  of  all  animals 
— Great  physical  changes  effected  by  it — Earliest  source  of  inanimate  motive  power — Its  distribu 
tion  over  the  earth  not  uniform — Sufferings  of  the  orientals  from  want  of  water — A  knowledge  of 
this  necessary  to  understand  their  writers — Political  ingenuity  of  Mahomet — Water  a  prominent 
feature  in  the  paradise  of  the  Asiatics — Camels  often  slain  by  travelers,  to  obtain  water  from  their 
stomachs — Cost  of  a  draught  of  such  water — Hydraulic  machine  referred  to  in  Ecclesiastes — The 
useful  arts  originated  in  Asia — Primitive  modes  of  procuring  water — Using  the  hand  as  a  cup — 
Traditions  respecting  Adam — Scythian  tradition — Palladium — Observations  on  the  primitive  state 
of  man,  and  the  origin  of  the  arts  .........9 

CHAPTER  III. 

Origin  of  vessels  for  containing  water — The  calabash  the  first  one — It  has  always  been  used — Found 
by  Columbus  in  the  cabins  of  Americans — Inhabitants  of  New  Zealand,  Java,  Sumatra,  and  of  the 
Pacific  Islands  employ  it — Principal  vessel  of  the  Africans — Curious  remark  of  Pliny  respecting  it 
— Common  among  the  ancient  Mexicans,  Romans  and  Egyptians — Offered  by  the  latter  people  on 
their  altars — The  model  after  which  vessels  of  capacity  were  originally  formed — Its  figure  still 
preserved  in  several — Ancient  American  vessels  copied  from  it — Peruvian  bottles — Gurgulets — 

The  form  of  the  calabash  prevailed  in  the  vases  and  goblets  of  the  ancients — Extract  from  Persius’  \ 

satires — Ancient  vessels  for  heating  water  modeled  after  it — Pipkin — Saucepan — Anecdote  of  a 
Roman  dictator — The  common  cast-iron  cauldron  of  great  antiquity:  similar  in  shape  to  those 
used  in  Egypt  in  the  time  of  Raineses — Often  referred  to  in  the  Bible  and  in  the  Iliad — Grecian, 

Roman,  Celtic,  Chinese  and  Peruvian  cauldrons — Expertness  of  Chinese  tinkers — Croesus  and  the 
Delphic  oracle — Uniformity  in  the  figure  of  cauldrons — Cause  of  this — Superiority  of  their  form 
over  straight-sided  boilers — Brazen  cauldrons  highly  prized — Water  pots  of  the  Hindoos — Women 
drawing  water — Anecdote  of  Darius  and  a  young  female  of  Sardis — Dexterity  of  oriental  women 
in  balancing  water  pots — Origin  of  the  canopus — Ingenuity  and  fraud  of  an  Egyptian  priest — 
Ecclesiastical  deceptions  in  the  middle  ages  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -14 

CHAPTER  IV. 

On  wells — Water  one  of  the  first  objects  Of  ancient  husbandmen — Lot — Wells  before  the  deluge- 
Digging  them  through  rock  subsequent  to  the  use  of  metals — Art  of  digging  them  carried  to  great 
perfection  by  the  Asiatics — Modern  methods  of  making  them  in  loose  soils  derived  from  the  East — 

Wells  often  the  nuclei  of  cities — Private  wells  common  of  old — Public  wells  infested  by  banditti — 

Wells  numerous  in  Greece — Introduced  there  by  Danaus — Facts  connected  with  them  in  the 
mythologic  ages — Persian  ambassadors  to  Athens  and  Lacedemon  thrown  into  wells — Phenician, 
Carthagenian  and  Roman  wells  extant — Csesar  and  Pompey’s  knowledge  of  making  wells  enabled 
them  to  conquer — City  of  Pompeii  discovered  by  digging  a  well — Wells  in  China,  Persia,  Palestine, 

India  and  Turkey — Cisterns  of  Solomon — Sufferings  of  travelers  from  thirst — Affecting  account 
from  Leo  Africanus — Mr.  Bruce  in  Abyssinia — Dr.  Ryers  in  Gombroon — Hindoos  praying  for 
water — Caravan  of  2000  persons  and  1800  camels  perished  in  the  African  desert — Crusaders  -  24 

CHAPTER  V 

Subject  of  Wells  continued — Wells  worshiped — River  Ganges — Sacred  well  at  Benares — Oaths  taken 
at  wells — Tradition  of  the  rabbins — Altars  erected  near  them — Invoked— Ceremonies  with  regard 
t«  water  in  Egypt,  Greece,  Peru,  Mexico,  Rome,  and  Judea — Temples  erected  over  wells — The 


B 


X 


CONTENTS. 


fountain  of  Apollo — Well  Zem  Zem — Prophet  Joel — Temple  of  Isis — Mahommedan  mosques — 
Hindoo  temples — Woden’s  well — Wells  in  Chinese  temples — Pliny — Celts — Gauls — Modern  super¬ 
stitions  with  regard  to  water  and  wells — Hindoos — Algerines — Nineveh — Greeks — Tombs  of  saints 
near  wells — Superstitions  of  the  Persians — Anglo-Saxons — Hindoos — Scotch — English — St.  Gene¬ 
vieve’s  well — St.  Winifred’s  well — House  and  well ‘warming’  -  -  -  -  -  33 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Wells  continued — Depth  of  ancient  wells — In  Hindostan — Well  of  Tyre — Carthagenian  wells — Wells 
in  Greece,  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii — Wells  without  curbs — Ancient  laws  to  prevent  accidents 
from  persons  and  animals  falling  into  them — Sagacity  and  revenge  of  an  elephant — Hylas — Arche- 
laus  of  Macedon — Thracian  soldier  and  a  lady  at  Thebes — Wooden  covers — Wells  in  Judea — 
Reasons  for  not  placing  curbs  round  wells — Scythians — Arabs — Aquilius — Abraham — Hezekiah — 
David — Mardonius — Moses  and  the  people  of  Edom — Burckhardt  in  Petra — Woman  of  Bahurim — 
Persian  tradition — Ali  the  fourth  caliph — Covering  wells  with  large  stones — Mahommedan  tradi¬ 
tion — Themistocles — Edicts  of  Greek  emperors — Well  at  Heliopolis — Juvenal — Roman  and  Gre¬ 
cian  curbs  of  marble — Capitals  of  ancient  columns  converted  into  curbs  for  wells  -  -  37 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Wells  concluded — Description  of  Jacob’s  well — Of  Zemzem  in  Mecca — Of  Joseph’s  well  at  Cairo— 
Reflections  on  wells — Oldest  monuments  extant — Wells  at  Elim — Bethlehem — Cos — Scyros — Heli 
opolis — Persepolis — Jerusalem — Troy — Ephesus — Tadmor — Mizra — Sarcophagi  employed  as  wa¬ 
tering  troughs — Stone  coffin  of  Richard  III  used  as  one — Ancient  American  wells — Indicate  the 
existence  in  past  times  of  a  more  refined  people  than  the  present  red  men — Their  examination 
desirable — Might  furnish  (like  the  wells  at  Athens)  important  data  of  former  ages  -  -  -  44 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Ancient  methods  of  raising  water  from  wells :  Inclined  planes — Stairs  within  wells :  in  Mesopotamia 
— Abyssinia — Hindostan — Persia — Judea — Greece — Thrace — England.  Cord  and  bucket:  used  at 
Jacob’s  well — By  the  patriarchs — Mahomet — In  Palestine — India — Alexandria — Arabian  vizier 
drawing  water — Gaza — Herculaneum  and  Pompeii — Wells  within  the  houses  of  the  latter  city — 
Aleppo — Tyre — Carthage — Cleanthes  the  ‘well  drawer’  of  Athens,  and  successor  of  Zeno— Demo¬ 
critus — Plautus — Asclepiades  and  Menedemus — Cistern  pole — Roman  cisterns  and  cement — An¬ 
cient  modes  of  purifying  water  --  -  -  -  -  -  .51 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  pulley  its  origin  unknown — Used  in  the  erection  of  ancient  buildings  and  in  ships — Ancient 
one  found  in  Egypt— Probably  first  used  to  raise  water — Not  extensively  used  in  ancient  Grecian 
wells  :  cause  of  this — Used  in  Mecca  and  Japan — Led  to  the  employment  of  animals  to  raise  water 
— Simple  mode  of  adapting  them  to  this  purpose  in  the  east.  Pulley  and  two  buckets:  used  by 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  Normans,  <fcc — Italian  mode  of  raising  water  to  upper  floors — Desagulier's  mode 
— Self  acting  or  gaining  and  losing  buckets — Marquis  of  Worcester — Heron  of  Alexandria — Robert 
Fludd — Lever  bucket  engine — Bucket  of  Bologna — Materials  of  ancient  buckets  -  -  -  58 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  windlass:  its  origin  unknown — Employed  in  raising  water  from  wells,  and  ore  from  mines — 
Chinese  windlass — Other  inventions  of  that  people,  as  table  forks,  winnowing  machines,  &c.  &c. 
Fusee:  its  application  to  raise  water  from  wells — Its  inventor  not  known.  Wheel  and  pinion — 
Anglo-Saxon  crane — Drum  attached  to  the  windlass  roller,  and  turned  by  a  rope:  used  in  Birmah, 
England,  <Src.  Tread  wheels  :  used  by’  the  ancients — Moved  by  men  and  various  animals — Jacks 
— Horizontal  tread-wheels — Common  wheel  or  capstan.  Observations  on  the  introduction  of  table 
forks  into  Europe  ---------...68 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Agriculture  gave  rise  to  numerous  devices  for  raising  water — Curious  definition  of  Egyptian  hus¬ 
bandry — Irrigation  always  practiced  in  the  east — Great  fertility  of  watered  land — The  construction 
of  the  lakes  and  canals  of  Egypt  and  China  subsequent  to  the  use  of  hydraulic  machines — Pheno¬ 
menon  in  ancient  Thebes — Similarity  of  the  early  histories  of  the  Egyptians  and  Chinese — Mytho¬ 
logy  based  on  agriculture  and  irrigation:  both  inculcated  as  a  part  of  religion — Asiatic  tanks — 
Watering  land  With  the  yoke  and  pots — An  employment  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt — Hindoo  water 
bearer — Curious  shaped  vessels — Aquarius,  ‘  the  water  pourer,’  an  emblem  of  irrigation — Connec¬ 
tion  of  astronomy  with  agriculture — Swinging  baskets  of  Egypt,  China  and  Hindostan.  Arts  and 
customs  of  the  ancient  Egyptians'  -  -  -  -  -  -  -70 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Gutters  :  single  do. — double  do. — Jantu  of  Hindostan  :  ingenious  mode  of  working  it — Referred  to  in 
Deuteronomy — Other  Asiatic  machines  moved  in  a  similar  manner — its  antiquity.  Combination  ot 
levers  and  gutters — Swinging  or  peudulum  machine — Rocking  gutters — Dutch  scoop — Flash  wheel  9S 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  swape :  used  in  modern  and  ancient  Egypt — Represented  in  sculptures  at  Thebes — Alluded  to  by 
Herodotus  and  Marcellus — Described  by  Pliny — Picotah  of  India:  agility  of  the  Hindoos  in  work¬ 
ing  it.  Chinese  swape — Similar  to  the  machines  employed  in  erecting  the  pyramids — The  swape 

seen  in  paradise  by  Mahomet — Figure  of  one  near  the  city  of  Magnesia — Anglo-Saxon  swape _ 

Formerly  used  in  English  manufactories — Figures  from  the  Nuremburg  Chronicle,  Munster's 
Cosmography,  and  Besson’s  Theatre  des  Instrumens.  The  swape  common  in  North  and  South 
America — Examples  of  its  use  in  watering  gardens — Figures  of  it  the  oldest  representations  of  any 
hydraulic  machine — Mechanical  speculations  of  ecclesiastics:  Wilkins’s  projects  for  aerial  navi¬ 
gation — Mechanical  and  theological  pursuits  combined  in  the  middle  ages — Gerbert _ Dunstau _ 

Bishops  famous  as  castle  architects — Androides — Roode  of  grace — Shrine  of  Beckct _ Speaking 

images — Chemical  deceptions — Illuminated  manuscripts  -  -  .  .  .  -  94 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Wheels  for  raising  water — Machines  described  by  Vitruvius — Tympanum — De  La  Faye’s  improve¬ 
ment. — Scoop  wheel — Chinese  noria — Roman  do. — Egyptian  do. — Noria  with  pots — Supposed 
origin  of  toothed  wheels — Substitute  for  wheels  and  pinions — Persian  wheel :  common  in  Syria — 
Large  ones  at  Hamath — Various  modes  of  propelling  the  noria  by  men  and  animals — Early  em¬ 
ployment  of  the  latter  to  raise  water.  Antiquity  of  the  noria — Supposed  to  be  the  ‘  wheel  of  for¬ 
tune’ — An  appropriate  emblem  of  abundance  in  Egypt — Sphinx — Lions’  heads — Vases — Cornuco¬ 
pia — Ancient  emblems  of  irrigation — -Medea:  inventress  of  vapor  baths — Ctesibius — Metallic  and 
glass  mirrors — Barbers  -----------  109 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  chain  of  pots — Its  origin — Used  in  Joseph’s  well  at  Cairo — Numerous  in  Egypt — Attempt  of 
Belzoni  to  supersede  it  and  the  noria — Chain  of  pots  of  the  Romans,  Hindoos,  Japanese  and  Euro¬ 
peans — Described  by  Agricola — Spanish  one — Modern  one — Applications  of  it  to  other  purposes 
than  raising  water — Employed  as  a  first  mover  and  substitute  for  overshot  wheels — Erancini’s  ma 
chine — Antiquity  of  the  chain  of  pots — Often  confounded  with  the  noria  by  ancient  and  modern 
authors — Introduced  into  Greece  by  Danaus — Opinions  of  modern  writers  on  its  antiquity — Refer¬ 
red  to  by  Solomon — Babylonian  engine  that  raised  the  water  of  the  Euphrates  to  supply  the  hang¬ 
ing  gardens — Rope  pump — Hydraulic  belt  ........  122 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  screw — An  original  device — Various  modes  of  constructing  it — Roman  screw — Often  re-invented 
— Introduced  into  England  from  Germany — Combination  of  several  to  raise  water  to  great  eleva¬ 
tions — Marquis  of  Worcester’s  proposition  relating  to  it  exemplified  by  M.  Patlu — Ascent  of  water 
in  it  formerly  considered  inexplicable — Its  history — Not  invented  by  Archimedes — Supposed  to 
have  been  in  early  use  in  Egypt — Vitruvius  silent  respecting  its  author — Couon  its  inventor  or  re¬ 
inventor — This  philosopher  famous  for  his  flattery  of  Ptolemy  and  Berenice — Dinocrates  the  archi¬ 
tect — Suspension  of  metallic  substances  without  support — The  screw  not  attributed  to  Archimedes 
till  after  his  death — Inventions  often  given  to  others  than  their  authors — Screws  used  as  ship  pumps 
by  the  Greeks — Flatterers  like  Conou  too  often  found  among  men  of  science — Dedication#  of  Eu¬ 
ropean  writers  often  blasphemous — Hereditary  titles  and  distinctions — Their  acceptance  unworthy 
of  philosophers — Evil  influence  of  scientific  men  in  accepting  them — Their  denunciation  a  proof 
of  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  framers  of  the  U.  S.  constitution — Their  extinction  in  Europe  de¬ 
sirable — Plato,  Solon,  and  Socrates — George  III — George  IV — James  Watt — Arago — Description 
of  the  •  Syracusan,’  a  ship  built  by  Archimedes,  in  which  the  screw  pump  was  used  -  -  137 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  chain  pump — Not  mentioned  by  Vitruvius — Its  supposed  origin — Resemblance  between  it  and 
the  common  pump — Not  used  by  the  Hindoos,  Egyptians,  Greeks  or  Romans — Derived  from  China 
— Description  of  the  Chinese  pump  and  the  various  modes  of  propelling  it — Chain  pump  from  Ag¬ 
ricola — Paternoster  pumps — Chain  pump  of  Besson — Old  French  pump  from  Belidor — Superiority 
of  the  Chinese  pump — Carried  by  the  Spaniards  and  Dutch  to  their  Asiatic  possessions — Best  mode 
of  making  and  using  it — Wooden  chains — Chain  pump  in  British  ships  of  war — Dampier — Modern 
improvements — Dutch  pump — Cole’s  pump  and  experiments — Notice  of  chain  pumps  in  the  Ame¬ 
rican  navy — Description  of  those  in  the  U.  S.  ship  Independence — Chinese  pump  introduced  into 
America  by  Van  Braam — Employed  in  South  America — Recently  introduced  into  Egypt — Used  as 
a  substitute  for  water  wheels — Peculiar  feature  in  Chinese  ship  building — Its  advantages  -  -  148 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

On  the  hydraulic  works  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America:  population  of  Anahuac — Ferocity  of 
the  Spanish  invaders — Subject  of  ancient  hydraulic  works  interesting — Aqueducts  of  the  Toltecs — 
Ancient  Mexican  wells — Houses  supplied  with  water  by  pipes — Palace  of  Motezumn — Perfection 
of  Mexican  works  in  metals — Cortez — Market  in  ancient  Mexico— Hydraulic  works — Fountains 
and  jets  d’eau — Noria  and  other  machines — Pulenque:  its  aqueducts,  hieroglyphics,  &c. — Wells  in 
ancient  and  modern  Yucatan — Relics  of  former  ages,  and  traditions  of  the  Indians.  Hydraulic 
works  of  tlie  Peruvians:  Customs  relating  to  water — Humanity  of  the  early  incas — Aqueducts  and 
reservoirs — Resemblance  of  Peruvian  and  Egyptian  customs — Garcilasso — Civilization  in  Peru 
before  the  times  of  the  incas — Giants — Wells — Stupehdous  aqueducts  and  other  monuments — 
Alabalipa — Pulleys — Cisterns  of  gold  and  silver  in  the  houses  of  the  incas — Temples  and  gardens 
supplied  by  pipes — Temple  at  Cusco:  its  water-works  and  utensils — Embroidered  cloth — Manco 
Capac  -  --  --  --  --  --  --  159 


BOOK  II. 

MACHINES  FOR  RAISING  WATER  BY  THE  PRESSURE  OF  THE  ATMOSPHERE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

On  machines  that  raise  water  by  atmospheric  pressure — Principle  of  their  action  formerly  unknown 
— Suction  a  chimera — Ascent  of  water  in  pumps  incomprehensible  without  a  knowledge  of  atmo¬ 
spheric  pressure — Phenomena  in  the  organization,  habits  and  motions  of  animals — Rotation  of  the 
atmosphere  with  the  earth — Air  tangible — Compressible — Expansible — Elastic — Air  beds — Ancient 
beds  and  bedsteads — Weight  of  air — Its  pressure — Examples— American  Indians  and  the  air  pump 
— Boa  constrictor — Swallowing  oysters — Shooting  bullets  by  the  rarefaction  of  air — Boy’s  sucker — 
Suspension  of  flies  against  gravity — Lizards — Frogs — Walrus — Connection  between  all  depart¬ 
ments  of  knowledge — Sucking  fish — Remora — Lampreys — Dampier — Christopher  Columbus  at  St. 
Domingo — Ferdinand  Columbus — Ancient  fable — Sudden  expansion  of  air  bursting  the  bladders 
of  fish — Pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on  liquids  -  -  -  *  -  -  -  -  173 

CHAPTER  II. 

Discovery  of  atmospheric  pressure — Circumstances  which  led  to  it — Galileo — Torricelli — Beautiful 
experiment  of  the  latter — Controversy  respecting  the  results — Pascal — His  demonstration  of  the 


xa 


CONTENTS. 


cause  of  the  ascent  of  water  in  pumps — Invention  of  the  air  pump — Barometer  and  its  various  ap 
plications — Intensity  of  atmospheric  pressure  different  at  different  parts  of  the  earth — A  knowledge 
of  this  necessary  to  pump  makers — The  limits  to  which  water  may  be  raised  in  atmospheric  pumps 
known  to  ancient  pump  makers  ----------  187 

CHAPTER  III. 

Ancient  experiments  on  air — Various  applications  of  it — Siphons  used  in  ancient  Egypt — Primitive 
experiments  with  vessels  inverted  in  water — Suspension  of  liquids  in  them — Ancient  atmospheric 
sprinkling  pot — Watering  gardens  with  it — Probably  referred  to  by  St.  Paul,  and  also  by  Shake- 
Bpeare — Glass  sprinkling  vessel  and  wine  taster  from  Pompeii — Religious  uses  of  sprinkling  pots 
among  the  ancient  heathen — Figure  of  one  from  Montfaucon — Vestals — Miracle  of  Tutia  carrying 
water  in  a  sieve  described  and  explained — Modern  liquor  taster  and  dropping  tubes — Trick  per¬ 
formed  with  various  liquids  by  a  Chinese  juggler — Various  frauds  of  the  ancients  with  liquids — 
Divining  cups  -  --  --  --  --  --  -  191 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Suction :  impossible  to  raise  liquids  by  that  which  is  so  called — Action  of  the  muscles  of  the  thorax 
and  abdomen  in  sucking  explained — Two  kinds  of  suction — Why  the  term  is  continued — Sucking 
poison  from  wounds — Cupping  and  cupping  horns — Ingenuity  of  a  raven — Sucking  tubes  original 
atmospheric  pumps — The  sanguisuchello — Peruvian  mode  of  taking  tea  bj’  sucking  it  through 
tubes — Reflections  on  it — New  application  of  such  tubes  suggested — -Explanation  of  an  ambiguous 
proverbial  expression  -  --  --  --  --  --  201 

CHAPTER  V. 

On  bellows  pumps:  great  variety  in  the  forms  and  materials  of  machines  to  raise  water — Simple 
bellows  pump — Ancient  German  pump — French  pump — Gosset’s  frictionlcss  pump:  subsequently 
re-invented — Martin’s  pump — Robison’s  bag  pump — Disadvantages  of  bellows  pumps — Natural 
pumps  in  men,  quadrupeds,  insects,  birds,  &c. — Reflections  on  them.  Ancient  vases  figured  in 
this  chapter  -  --  --  --  --  -  -  2U5 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  atmospheric  pump  supposed  by  some  persons  to  be  of  modern  origin — Injustice  towards  the 
ancients — Their  knowledge  of  hydrodynamics — Absurdity  of  an  alledged  proof  of  their  ignorance 
of  a  simple  principle  of  hydrostatics — Common  cylindrical  pump — Its  antiquity — Anciently  known 
under  the  name  of  a  siphon — The  antlia  of  the  Greeks — Used  as  a  ship  pump  by  the  Romans — 
Bilge  pump — Portable  pumps — Wooden  pumps  always  used  in  ships — Description  of  some  in  the 
U.  S.  Navy — Ingenuity  of  sailors — Singular  mode  of  making  wooden  pumps,  from  Dampicr — Old 
draining  pump — Pumps  in  public  and  private  wells — In  mines — Pump  from  Agricola,  with  figures 
of  various  boxes — Double  pump  formerly  used  in  the  mines  of  Germany,  from  Fludd’s  works — 

The  wooden  pump  not  improved  by  the  moderns — Its  use  confined  chiefly  to  civilized  states  -  211 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Metallic  pumps — Of  more  extended  application  than  those  of  wood — Description  of  one — Devices  to 
prevent  water  in  them  from  freezing — Wells  being  closed,  no  obstacle  in  raising  water  from  them 
— Application  of  the  atmospheric  pump  to  draw  water  from  great  distances  as  well  as  depth — Sin¬ 
gular  circumstance  attending  the  trial  of  a  Spanish  pump  in  Seville — Excitement  produced  by  it — 
Water  raised  to  great  elevations  by  atmospheric  pressure  when  mixed  with  air — Deceptions  prac¬ 
ticed  on  this  principle — Device  to  raise  water  fifty  feet  by  atmospheric  pressure — Modifications  of 
the  pump  innumerable — Humps  with  two  pistons — French  marine  pump — Curved  pump — Musch- 
enbroeck’s  pump — Centrifugal  pump — West’s  pump — Jorge’s  improvement — Original  centrifugal 
pump — Ancient  buckets  figured  in  this  chapter  .....  -221 


BOOK  III. 

MACHINES  FOR  RAISING  WATER  BY  COMPRF.SSURE  INDEPENDENTLY  OF 
ATMOSPHERIC  INFLUENCE 

CHAPTER  I. 

Definition  of  machines  described  in  this  Book — Forcing  pumps — Analogy  between  them  and  bellows 
— History  of  the  bellows  that  of  the  pump — Forcing  pnmps  are  water  bellows — The  bellows  of  ante¬ 
diluvian  origin — Tubal  Cain — Anacharsis — Vulcan  in  his  forge — Egyptian,  Hindoo,  and  Peruvian 
blowing  tubes — Primitive  bellows  of  goldsmiths  in  Barbary — Similar  instruments  employed  to  eject 
liquids — De  -res  to  obtain  a  continuous  blast — Double  bellows  of  the  Foulah  blacksmiths  without 
valves — Simp..  4siatic  bellows — Domestic  bellows  of  modern  Egypt — Double  bellows  of  the  an¬ 
cient  Egyptians  Rellows  blowers  in  the  middle  ages — Lantern  bellows  common  over  all  the  east — 
Specimens  from  Ag'-'cola — Used  by  negroes  in  the  interior  of  Africa — Modern  Egyptian  black¬ 
smiths’  bellows — Vulca  bellows — Various  kinds  of  Roman  bellows — Bellows  of  Grecian  black¬ 
smiths  referred  to  in  n  prediction  of  the  Delphic  oracle — Application  of  lantern  bellows  as  forcing 
pumps — Sucking  and  forcing  bellows  pumps — Modern  domestic  bellows  of  ancient  origin — Used 
to  raise  water — Common  blacksmiths’ bellows  employed  as  forcing  pumps — Ventilation  of  mines  231 

CHAPTER  II. 

Piston  bellow's:  used  in  water  organs — Engraved  on  a  medal  of  Valentinian — Used  in  Asia  and  Af¬ 
rica.  Bellows  of  Madagascar.  Chinese  bellows:  account  of  two  in  the  Philadelphia  mnseum — 
Remarks  on  a  knowledge  of  the  pump  among  the  ancient  Chinese — Chinese  bellows  similar  in 
their  construction  to  the  water  forcer  of  Ctesibius,  the  double  acting  puinp  of  La  Hire,  the  cylin¬ 
drical  steam  engine,  and  condensing  and  exhausting  air  pumps.  Double  acting  bellows  of  Mada¬ 
gascar — Alledged  ignorance  of  the  old  Peruvian  and  Mexican  smiths  of  bellows:  their  constant 
use  of  blowing  tubes  no  proof  of  this — Examples  from  Asiatic  gold  and  silversmiths — Balsas — 
Sarbacans — Mexican  Vulcan.  Natural  bellows  pumps:  blowing  apparatus  of  the  whule — Elephant— 


CONTENTS. 


X1U 


Rise  and  descent  of  marine  animals — Jaculator  fish — Llama — Spurting  snake— Lamprey — Bees— 
The  heart  of  man  and  animals — Every  human  being  a  living  pump :  wonders  of  its  mechanism, 
and  of  the  duration  of  its  motions  and  materials — Advantages  of  studying  the  mechanism  of  ani- 


CHAPTER  III. 

Forcing  pumps  with  solid  pistons  :  the  syringe  :  its  uses,  materials  and  antiquity — Employed  by  the 
Hindoos  in  religious  festivals — Figured  on  an  old  coat  of  arms — Simple  garden  pump  —Single  valve 
forcing  pump — Common  forcing  pump — Stomach  pump — Forcing  pump  with  air  vessel — Machine 
of  Ctesibius:  its  description  by  Vitruvius — Remarks  on  its  origin — Errors  of  the  ancients  respect¬ 
ing  the  authors  of  several  inventions — Claims  of  Ctesibius  to  the  pump  limited — Air  vessel  probably 
invented  by  him — Compressed  air  a  prominent  feature  in  all  his  inventions — Air  vessels — In  He¬ 
ron’s  fountain — Apparently  referred  to  by  Pliny — Air  gun  of  Ctesibius — The  hookah  -  -  259 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Forcing  pumps  continued :  La  Hire’s  double  acting  pump — Plung-er  pump :  invented  by  Moreland ; 
the  most  valuable  of  modern  improvements  on  the  pump — Application  of  it  to  other  purposes  than 
raising  water — Frictionless  plunger  pump — Quicksilver  pumps — Application  of  the  principle  of 
Bramah’s  press  by  bees  in  forcing  houey  into  their  cells.  Forcing  pumps  with  hollow  pistons : 
employed  in  French  water  works — Specimen  from  the  works  at  Notre  Dame — Lifting  pump  from 
Agricola — Modern  lifting  pumps — Extract  from  an  old  pump-maker’s  circular — Lifting  pumps  with 
two  pistons — Combination  of  hollow  and  solid  pistons — Trevethick’s  pump — Perkins’s  pump  -  271 

CHAPTER  V. 

Rotary  or  rotatory  pumps :  uniformity  in  efforts  made  to  improve  machines — Prevailing  custom  to 
convert  rectilinear  and  reciprocating  movements  into  circular  ones — Epigram  of  Antipater — An¬ 
cient  opinion  respecting  circular  motions — Advantages  of  rotary  motions  exemplified  in  various 
machines — Operations  of  spinning  and  weaving  ;  historical  anecdotes  respecting  them — Rotary 
pump  from  Serviere — Interesting  inventions  of  his — Classification  of  rotary  pumps — Eve’s  steam 
engine  and  pump — Another  class  of  rotary  pumps — Rotary  pump  of  the  16th  century — Pump  with 
sliding  butment — Trotter’s  engine  and  pump — French  rotary  pump — Bramah  and  Dickensou’s 
pump — Rotary  pumps  with  pistons  in  the  form  of  vanes — Centrifugal  pump — Defects  of  rotary 
pumps — Reciprocating  rotary  pumps:  a  French  one — An  English  one — Defects  of  these  pumps  -  281 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Application  of  pumps  in  modern  water  works  :  first  used  by  the  Germans — Water  works  at  Augs- 
burgh  and  Bremen — Singular  android  in  the  latter  city — Old  water  works  at  Toledo — At  London 
Bridge — Other  London  works  moved  by  horses,  water,  wind  and  steam — Water  engine  at  Exeter — 
Water  works  erected  on  Pont  Neuf  and  Pont  Notre  Dame  at  Paris — Celebrated  works  at  Marli — 
Error  of  Rannequin  in  making  them  unnecessarily  complex.  American  water  works  :  a  history 
of  them  desirable — Introduction  of  pumps  into  wells  in  New-York  city — Extracts  from  the  minutes 
of  the  Common  Council  previous  to  the  war  of  independence — Public  water  works  proposed  and 
commenced  in  1774 — Treasury  notes  issued  to  meet  the  expense — Copy  of  one — Manhattan  Com¬ 
pany — Water  works  at  Fairmount,  Philadelphia  ......  .293 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Fire  engines  :  probably  used  in  Babylon  and  Tyre — Employed  by  ancient  warriors — Other  devices 
of  theirs — Fire  engiues  referred  to  by  Apollodorus — These  probably  equal  in  effect  to  ours  :  Spiri- 
talia  of  Heron:  fire  engine  described  in  it — Pumps  used  to  promote  conflagrations — Greek  fire  a 
liquid  projected  by  pumps — Fires  and  wars  commonly  united — Generals  the  greatest  iucendiaries 
— Saying  of  Crates  respecting  them — Fire  pumps  the  forerunners  of  guns — Use  of  engines  in  Rome 
— Mentioned  in  a  letter  of  Pliny  to  Trajan,  and  by  Seneca,  Hesychius,  and  Isidore.  Roman  fire¬ 
men — Frequency  of  fires  noticed  by  Juvenal — Detestable  practice  of  Crassus — Portable  engines  in 
Roman  houses — Modern  engines  derived  from  the  Spiritalia — Forgotten  in  the  middle  ages — Su¬ 
perstitions  with  regard  to  fires — Fires  attributed  to  demons — Consecrated  bells  employed  as  sub¬ 
stitutes  for  water  and  fire  engines — Extracts  from  the.  Paris  ritual,  Wynken  de  Worde,  Barnaby 
Googe  and  Peter  Martyr  respecting  them — Emblematic  device  of  an  old  duke  of  Milan — Firemen’s 
apparatus  from  Agricola — Syringes  used  in  London  to  quench  fires  in  the  17th  century — Still  em¬ 
ployed  in  Constantinople — Anecdote  of  the  Capudan  Pacha — Syringe  engine  from  Besson — Ger¬ 
man  euginesof  the  16th  century — Pump  engine  from  Decaus — Pump  engines  in  London — Extracts 
from  the  minutes  of  the  London  Common  Council  respecting  engines  and  squirts  in  1667 — Experi¬ 
ment  of  Maurice  mentioned  by  Stow  the  historian — Extract  from  ‘  a  history  of  the  first  inventers’  302 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Fire  engines  continued:  engines  by  Hautsch — Nuremberg — Fire  engines  at  Strasbourg  and  Ypres — 
Coupling  screws — Old  engine  with  air  chamber — Canvas  and  leather  hose  and  Dutch  engines — 
Engines  of  Perier  and  Leopold — Old  English  engines — Newsham’s  engines — Modern  French  engine 
— Air  chambers — Table  of  the  height  of  jets — Modes  of  working  fire  engines — Engines  worked  by 
steam.  Fire  engines  in  America:  regulations  respecting  fires  in  New  Amsterdam — Proclamations 
of  Governor  Stuyvesant — Extracts  from  old  minutes  of  the  Common  Council — First  fire  engines — 
Philadelphia  and  New-York  engines — Riveted  hose — Steam  fire  engines  now  being  constructed. 
Devices  to  extinguish  fire  without  engines — Water  bombs — Protecting  buildings  from  fire — Fire 
escapes — Couvre  feu — Curfew  bells — Measuring  time  with  candles — Ancient  laws  respecting  fires 
aud  incendiaries — The  dress  in  which  Roman  incendiaries  were  burnt  retained  in  the  auto  da  fs  -  323 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Pressure  engines:  of  limited  application — Are  modifications  of  gaining  and  losing  buckets  and 
pumps — Two  kinds  of  pressure  engines — Piston  pressure  engine  described  by  Fludd — Pressure 
engine  from  Belidor — Another  by  Westgarth — Motive  pressure  engines — These  exhibit  a  novel 
mode  of  employing  water  as  a  motive  agent — Variety  of  applications  of  a  piston  and  cylinder — 
Causes  of  the  ancients  being  ignorant  of  the  steam  engine — Secret  of  making  improvements  in  the 


CONTENTS, 


xiv 

arts — Fulton,  Eli  Whitney,  and  Arkwright — Pressure  engines  might  have  been  anticipated,  and 
valuable  lessons  in  science  may  be  derived  from  a  disordered  pump — Archimedes — Heron’s  foun¬ 
tain — Portable  ones  recommended  in  flower  gardens  and  drawing  rooms  in  hot  weather — Their 
invention  gave  rise  to  a  new  class  of  hydraulic  engines — Pressure  engine  at  Chemnitz — Another 
modification  of  Heron’s  fountain — Spiral  pump  of  Wirtz  ....  -  -352 


BOOK  IV.  . 

MACHINES  FOR  RAISING  WATER  (CHIEFLY  OF  MODERN  ORIGIN)  INCLUDING  EARLY 
APPLICATIONS  OF  STEAM  FOR  THAT  PURPOSE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Devices  of  the  lower  animals — Some  animals  aware  that  force  is  increased  by  the  space  through 
which  a  body  moves — Birds  drop  shell  fish  from  great  elevations  to  break  the  shells — Death  of 
Aeschylus — Combats  between  the  males  of  sheep  and  goats — Military  ram  of  the  ancients — Water 
rams — Waves — Momentum  acquired  by  running  water — Examples — Whitehurst’s  machine — Hy¬ 
draulic  ram  of  Montgolfier — ‘  Canne  hydraulique’ and  its  modifications  -  -365 

CHAPTER  II. 

Machines  for  raising  water  by  fire :  air  machines — Ancient  weather  glasses — Dilatation  of  air  by 
heat  and  condensation  by  cold — Ancient  Egyptian  air  machines — Statue  of  Memnon — Statues  of 
Serapis  and  the  Bird  of  Memnon — Decaus’s  and  Kircher’s  machinery  to  account  for  the  sounds  of 
the  Theban  idol — Remarks  on  the  statue  of  Memnon — Machine  for  raising  water  by  the  sun’s  heat, 
from  Heron — Similar  machines  in  the  16th  century — Air  machines  by  Porta  and  Decaus — Distilling 
by  the  sun’s  heat — Musical  air  machines  by  Drebble  nnd  Decaus — Air  machines  ncted  on  by  ordi¬ 
nary  fire — Modifications  of  them  employed  in  ancient  altars — Bronze  altars — Tricks  performed  by 
the  heathen  priests  with  fire — Others  by  heated  air  and  vapor — Bellows  employed  in  ancient  altars 
— Tricks  performed  at  altars  mentioned  by  Heron — Altar  that  feeds  itself  with  flame  from  Heron — 
Ingenuity  displayed  by  ancient  priests — Secrets  of  the  temples — The  Spiritalia — Sketch  of  its 
contents — Curious  lustral  vase  ----------  374 


CHAPTER  111. 

On  steam  :  miserable  condition  of  the  great  portion  of  the  human  race  in  past  times — Brighter  pros¬ 
pects  for  posterity — Inorganic  motive  forces — Wonders  of  steam — Its  beneficial  influence  on  man’s 
future  destiny — Will  supersede  nearly  all  human  drudgery' — Progress  of  the  arts — Cause  why  steam 
was  not  formerly  employed — Pols  boiling  over  and  primitive  experiments  by  females — Steam  an 
agent  in  working  prodigies — Priests  familiar  with  steam — Sacrifices  boiled — Seething  bones — 
Earthquakes — Anthemius  and  Zeno — Hot  baths  at  Rome — Ball  supported  on  a  jet  of  steam,  from 
the  Spiritalia — Heron’s  whirling  eolipile — Steam  engines  on  the  same  principle — Eolipiles  de¬ 
scribed  by  Vitruvius — Their  various  uses — Heraldic  device — Eolipiles  from  Rivius — Cupelo  fur¬ 
nace  and  eolipile  from  Erckers — Similar  applications  of  steam  revived  and  patented — Eolipiles  of 
the  human  form — Ancient  tenures — Jack  of  Hilton — Puster  a  steam  deity  of  the  ancient  Germans — 
Ingenuity  of  the  priests  in  constructing  and  working  it — Supposed  allusions  to  eoiipilic  idols  in  the 
Bilile — Employed  in  ancient  wars  to  project  streams  of  liquid  fire — Draft  of  chimneys  improved, 
perfumes  dispersed,  and  music  produced  by  eolipiles — Eolipiles  the  germ  of  modern  steam  engines  388 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Employment  of  steam  in  former  times — Claims  of  various  people  to  the  steam  engine — Application 
of  stearn  as  a  motive  agent  perceived  by  Roger  Paeon — Other  modern  inventions  and  discoveries 
known  to  him — Spanish  steam  ship  in  1543 — Official  documents  relating  to  it — Remarks  on  these — 
Antiquity  of  paddle  wheels  as  propellers — Project  of  the  author  for  propelling  vessels — Experi¬ 
ments  on  steam  in  the  16th  century — Jerome  Cardan — Vacuum  formed  by  the  condensation  of 
steam  known  to  the  alchymists — Experiments  from  Fludd — Others  from  Porta — Expansive  force 
of  steam  illustrated  by  old  authors — Interesting  example  of  raising  water  by  steam  from  Porta — 
Mathesius,  Canini  and  Besson — Device  for  raising  hot  water  from  Decaus — Invention  of  the  steam 
engine  claimed  by'  Arago  for  France — Nothing  new  in  the  apparatus  of  Decaus  nor  in  the  principle 
of  its  operation — Hot  springs — Geysers — Boilers  with  tubular  spouts — Eolipiles — Observations  on 
Decaus — Writings  of  Porta — Claims  of  Arago  in  behalf  of  Decaus  untenable — Instances  of  hot  wa¬ 
ter  raised  by  steam  in  the  arts — Manufacture  of  soap — Discovery  of  iodine — Ancient  soap  makers — 
Soap  vats  in  Pompeii — Manipulations  of  ancient  mechanics — Loss  of  ancient  writings — Large 
sums  anciently  expended  on  soap— Logic  of  Omar  -----  .  402 

CHAPTER  V. 

Few  inventions  formerly  recorded — Lord  Bacon — His  project  lbr  draining  mines — Thomas  Bushell — 

Ice  produced  by  hydraulic  machines — Eolipiles — Branca’s  application  of  the  blast  of  one  to  pro¬ 
duce  motion — Its  inutility — Curious  extract  from  Wilkins — Ramseye’s  patent  for  raising  water  by 
fire — Manufacture  of  nitre — Figure  illustrating  the  application  of  steam,  from  an  old  English  work 
— Kircher’s  device  for  raising  w  ater  by  steam — John  Bate — Antiquity  of  boys’  kites  in  England — 
Discovery  of  atmospheric  pressure — Engine  of  motion — Anecdotes  of  Oliver  Evans  and  John  Fitch 
— Elasticity  and  condensation  of  steam — Steam  engines  modifications  of  guns — A  moving  piston 
the  essential  feature  in  both — Classification  of  modern  steam  engines — Guerricke’s  apparatus — 

The  same  adopted  in  steam  engines — Guerricke  one  of  the  authors  of  the  steam  engine  -  .  -  41g 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Reasons  of  old  inventors  for  concealing  their  discoveries — Century  of  Inventions — Marquis  of  Wor¬ 
cester — His  Inventions  matured  before  the  civil  wars — Several  revived  since  his  death — Problems 
in  the  ‘Century’  in  older  authors — Bird  roasting  itself— Imprisoning  chair — Portable  fortifications 
— Flying — Diving — Drebble’s  sub-marine  ship — The  68th  problem — This  remarkably  explicit — 

The  device  consisted  of  one  boiler  and  two  receivers — The  receivers  charged  by  atmospheric 
pressure — Three  and  four-way  cocks — An  hydraulic  machine  of  Worcester  mentioned  by  Cosmo 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


de  Medicis — Worcester’s  machine  superior  to  preceding  ones,  and  similar  to  Savery’s — Piston  steam 
engine  also  made  by  him — Copy  of  the  last  jhree  problems  in  the  Century — Ingenious  mode  of 
stating  them — Forcing  pumps  worked  by  steam  engines  intended — Ancient  riddle — Steam  boat 
invented  by  Worcester — Projectors  despised  in  his  time — Patentees  caricatured  in  a  public  pro¬ 
cession — Neglect  of  Worcester — His  death — Persecution  of  his  widow — Worcester  one  of  the 
greatest  mechanicians  of  any  age  or  nation — Glauber  -------  427 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Hautefeuille,  Huyghens  and  Hooke — Moreland — His  table  of  cylinders — His  pumps  worked  by  a 
cylindrical  high  pressure  steam  engine — He  made  no  claim  to  a  steam  engine  in  England — Simple 
device  by  which  he  probably  worked  his  plunger  pumps — Inventions  of  his  at  Vauxhall — Anecdote 
of  him  from  Evelyn’s  Diary — Early  steam  projectors  courtiers — Ridiculous  origin  of  some  honors — 
Edict  of  Nantes — Papin — Digesters — Safety  valve — Papin’s  plan  to  transmit  power  through  pipes 
by  means  of  air — Cause  of  its  failure — Another  plan  by  compressed  air — Papin’s  experiments  to 
move  a  piston  by  gunpowder  and  by  steam — The  latter  abandoned  by  him — The  safety  valve  im¬ 
proved,  not  invented  by  Papin — Mercurial  safety  valves — Water  lute— Steam  machine  of  Papin  for 
raising  water  and  imparting  motion  to  machinery  44] 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Experimenters  contemporary  with  Papin — Savery — This  engineer  publishes  his  inventions — His 
project  for  propelling  vessels — Ridicules  the  surveyor  of  the  navy  for  opposing  it — His  first  expe¬ 
riments  011  steam  made  in  a  tavern — Account  of  them  by  Desaguliers  and  Switzer — Savery’s  first 
engine — Its  operation — Engine  with  a  single  receiver — Savery’s  improved  engine  described — Gauge 
cocks — Excellent  features  of  his  improved  engine — Its  various  parts  connected  by  coupling  screws 
— Had  no  safely  valve — Rejected  by  miners  on  account  of  the  danger  from  the  boilers  exploding — 
Solder  melted  by  steam — Opinions  respecting  the  origin  of  Savery’s  engine — It  boars  no  relation  to 
the  piston  engine — Modifications  of  Savery’s  engine-by  Desaguliers,  Leopold,  Blakey  and  others — 
Rivatz — Engines  by  Gensaune — De  Moura — De  Rigny — Francois  and  others — Ainonton’s  fire  mill 
— Newcomen  and  Cawley — Their  engine  superior  to  Savery's — Newcomen  acquainted  with  the 
previous  experiments  of  Papin — Circumstances  favorable  to  the  introduction  of  Newcomen’s  en¬ 
gine — Description  of  it — Condensation  by  injection  discovered  by  chance — Chains  and  sectors — 
Savery’s  claim  to  a  share  in  Newcomen’s  patent  an  unjust  one — Merits  of  Newcomen  and  Cawley  453 

CHAPTER  IX. 

General  adoption  of  Newcomen  and  Cawley’s  engine — Leopold’s  machine — Steam  applied  as  a  mover 
of  general  machinery — Wooden  and  granite  boilers — Generating  steam  by  the  heat  of  the  sun — 
Floats — Greenhouses  and  dwellings  heated  by  steam — Cooking  by  steam — Explosive  engines — 
Vapor  engines — English,  French,  and  American  motive  engines — Woisard’s  air  machine — Vapor 
of  mercury — Liquefied  gases — Decomposition  and  recomposition  of  water  -  -  -  -468 


BOOK  V. 

NOVEL  DEVICES  FOR  RAISING  WATER,  WITH  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  SIPHONS,  COCKS, 

VALVES,  CLEPSYDRA:,  &c.  &c. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Subjects  treated  in  the  fifth  book — Lateral  communication  of  motion — This  observed  by  the  ancients 
— Wind  at  the  Falls  of  Niagara — The  trombe  described — Natural  trombes — Tasting  hot  liquids — 
Waterspouts — Various  operations  of  the  human  mouth — Currents  of  water — Gulf  Stream — Large 
rivers — Adventures  of  a  bottle — Experiments  of  Venturi — Expenditure  of  water  from  various 
formed  ajutages — Contracted  vein — Cause  of  increased  discharge  from  conical  tubes — Sale  of  a 
water  power — Regulation  of  the  ancient  Romans  to  prevent  an  excess  of  water  from  being  drawn 
by  pipes  from  the  aqueducts  -  --  --  --  --  -  475 


CHAPTER  II. 

Water  raised  by  currents  of  air — Fall  of  the  barometer  during  storms — Hurricanes  commence  at  the 
leeward — Damage  done  by  storms  not  always  by  the  impulse  of  the  wind — Vacuum  produced  by 
storms  of  wind — Draftof  chimneys — Currents  of  wind  in  houses — Fire  grates  and  parabolic  jambs 
— Experiments  with  a  sheet  of  paper — Experiments  with  currents  of  air  through  tubes  variously 
connected — Effect  of  conical  ajutages  to  blowing  tubes — Application  of  these  tubes  to  increase  the 
draft  of  chimneys,  and  to  ventilate  wells,  mines  and  ships  ......  481 


CHAPTER  III. 

Vacuum  by  currents  of  steam — Various  modes  of  applying  them  in  blowing  tubes — Experiments- 
Effects  of  conical  ajutages — Results  of  slight  changes  in  the  position  of  vacuum  tubes  within  blow¬ 
ing  ones — Double  blowing  tube — Experiments  with  it — Raising  water  by  currents  of  steam — Ven¬ 
tilation  of  mines — Experimental  apparatus  for  concentrating  sirups  in  vacuo — Drawing  air  through 
liquids  to  promote  their  evaporation — Remarks  on  the  origin  of  obtaining  a  vacuum  by  currents  of 
steam  .............  489 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Spouting  tubes — Water  easily  disturbed — Force  economically  transmitted  by  the  oscillation  of  liquids 
— Experiments  on  the  ascent  of  water  in  differently  shaped  tubes — Application  of  one  form  to  si¬ 
phons — Movement  given  to  spouting  tubes — These  produce  a  jet  both  by  their  ascent  and  descent 
— Experiments  with  plain  conical  tubes — Spouting  tubes  with  air  pipes  attached — Experiments 
with  various  sized  tubes — Observations  respecting  their  movements — Adlantages  arising  from 
inertia — Modes  of  communicating  motion  to  spouting  tubes — Purposes  for  which  they  are  applica¬ 
ble — The  souffieur  ........  -  497 


XVI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  V. 

Nature’s  devices  for  raising  water — Their  influence — More  common  than  other  natural  operations — 

The  globe  a  self-moving  hydraulic  engine — Streams  flowing  on  its  surface — Others  ejected  from 
its  bowels — Subterranean  cisterns,  tubes  and  siphons — Intermitting  springs — Natural  rams  and 
pressure  engines — Eruption  of  water  on  the  coast  of  Italy — Water  raised  in  vapor — Clouds — Wa¬ 
ter  raised  by  steam — Geysers — Earthquakes — Vegetation — Advantages  of  studying  it — Erroneous 
views  of  future  happiness — Circulation  of  sap — This  fluid  wonderfully  varied  in  its  effects  and 
movements — Pitcher  plant  and  Peruvian  canes — Trees  of  Australia — Endosmosis — Waterspouts — 
Ascent  of  liquids  by  capillary  attraction — Tenacity  and  other  properties  of  liquids — Ascent  of 
liquids  up  inclined  planes — Liquid  drops — Their  uniform  diffusion  when  not  counteracted  by 
gravity — Their  form  and  size — Soft  and  hard  soldering — Aslant  of  water  in  capillary  tubes  limited 
only  by  its  volume — Cohesion  of  liquids— Ascent  of  water  through  sand  and  rags — Rise  of  oil  in 
lamp  wicks  and  through  the  pores  of  boxwood  -  ------  -505 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Siphons — Mode  of  charging  them — Principle  on  which  their  action  depends — Cohesion  of  liquids — 
Siphons  act  in  vacuo — Variety  of  siphons — Their  antiquity — Of  eastern  origiu — Portrayed  in  the 
tombs  at  Thebes — Mixed  wines — Siphons  in  ancient  Egyptian  kitchens — Probably  used  at  the  feast 
at  Cana — Their  application  by  old  jugglers — Siphons  from  Heron’s  Spiritalia — Tricks  with  liquids 
of  different  specific  gravities — Fresh  water  dipped  from  the  surface  of  the  sea — Figures  of  Tanta¬ 
lus’s  cups — Tricks  of  old  publicans — Magic  pitcher — Goblet  for  unwelcome  visitors — Tartar  necro¬ 
mancy  with  cups — Roman  baths — Siphons  used  by  the  ancients  for  tasting  wine — Siphons,  A.  D. 
1511— Figures  of  modern  siphons — Sucking  tube — Valve  siphon — Tin  plate — Wirtemburg  siphon — 
Argand’s  siphon — Chemists’  siphons — Siphons  by  the  author — Water  conveyed  over  extensive 
grounds  by  siphons — Limit  of  the  application  of  siphons  known  to  ancient  plumbers — Error  of 
Porta  and  other  writers  respecting  siphons — Decaus — Siphons  for  discharging  liquids  at  the  bend 
-Ram  siphon  -------  514 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Fountains:  variety  of  their  forms,  ornaments  and  accompaniments — Landscape  gardeners — Curious 
fountains  from  Decaus — Fountains  in  old  Rome — Water  issuing  from  statues — Fountains  in  Pom¬ 
peii — Automaton  trumpeter — Fountains  by  John  of  Bologna  and  M.  Angelo — Old  fountains  in  Nu¬ 
remberg,  Augsburg  and  Brussels — Shakespeare,  Drayton  and  Spencer  quoted — Fountains  of  Alci- 
nous — The  younger  Pliny’s  account  of  fountains  in  the  gardens  of  his  Tuscan  villa — Eating  in 
gardens — Alluded  to  in  Solomon’s  Song — Cato  the  Censor — Singular  fountains  in  Italy — Fountains 
described  by  Marco  Paulo  and  other  old  writers — Predilection  for  artificial  trees  in  fountains — 
Perfumed  and  musical  fountains — Fountains  within  public  and  private  buildings — Enormous  cost 
of  perfumed  waters  at  Roman  feasts — Lucan  quoted — Introduction  of  fountains  into  modern  thea¬ 
tres  and  churches  recommended — Fountains  in  the  apartments  of  eastern  princes — Water  conveyed 
through  pipes  by  the  ancients  into  fields  for  the  use  of  their  cattle — Three  and  four-way  cocks  -  532 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

O'opsydr*  and  hydraulic  organs :  Time  measured  by  the  sun — Obelisks — Dial  in  Syracuse — Time 
measured  in  the  night  by  slow  matches,  candles,  &c. — Modes  of  announcing  the  hours — “Jack  of 
the  clock” — Clepsydrae — Their  curious  origin  in  Egypt — Their  variety — Used  by  the  Siamese, 
Hindoos,  Chinese,  &c. — Ancient  hourglasses — Indexes  to  water  clocks — Sand  clocks  in  China — 
Musical  clock  of  Plato — Clock  carried  in  triumph  by  Pompey — Clepsydra  of  Ctesibius — Clock  pre¬ 
sented  to  Charles  V — Modern  clepsydrae — Hourglasses  in  coffins — Dial  of  the  Peruvians.  Hydrau¬ 
lic  organs:  imperfectly  described  by  Heron  and  Vitruvius — Plato,  Archimedes,  Plutarch,  Pliny, 
Suetonius,  St.  Jerome — Organs  sent  from  Constantinople  to  Pepin — Water  organs  of  Louis  Debdn- 
uaire — A  woman  expired  in  ecstasies  while  hearing  one  play — Organs  made  by  monks — Old  Regal  542 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Sheet  lead:  Lead  early  known — Roman  pig  lead — Ancient  uses  of  lead — Leaden  and  iron  coffins — 
Casting  sheet  lead — Solder — Leaden  books — Roofs  covered  with  lead — Invention  of  rolled  lead — 
Lead  sheathing.  Leaden  pipes:  of  great  antiquity — Made  from  sheet  lead  by  the  Romans — Ordi¬ 
nance  of  Justinian — Leaden  pipes  in  Spain  in  the  9th  century — Damascus — Leather  pipes — Modern 
iron  pipes — Invention  of  cast  leaden  pipes — Another  plan  in  France — Joints  united  withoutsolder — 
Invention  of  drawn  leaden  pipes — Burr’s  mode  of  making  leaden  pipes — Antiquity  of  window  lead 
— Water  injured  by  passing  through  leaden  pipes — Tinned  pipes.  Valves:  their  antiquity  and 
variety — Nuremberg  engineers.  Cocks:  of  great  variety  and  materials  in  ancient  times — Hora- 
pollo — Cocks  attached  to  the  laver  of  brass  and  the  brazen  sea — Also  to  golden  and  silver  cisterns 
in  the  temple  at  Delphi — Found  in  Japanese  baths — Figure  of  an  ancient  bronze  cock — Superior 
in  its  construction  to  modern  ones — Cock  from  a  Roman  fountain — Numbers  found  at  Pompeii — 
Silver  pipes  and  cocks  in  Roman  baths — Golden  and  silver  pipes  and  cocks  in  Peruvian  baths — 
Sliding  cocks  by  the  author.  Water  closets:  of  ancient  date — Common  in  the  east.  Traps  for 
drains,  &c. 


550 


APPENDIX. 

John  Bate — Phocion — Well  worship — Wells  with  stairs — Tourne-broche — Raising  ^rater  by  a  screw 
— Perpetual  motions — Chain  pumps  in  ships — Sprinkling  pots — Old  frictionless  pump — Water 
power — Vulcan’s  trip-hammers — Eolipiles — Blowpipe — Philosophical  bellows — Charging  eolipiles 

— Eolipilic  idols  referred  to  in  the  Bible — Palladium — Laban’s  images — Expansive  force  of  steam _ 

Steam  and  air — Windmills — Imprisoning  chairs — Eolipilic  war-machines  ....  565 


INDEX 


-  575 


A  DESCRIPTIVE 


HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT 

OF 

HYDRAULIC  AND  OTHER  MACHINES 

FOR  RAISING  WATER. 


BOOK  I. 

PRIMITIVE  AND  ANCIENT  DEVICES  FOR  RAISING  WATER. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  subject  of  raising  water,  interesting  to  Philosophers  and  Mechanics — Led  to  the  invention  of  the 
Steam  Engine— Connected  with  the  present  advanced  state  of  the  Arts — Origin  of  the  useftil  arts  lostr- 
Their  history  neglected  by  the  Ancients — First  Inventors  the  greatest  benefactors— Memorials  of  them 
perished,  while  accounts  of  warriors  and  their  acts  pervade  and  pollute  the  pages  of  history — A  record 
of  the  origin  and  early  progress  of  the  arts  more  useful  and  interesting  than  all  the  works  of  historians 
extant — The  history  of  a  single  tool,  (as  that  of  a  hammer,)  invaluable — In  the  general  wreck  of  the 
arts  of  the  ancients,  most  of  their  devices  for  raising  water  preserved — Cause  of  this — Hydraulic  ma¬ 
chines  of  very  remote  origin — Few  invented  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans — Arrangement  and  division  of 
the  subject. 

Although  the  subject  of  this  work  may  present  nothing  very  alluring 
to  the  general  reader,  it  is  not  destitute  of  interest  to  the  philosopher  and 
intelligent  mechanic.  The  art  of  raising  water  has  ever  been  closely 
connected  with  the  progress  of  man  in  civilization,  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  the  state  of  this  art,  among  a  people,  may  be  taken  as  an  index  of 
their  position  on  the  scale  of  refinement.  It  is  also  an  art,  which,  from 
its  importance  called  forth  the  ingenuity  of  man  in  the  infancy  of  soci¬ 
ety  ;  nor  is  it  improbable,  that  it  originated  some  of  the  simple  machines, 
or  mechanic  powers  themselves. 

It  was  a  favorite  subject  of  research  with  eminent  mathematicians  and 
engineers  of  old  ;  and  the  labors  of  their  successors  in  modern  days,  have 
been  rewarded  with  the  most  valuable  machine  which  the  arts  ever  pre¬ 
sented  to  man — the  STEAM  ENGINE — for  it  was  “raising  of  water” 
that  exercised  the  ingenuity  of  Decaus  and  Worcester,  Moreland  and 
Papin,  Savary  and  Newcomen;  and  those  illustrious  men,  whose  sue- 


2 


Ancient  Arts. 


[Book  1. 


cessive  labors  developed  and  matured  that  “  semi-omnipotent  engine,” 
which  “  driveth  up  water  by  fire.”  A  machine  that  has  already  greatly 
changed  and  immeasurably  improved  the  state  of  civil  society  ;  and  one 
which,  in  conjunction  with  the  frinting  press,  is  destined  to  renovate 
both  the  political  and  moral  world.  The  subject  is  therefore,  intimately 
connected  with  the  present  advanced  state  of  the  arts  ;  and  the  amazing 
progress  made  in  them  during  the  last  two  centuries,  may  be  attributed 
in  some  degree  to  its  cultivation. 

The  origin  and  early  history  of  this  art,  (and  of  all  others  of  primitive 
times)  are  irrecoverably  lost.  Tradition  has  scarcely  preserved  a  single 
anecdote  or  circumstance  relating  to  those  meritorious  men,  with  whom 
any  of  the  useful  arts  originated ;  and  when  in  process  of  time,  history 
took  her  station  in  the  temple  of  science,  her  professors  deemed  it  beneath 
her  dignity,  to  record  the  actions  and  lives  of  men,  who  were  merely  in¬ 
ventors  of  machines,  or  improvers  of  the  useful  arts ;  thus  nearly  all 
knowledge  of  those  to  whom  the  world  is  under  the  highest  of  obliga¬ 
tions,  has  perished  forever. 

The  scholar  mourns,  and  the  antiquary  weeps  over  the  wreck  of 
ancient  learning  and  art — the  philosopher  regrets  that  sufficient  of  both 
has  not  been  preserved  to  elucidate  several  interesting  discoveries,  which 
history  has  mentioned ;  nor  to  prove  that  those  principles  of  science,  upon 
which  the  action  of  some  old  machines  depended,  were  understood ;  and 
the  mechanic  inquires  in  vain  for  the  processes  by  which  his  predecessors 
in  remote  ages,  worked  the  hardest  granite  without  iron,  transported  it 
in  masses  that  astound  us,  and  used  them  in  the  erection  of  stupendous 
buildings,  apparently  with  the  facility  that  modern  workmen  lay  bricks, 
or  raise  the  lintels  of  doors.  The  machines  by  which  they  were  elevated 
are  as  unknown  as  the  individuals  wht>  directed  their  movements.  We 
are  almost  as  ignorant  of  their  modes  of  working  the  metals,  of  their  al¬ 
loys  which  rivalled  steel  in  hardness,  of  their  furnaces,  crucibles,  and 
moulds  ;  the  details  of  forming  the  ennobling  statue,  or  the  more  useful 
skillet  or  cauldron.  Did  the  ancients  laminate  metal  between  rollers,  and 
draw  wire  through  plates,  as  we  do  1  or,  was  it  extended  by  hammers,  as 
some  specimens  of  both  seem  to  show  On  these  and  a  thousand  other 
subjects,  much  uncertainty  prevails.  Unfortunately  learned  men  of  old, 
deemed  it  a  part  of  wisdom,  to  conceal  from  the  vulgar,  all  discoveries  in 
science.  With  this  view,  they  wrapped  them  in  mystical  figures,  that 
the  people  might  not  apprehend  them.  The  custom  was  at  one  time  so 
general,  that  philosophers  refused  to  leave  any  thing  in  writing,  explana¬ 
tory  of  their  researches. 

Whenever  we  attempt  to  penetrate  that  obscurity  which  conceals  from 
our  view,  the  works  of  the  ancients,  we  are  led  to  regret,  that  some  of 
their  mechanics  did  not  undertake,  for  the  sake  of  posterity  and  their 
own  fame,  to  write  a  history  and  description  of  their  machines  and  manu¬ 
factures. 

We  know  that  philosophers,  generally,  would  not  condescend  to  per¬ 
form  such  a  task,  or  stoop  to  acquire  the  requisite  information,  for  they 
deemed  it  discreditable  to  apply  their  energies  and  learning,  to  the  eluci¬ 
dation  of  such  subjects.  (Few  could  boast  with  Hippias — who  was  master 
of  the  liberal  and  mcc}iani/:al  arts — the  ring  on  his  finger,  the  tunic,  cloak, 


a  “  And  they  did  beat  the  gold  into  thin  plate9,  and  cut  it  into  wires.”  Exod.  xxxix,  3. 
These  plates,  were  probably  similar  to  those  made  by  the  ancient  goldsmiths  of  Mexico, 
which  were  “  three  quarters  of  a  yard  long,  foure  fingers  broad,  and  as  thicke  as  parch¬ 
ment.”  Purchas’  Pilgrimage,  984.  “  Silver  spread  into  plates,  is  brought  from  Tarshish, 
and  gold  from  Uphaz,”  Jer.  x,  9. 


3 


Chap.  l.J  History  polluted  with  accounts  of  Warriors. 

and  shoes  which  he  wore,  were  the  work  of  his  own  hands.)  Plato  in 
veighed  with  great  indignation  against  Archytas  and  Eudoxus,  for  having 
debased  and  corrupted  the  excellency  of  geometry,  by  mechanical  so¬ 
lutions,  causing  her  to  descend,  as  he  said,  from  incorporeal  and  intellec¬ 
tual  to  sensible  things ;  and  obliging  her  to  make  use  of  matter,  which  re¬ 
quires  manual  labor,  and  is  the  object  of  servile  trades.a 

To  the  prevalence  of  such  unphilosophical  notions  amongst  the  learned 
men  of  old,  may  be  attributed,  the  irretrievable  loss  of  information  re¬ 
specting  the  prominent  mechanics  of  the  early  ages,  those 
. “  Searching  wits, 

Who  graced  their  age  with  new  invented  arts.”  Virgil,  En.  vi,  900. 

Their  works,  their  inventions,  and  their  names,  are  buried  beneath  the 
waves  of  oblivion ;  whilst  the  light  and  worthless  memorials  of  heroes, 
falsely  so  called,  have  floated  on  the  surface,  and  history  has  become  pol¬ 
luted  with  tainted  descriptions  of  men,  who,  without  having  added  an 
atom  to  the  wealth,  or  to  the  happiness  of  society,  have  been  permitted 
to  riot  on  the  fruit  of  other  men’s  labors ;  to  wade  in  the  blood  of  their 
species,  and  to  be  heralded  as  the  honorable  of  the  earth !  And  still,  as 
in  former  times,  humanity  shudders,  at  these  monsters  being  held  up,  as 
they  impiously  are,  to  the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  even  by  some 
Christians  too,  as  examples  for  our  children. 

“  We  may  reasonably  hope,”  says  Mr.  Davies  in  his  popular  work  on 
the  Chinese,  “that  the  science  and  civilization  which  have  already  greatly 
enlarged  the  bounds  of  our  knowledge  of  foreign  countries,  may,  by 
diminishing  the  vulgar  admiration  of  such  pests  and  scourges  of  the 
human  race,  as  military  conquerors  have  usually  proved,  advance  and  fa¬ 
cilitate  the  peaceful  intercourse  of  the  most  remote  countries  with  each 
other,  and  thereby  increase  the  general  stock  of  knowledge  and  happiness 
among  mankind.”  Vol.  1, 18. 

“Of  what  utility  to  us  at  this  day,  is  either  Nimrod,  Cyrus,  or  Alexan¬ 
der,  or  their  successors,  who  have  astonished  mankind  from  time  to  time  ? 
With  all  their  magnificence  and  vast  designs,  they  are  returned  into  nothing 
with  regard  to  us.  They  are  dispersed  like  vapors,  and  have  vanished 
like  phantoms.  But  the  inventors  of  the  arts  and  sciences  labored 
for  all  ages.  We  still  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  application  and  industry — 
they  have  procured  for  us,  all  the  conveniences  of  life — they  have  con¬ 
verted  all  nature  to  our  uses.  Yet,  all  our  admiration  turns  generally  on 
the  side  of  those  heroes  in  blood,  while  we  scarce  take  any  notice  of  what 
we  owe  to  the  inventors  of  the  arts.”  Rollings  Introduction  to  the  Arts 
and  Sciences  of  the  Ancients. 

Who  that  consults  history,  only  for  that  which  is  useful ,  would  not  pre¬ 
fer  to  peruse  a  journal  of  the  daily  manipulations  of  the  laborers  and  me¬ 
chanics  who  furnished  clothing,  arms,  culinary  utensils,  and  food  for  the 
armies  of  old — to  the  most  eloquent  descriptions  of  their  generals,  or  their 
battles  ]  And  as  it  is  now  with  respect  to  accounts  of  such  transactions 
in  past  ages — so  will  it  be  in  future  with  regard  to  similar  ones  of  mo¬ 
dern  times.  Narrations  of  political  convulsions,  recitals  of  battles,  and  of 
honors  conferred  on  statesmen  and  heroes,  while  dripping  with  human 
gore,  will  hereafter  be  unnoticed,  or  will  be  read  with  horror  and  disgust, 
while  DISCOVERIES  IN  SCIENCE  and  DESCRIPTIONS  OF  USEFUL  MACHINES, 
will  be  all  in  all. 

It  is  pleasing  to  anticipate  that  day,  which  the  present  extensive  and 
extending  diffusion  of  knowledge  is  about  to  usher  in,  when  despotism 


•  Plutarch’s  Life  of  Marcellus. 


4 


Workshops  of  the  Ancients, 


[Book  1. 


shall  no  longer  hold  the  great  mass  of  our  species,  in  a  state  of  unnatu¬ 
ral  ignorance,  and  of  physical  degradation,  beneath  that  of  the  beasts 
which  perish ;  but  when  the  mechanics  of  the  world,  the  creators  of  its 
wealth,  shall  exercise  that  influence  in  society  to  which  their  labors  en¬ 
title  them. 

If  we  judged  correctly  of  human  character,  we  should  admit  that  the 
mechanic  who  made  the  chair  in  which  Xerxes  sat,  when  he  reviewed 
his  mighty  host,  or  witnessed  the  sea  fight  at  Salamis,  was  a  more  use¬ 
ful  member  of  society  than  that  great  king : — and,  that  the  artisans 
who  constructed  the  drinking  vessels  of  Mardonius,  and  the  brass  man¬ 
gers  in  which  his  horses  were  fed,  were  really  more  worthy  of  posthu¬ 
mous  fame,  than  that  general,  or  the  monarch  he  served  :  and,  if  it  be 
more  virtuous,  more  praiseworthy,  to  alleviate  human  sufferings  than  to 
cause  or  increase  them  ;  then  that  old  mechanician,  who,  when  Marcus 
Sergius  lost  his  hand  in  the  Punic  war,  furnished  him  with  an  iron  one, 
was  an  incomparably  better  man,  than  that  or  any  other  mere  warrior: 
and  so  was  he,  who,  according  to  Herodotus,  constructed  an  artificial  foot 
for  Hegisostratus.a 

Notwithstanding  the  opinion  of  Plato — we  believe  a  description  of  the 
workshops  of  D.edalus,  and  of  Talus  his  nephew;  those  of  Theodo- 
rus  of  Samos  and  of  Glaucus  of  Chios,  (the  alleged  inventor  of  the  in¬ 
laying  of  metals  ;)  an  account  of  the  process  of  making  the  famous  Lesbian 
and  Dodonean  cauldrons,1*  and  of  the  method  by  which  those  celebrated 
paintings  in  glass,  were  executed,  fragments  of  which  have  come  down 
to  us,  and  which  have  puzzled,  and  still  continue  to  puzzle,  both  our  ar¬ 
tists  and  our  chemists ;  (the  figures  in  which,  of  the  most  minute  and  ex¬ 
quisite  finish,  pass  entirely  and  uniformly  through  the  glass  ;)c  if  to  these 
were  added,  the  particulars  of  a  working  jeweller’s  shop  of  Persepolis 
and  of  Troy;  of  a  lapidary’s  and  an  engraver’s  of  Memphis;  of  a  cut¬ 
ler’s  and  upholsterer’s  of  Damascus ;  and  of  a  cabinet  maker’s  and  bra¬ 
zier’s  of  Rome  ;  together  with  those  of  a  Sidonian  or  Athenian  ship  yard 
— such  a  record  would  have  been  more  truly  useful,  and  more  really  in¬ 
teresting,  than  almost  all  that  ancient  philosophers  ever  wrote,  or  poets 
ever  sung. 

A  description  of  the  foundries  and  forges  of  India  and  of  Egypt; 
of  Babylon  and  Byzantium ;  of  Sidon,  and  Carthage  and  Tyre  ;  would 
have  imparted  to  us  a  more  accurate  and  extensive  knowledge  of  the 
ancients,  of  their  manners  and  customs,  their  intelligence  and  progress  in 
science,  than  all  the  works  of  their  historians  extant;  and  would  have 
been  of  infinitely  greater  service  to  mankind. 

Had  a  narrative  been  preserved,  of  all  the  circumstances  which  led  to 
the  invention  and  early  applications  of  the  lever,  the  screw,  the  wedge, 
pulley,  wheel  and  axle,  &c.  ;  and  of  those  which  contributed  to  the 
discovery  and  working  of  the  metals,  the  use  and  management  of  fire, 
agriculture,  spinning  of'  thread,  matting  of  felt,  weaving  of  cloth,  &c.  it 
would  have  been  the  most  perfect  history  of  our  species — the  most  valua¬ 
ble  of  earthly  legacies.  Though  such  a  work  might  have  been  deemed  of 
trifling  import  by  philosophers  of  old,  with  what  intense  interest  would 
it  have  been  perused  by  scientific  men  in  modern  times !  .  and  what 
pure  delight  its  examination  would  have  imparted  to  every  inquisitive  and 
intelligent  mind ! 

Such  a  record,  would  not  only  have  filled  the  mighty  chasm  in  the  early 
history  of  the  world,  but  would  have  had  an  important  influence  in  pro- 


*  Herod,  ix,  37.  b  Eneid,  iii,  595,  and  v,  350.  Herod,  iv,  61.  c  Ed.  Encyc.  Art.  Glass. 


And  their  Tools. 


5 


Chap.  1.] 

moling  the  best  interests  of  our  race.  It  would  have  embraced  incidents 
respecting  man’s  early  wants,  and  his  rude  efforts  to  supply  them  ;  par¬ 
ticulars  respecting  eminent  individuals,  and  the  origin  of  antediluvian  dis¬ 
coveries  and  inventions,  &c.  of  such  thrilling  interest,  as  no  modern  no¬ 
velist  could  equal,  nor  the  most  fertile  imagination  surpass. 

It  w'ould  have  included  a  detail  of  those  eventful  experiments  in  which 
iron  was  first  cast  into  cauldrons,  forged  into  hatchets,  and  drawn  into 
wire ;  with  an  account  of  the  individuals,  by  whose  ingenuity  and  perse¬ 
verance,  these  invaluable  operations,  were,  for  the  first  time  on  this  pla¬ 
net,  successfully  performed.  Finally,  it  would  have  convinced  us,  that 
these  men  were  the  true  heroes  of  old,  the  genuine  benefactors  of  their 
species,  whose  labors  were  for  the  benefit  of  Till  ages,  and  all  people  ;  and 
an  account  of  whose  lives  (not  those  of  robbers,)  should  have  occupied  the 
pages  of  history,  and  whose  names  should  have  been  embalmed  in  ever¬ 
lasting  remembrance. 

A  chronological  account  of  a  few  mechanical  implements ,  would  have  af¬ 
forded  a  clearer  insight  into  the  state  of  society  in  remote  times,  than  any  wri¬ 
tings  now  subsisting.  Nay,  if  we  could  realize  a  complete  history  of  a  single 
tool,  asahammer,  asaw,  achisel,  a  hatchet,  an  auger,  or  a  loom,  it  would  form 
a  more  comprehensive  history  of  the  world,  than  has  ever  been,  or  perhaps 
ever  will  be  written.  Take  for  example  a  hammer;  what  a  multitude  of  in¬ 
teresting  circumstances  are  inseparably  connected  with  its  development 
and  early  uses  !  circumstances,  which,  if  we  were  in  possession  of,  would 
explain  almost  all  that  is  dark  and  mysterious  respecting  our  ancient  pro¬ 
genitors.  A  history  of  this  implement  would  embrace  the  origin  and  ge¬ 
neral  progress  of  all  the  useful  arts ;  and  wrould  elucidate  the  civil  and 
scientific  acquirements  of  man,  in  every  age.  It  would  open  to  our 
view,  the  public  and  private  economy  of  the  ancients ;  introduce  us  into 
the  interior  of  their  workshops,  their  dwellings  and  their  temples ;  it 
would  illustrate  their  manners,  politics,  religion,  superstition,  &c.  In  tra¬ 
cing  the  various  purposes  to  which  it  was  applied,  we  should  become  ac¬ 
quainted  with  all  the  material  transactions  in  the  lives  of  some  ancient  in¬ 
dividuals  from  their  birth  to  their  death ;  and  also,  with  the  circumstances 
which  led  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires.  Like  the  celebrated  “  History 
of  a  Guinea,”  it  would  open  to  our  inspection  all  the  minutiae  in  private 
and  public  life. 

How  infinitely  various,  are  the  materials,  sizes,  forms,  and  uses  of  the 
hammer  %  and  how  indicative  are  they  all  of  the  state  of  society  and  man- 
mers?  At  first,  a  club;  then  a  rude  mallet  of  wood  ;  next,  the  head  form¬ 
ed  of  stone,  and  bound  to  the  handle  by  withes,  or  by  the  sinews  of  ani¬ 
mals  ;  afterward,  the  heads  formed  of  metal.  These,  before  iron  or  steel 
was  known,  were  often  of  copper  and  even  of  gold;  and  subsequently, 
those  of  the  latter  material  were  faced,  like  some  ancient  chisels,  with  the 
more  scarce  and  expensive  iron.a 

Ancient  hammers  varied  as  now  in  size,  from  the  huge  sledge  of  the 
Cyclops,  to  the  portable  one,  with  which  Vulcan  chased  the  more  delicate 
work  on  the  shield  of  Achilles, — from  the  maul,  by  which  masses  of  ore 
were  separated  from  their  beds  in  the  mines,  to  the  diminutive  ones,  which 
Myrmecides  of  Miletus,  and  Theodorus  of  Samos,  used  to  fabricate  car¬ 
riages  and  horses  of  metal,  which  were  so  minute  as  to  be  covered  by  the 


a“  It  appears  that  in  the  tangible  remains  of  smelting  furnaces,  found  in  Siberia,  that 
gold  hammers,  knives,  chisels,  &c.  have  been  discovered,  the  edges  of  which  were  skil¬ 
fully  tipped  icith  iron ;  showing  the  scarcity  of  the  ore,  the  difficulty  of  manufacturing 
it,  and  the  plenty  and  apparently  trifling  value  of  the  other.”  Scientific  Tracts,  Bos¬ 
ton,  1833.  Vol.  iii,  411. 


6 


The  Hammer. 


[Book  I 

wings  of  a  fly.  Its  figure  lias  always  varied  with  its  uses,  and  none  but 
modem  workers  in  the  metals  can  realize  the  endless  variety  of  its  shapes, 
which  the  ancient  smiths  required,  to  fabricate  the  wonderfully  diversified 
articles  of  their  manuafcture :  from  the  massive  brazen  altars  and  chariots, 
to  the  chased  goblets,  and  invaluable  tripods  or  vases,  for  the  possession 
of  which,  whole  cities  contended. 

The  history  of  the  hammer  in  its  widest  range,  would  let  us  into  the 
secrets  of  the  statuaries  and  stone  cutters  of  old :  we  should  learn  the  pro¬ 
cess  of  making  those  metallic  compounds,  and  working  them  into  tools, 
with  which  the  Egyptian  mechanics  sculptured  those  indurate  columns 
that  resist  the  best  tempered  steel  of  modern  days.  It  would  introduce  us 
to  the  ancient  chariot  makers,  cutlers  and  armorers;  and  would  teach  us 
how  to  make  and  temper  the  blades  of  Damascus  ;  as  well  as  those  which 
were  forged  in  the  extensive  manufactory  of  the  father  of  Demosthenes. 
It  would  make  us  familiar  with  the  arts  of  the  ancient  carpenters,  coiners, 
coopers  and  jewellers.  We  should  learn  from  it,  the  process  of  forging 
dies  and  striking  money  in  the  temple  of  Juno  Moneta ;  of  making  the  bod¬ 
kins  and  pins  for  the  head  dresses  of  Greek  and  Roman  ladies  ;  while  at 
the  religious  festivals,  we  should  behold  other  forms  of  this  implement 
in  use,  to  knock  down  victims  for  sacrifice  by  the  altars. 

Finally,  a  perfect  history  of  the  hammer,  would  not  only  have  made  us 
acquainted  with  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  useful  arts,  among  the  pri 
meval  inhabitants  of  this  hemisphere ;  but  would  have  solved  the  great 
problems  respecting  their  connection  with,  and  migration  from  the  eastern 
world. 

But  although  we  justly  deplore  the  want  of  information  relating  to  the  arts 
in  general  of  the  remote  ancients ;  it  is  probable  that  few  of  their  devices  for 
raising  water  have  been  wholly  lost.  If  there  was  one  art  of  more  importance 
than  another  to  the  early  inhabitants  of  Central  Asia  and  the  valley  op  the 
Nile,  it  was  that  of  raising  water  for  agricultural  purposes.  Not  merely  their 
general  welfare,  but  their  very  existence  depended  upon  the  artificial  irriga¬ 
tion  of  the  land ;  hence  their  ingenuity  was  early  directed  to  the  construction 
of  machines  for  this  purpose  ;  and  they  were  stimulated  in  devising  them,  by 
the  most  powerful  of  all  inducements.  That  machines  must  have  been  indis¬ 
pensable  in  past,  as  in  present  times,  is  evident  from  the  climates  and  phy¬ 
sical  constitution  of  those  countries.  Their  importance  therefore,  and  uni¬ 
versal  use,  have  been  the  means  of  their  preservation.  Nor  is  it  probable 
that  any  of  them  were  ever  lost  in  the  numerous  political  convulsions  of 
old.  These  seldom  affected  the  pursuits  of  agriculture,  and  never  changed 
the  long  established  modes  of  cultivation ;  besides,  hydraulic  apparatus, 
from  their  utility,  were  as  necessary  to  the  conquerors  as  the  conquered.* 

Perhaps  in  no  department  of  the  useful  arts,  has  less  change  taken  place 
than  in  Asiatic  and  Egyptian  agriculture.  It  is  the  same  now,  that  it  was 
thousands  of  years  ago.  The  implements  of  husbandly,  modes  of  irriga¬ 
tion,  and  devices  for  raising  water  are  similar  to  those  in  use,  when  Ninus 
and  Nebuchadnezzar,  Sesostris,,  Solomon,  and  Cyrus  flourished.  And  it 
would  appear  that  the  same  uniformity  in  these  machines  prevailed  over  all 
the  east,  in  ancient  as  in  modern  times  :  a  fact  accounted  for,  by  the  great 
and  constant  intercourse  between  continental  and  neighboring  nations;  the 
practice  of  warriors,  of  transporting  the  inhabitants  and  especially  the  me¬ 
chanics  and  works  of  art,  into  other  lands ;  and  also  from  the  great  impor¬ 
tance  and  universal  use  of  artificial  irrigation. 


aBattJes  were  sometimes  fought  in  one  field,  while  laborers  were  cultivating  unmo¬ 
lested  the  land  of  an  adjoining  one. 


Chap.  1.]  Hydraulic  machines  of  the  Ancients  not  lost. 


7 


Every  part  of  the  eastern  world  has  often  had  its  inhabitants  torn  from 
it  by  war,  and  their  places  occupied  by  others.  This  practice  of  conque 
rors  was  sometimes  modified,  as  respected  the  peasantry  of  a  subdued 
country,  but  it  appears  that  from  very  remote  ages,  mechanics  were  inva¬ 
riably  carried  off.  The  Phenicians,  in  a  war  with  the  Jews,  deprived  them 
of  every  man  who  could  forge  iron.a  “There  was  no  smith  found  through¬ 
out  all  the  land  of  Israel;  for  the  Philistines  said,  lest  the  Hebrews  make 
swords  and  spears.”  Shalmanezer,  when  he  took  Samaria,  carried  the 
people  “  away  out  of  their  own  land  to  Assyria,  and  the  king  of  Assyria, 
brought  men  from  Babylon,  and  from  Cuthah,  and  from  Ava,  and  from 
Hamath,  and  from  Sepharvaim,  instead  of  the  children  of  Israel;  and  they 
possessed  Samaria,  and  dwelt  in  the  cities  thereof.”1*  When  Nebuchad¬ 
nezzar  took  Jerusalem,  he  carried  off,  with  the  treasure  of  the  temple,  “  all 
the  craftsmen  and  smiths.”  Jeremiah  says  he  carried  away  the  “carpen¬ 
ters  and  smiths,  and  brought  them  to  Babylon.”  Diodorus  says,  the  pa¬ 
laces  of  Persepolis  and  Susa  were  built  by  mechanics  thatCambyses  car¬ 
ried  from  Egypt.®  Ancient  history  is  full  of  similar  examples.  Alexan¬ 
der  practised  it  to  a  great  extent.  After  his  death,  there  was  found  among 
his  tablets,  a  resolution  to  build  several  cities,  some  in  Europe  and  some  in 
Asia;  and  his  design  was  to  people  those  in  Asia  with  Europeans,  and 
those  in  Europe  with  Asiatics/1  In  this  manner  some  of  the  most  useful 
arts,  necessarily  became  common  to  all  the  nations  of  old;  and  their  per¬ 
petuity  in  some  degrree  secured,  especially  such  as  related  to  the  tillage 
and  irrigation  of  the  soil. 

We  are  inclined  to  believe  that  the  hydraulic  machines  of  the  Assy¬ 
rians,  Babylonians,  Persians  and  Egyptians,  have  all,  or  nearly  all,  come 
down  to  us.  Most  of  them  have  been  continued  in  uninterrupted  use  in 
those  countries  to  the  present  times ;  while  others  have  reached  us  through 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  Saracens  and  Moors ;  or,  have  been  obtained 
in  modern  days  from  China  and  Hindostan. 

It  is  remarkable  that  almost  all  machines  for  raising  water,  originated 
with  the  older  nations  of  the  world;  neither  the  Greeks,  (if  the  screw  of 
Conon  be  excepted,  and  even  it  was  invented  in  Egypt,)  nor  the  Romans, 
added  a  single  one  to  the  ancient  stock ;  nor  is  this  surprising;  for  with 
few  exceptions,  those  in  use  at  the  present  day,  are  either  identical  with, 
or  but  modifications  of  those  of  the  ancients. 

It  is  alleged  that  Arehytas  of  Tarentum,  400,  B.  C.  invented  “ hydrau¬ 
lic  machines ,”  but  no  account  of  them  has  reached  our  times,  nor  do  we 
know  that  they  were  designed  to  raise  water.  They  consisted  probably, 
in  the  application  of  the  windlass  or  crane,  (the  latter  it  is  said  he  invent¬ 
ed)  to  move  machines  for  this  purpose.  Had  any  important  or  useful  ma¬ 
chine  for  raising  water,  been  devised  by  him,  it  would  have  been  continued 
in  use ;  and  would  certainly  have  been  noticed  by  Vitruvius,  who  was  ac¬ 
quainted  with  his  inventions,  and  who  mentions  him  several  times  in  his 
work.  1  b.  chap.  1.,  and  9  b.  chap.  3.® 

We  have  arranged  the  machines  described  in  this  work  in  five  classes; 
to  each  of  which,  a  separate  book  is  devoted.  A  few  chapters  of  the 
first  book,  are  occupied  with  remarks  on  water;  on  the  origin  of  ves- 


al  Sam.  chap,  xiii,  19,  22.  ^  Kings  chap,  xv-ii,  23,  24.  cGeguet,  Tom.  iii,  13. 
'’•Diodorus  Siculus,  quoted  by  Robertson.  India  page  191.  See  Wilkinson’s  Ancient 
Egyptians,  1  vol.  206. 

‘Arehytas  made  an  automaton  pigeon  of  wood  which  would  fly.  It  was  this  probably, 
which  gave  the  idea  to  the  modern  mechanician  of  Nuremburgh,  who  constructed  an 
eagle,  which  flew  towards  Charles  V.  on  bis  entrance  into  that  city 


[Book  I 


8  Division  of  the  Subject. 

sels  for  containing  it;  on  wells  and  fountains,  and  customs  connected 
with  them,  &c. 

Some  persons  are  apt  to  suppose  the  term  hydraulic  machines ,  compri. 
ses  every  device  for  raising  water;  but  such  is  not  the  fact.  Apparatus 
propelled  by  it,  as  tide  mills,  &c.  are  hydraulic  machines;  these  do  not 
raise  the  liquid  at  all;  while  on  the  contrary,  all  those  for  elevating  it, 
which  are  comprised  in  the  second  class,  are  pneumatic  or  hydro-pneumatic 
machines,  their  action  depending  on  the  pressure  and  elasticity  of  the  at¬ 
mosphere. 

Th e  first  Class  includes  those,  by  which  the  liquid  is  elevated  in  movable 
vessels,  by  mechanical  force  applied  to  the  latter. 

Water  raised  in  a  bucket,  suspended  to  a  cord,  and  elevated  by  the  hand, 
or  by  a  windlass ;  the  common  pole  and  bucket,  used  daily  in  our  rain  wa¬ 
ter  cisterns;  the  sweep  or  lever  so  common  among  our  farmers,  are  exam¬ 
ples  of  this  class;  so  are  the  various  wheels,  as  the  tympanum,  noria, 
chain  of  pots;  and  also  the  chain  pump,  and  its  modifications.  This  Class 
embraces  all  the  principal  machines  used  in  the  ancient  world;  and  the 
greater  part  of  modern  hydraulic  machinery  is  derived  from  it. 

The  second  Class  comprises  such  as  raise  water  through  tubes,  by  means 
of  the  elasticity  and  pressure,  or  weight  of  the  atmosphere;  as  sucking 
pumps,  so  named;  siphons,  syringes,  &c. 

The  aplication  of  these  machines,  unlike  those  of  the  first  class  is  limi¬ 
ted,  because  the  atmosphere  is  only  sufficient  to  support  a  column  of  water 
of  from  thirty  to  thirty  five  feet  in  perpendicular  height;  and  in  elevated 
countries,  (as  Mexico)  much  less.  Numerous  modifications  of  these  ma¬ 
chines  have  been  made  in  modern  times,  but  the  pump  itself  is  of  ancient 
origin. 

Those  which  act  by  compression  are  described  in  the  third  Class.  The 
liquid  being  first  admitted  into  a  close  vessel,  is  then  forcibly  expelled 
through  an  aperture  made  for  the  purpose.  In  some  machines  this  is  effect¬ 
ed  by  a  solid  body  impinging  on  the  surface  of  the  liquid;  as  the  piston 
of  a  pump :  in  others,  the  weight  of  a  column  of  water,  is  used  to  accom¬ 
plish  the  same  purpose. 

Syringes,  fire  engines,  pumps  which  are  constructed  on  the  same  princi¬ 
ple  as  the  common  bellows,  are  examples  of  the  former;  and  the  famous 
machine  at  Chemnitz  in  Hungary,  Heron’sfountain,  pressure  engines,  of 
the  latter.  Nor  can  the  original  invention  of  these  be  claimed  by  the  mod¬ 
erns.  Like  the  preceding,  they  were  first  developed  by  the  energy  of  an¬ 
cient  intellects. 

Fourth  Class.  There  is  however  another  class,  which  embraces  several 
machines,  which  are  supposed  to  be  exclusively  of  modern  origin ; 
and  some  of  them  are  by  far  the  most  interesting  and  philosophical  of  all. 
Such  as  the  Belier  hydraulique,  or  ram  of  Montgolfier ;  the  centrifugal 
pump;  the  fire  engine,  so  named  because  it  raised  water  “by  the  help  of 
fire;”  that  is,  the  original  steam  engine,  or  machine  of  Worcester,  More¬ 
land,  Savaiy  and  Papin. 

In  the  fifth  Cl  ass,  we  have  noticed  such  modem  devices,  as  are  either 
practically  useful,  or  interesting  from  their  novelty,  or  the  principles  upon 
which  they  act.  An  account  of  siphons  is  comprised  in  this  class.  Re  ¬ 
marks  on  natural  modes  of  raising  water.  Observations  on  cocks,  pipes* 
valves,  &c;  and  some  general  reflections  are  added. 


Chap.  2.] 


Water. 


9 


CHAPTER  II. 

Water — Its  importance  in  the  economy  of  nature — Forms  part  of  all  substances — Food  of  all  ani¬ 
mals — Great  physical  changes  effected  by  it — Earliest  source  of  inanimate  motive  power — Its  distribu¬ 
tion  over  the  earth  not  uniform — Sufferings  of  the  orientals  from  waut  of  water — A  knowledge  of  this 
necessary  to  understand  their  writers — Political  ingenuity  of  Mahomet — Water  a  prominent  feature  in 
the  paradise  of  the  Asiatics — Camels  often  slain  by  travellers,  to  obtain  water  from  their  stomachs — 
Cost  of  a  draught  of  such  water — Hydraulic  machine  referred  to  in  Ecclesiastes — The  useful  arts  origi¬ 
nated  in  Asia — Primitive  modes  of  procuring  water — Using  the  hand  as  a  cup — Traditions  respecting 
Adam — Scythian  tradition — Palladium — Observations  on  the  primitive  state  of  man  and  the  origin  of 
the  arts. 

Water  is,  in  many  respects,  the  most  important  substance  known  to  man : 
it  is  more  extensively  diffused  throughout  nature  than  almost  any  other.  It 
covers  die  greater  part  of  the  earth’s  surface,  and  is  found  to  pervade  its 
interior  wherever  excavations  are  made.  It  enters  intd  every  or  nearly 
every  combination  of  matter,  and  was  supposed  by  some  ancient  philoso¬ 
phers,  to  be  the  origin  of  all  matter;  the  primordial  element;  of  which 
every  object  in  nature  was  formed.  The  mineral  kingdom,  with  its  varie¬ 
gated  substances  and  chrystalizations ;  the  infinitely  diversified  and  enchan¬ 
ting  productions  of  the  vegetable  world;  and  every  living  being  in  anima¬ 
ted  nature,  were  supposed  to  be  so  many  modifications  of  this  aqueous  fluid. 
According  to  Vitruvius,  the  Egyptian  priests  taught,  that  “all  things  con¬ 
sist  of  water;”a  and  Egypt  was  doubtless  the  source  whence  Thales  and 
others  derived  the  doctrine.  Pliny,  says  “  this  one  element  seemeth  to 
rule  and  command  all  the  rest.”b  And  it  was  remarked  by  Pindar — 

"Of  all  things,  water  is  the  best.” 

Modern  science  has  shown  that  it  is  not  a  simple  substance,  but  is  com¬ 
posed  of  at  least  two  others ;  neither  of  which,  it  is  possible,  is  elementary. 

Water  not  only  forms  part  of  the  bodies  of  all  animals,®  but  it  constitutes 
the  greatest  portion  of  their  food.  Every  comfort  of  civilized  or  savage  life 
depends  more  or  less  upon  it;  and  life  itself  cannot  be  sustained  without  it. 
If  there  were  no  rains  or  fertilizing  dews,  vegetation  would  cease,  and  every 
animated  being  would  perish.  Even  terrestrial  animals  may  be  considered  as 
existing  in  water,  for  the  atmosphere  in  which  we  live  and  move,  is  an  im¬ 
mense  aerial  reservoir  of  it,  and  one  more  capacious  than  all  the  seas  on 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

Water  is  also  the  prominent  agent,  by  which  those  great  physical  and 
chemical  changes  are  effected,  which  the  earth  is  continually  undergoing; 
and  the  stupendous  effects  produced  by  it,  through  the  long  series  of  past 
ages,  have  given  rise,  in  modern  times,  to  some  of  the  most  interesting 
departments  of  physical  science. 

The  mechanical  effects  produced  by  it,  render  it  of  the  highest  impor¬ 
tance  in  the  arts.  It  was  the  earliest  source  of  inanimate  motive  power; 
and  has  contributed  more  than  all  other  agents  to  the  amelioration  of  man’s 
condition.  By  its  inertia  in  a  running  stream,  and  by  its  gravity  in  a  falling 
one,  it  has  superseded  much  human  toil;  and  has  administered  to  our 
wants,  our  pleasures  and  our  profits;  and  by  its  expansion  into  the  aeriform 

Proem  to  b.  viii.  >>  Nat.  Hist,  xxxi,  1. 

CA  human  corpse  which  weighed  an  hundred  and  sixty  pounds — when  the  moistura 
was  evaporated,  weighed  but  twelve. 


10 


Religious  Opinions  respecting  Water. 


[Book  I. 


state,  it  appears  to  be  destined,  (through  the  steam  engine)  to  accomplish 
the  greatest  moral  and  physical  changes,  which  the  intellectual  inhabitants 
of  this  planet  have  ever  experienced,  since  our  species  became  its  denizens. 

The  distribution  of  water  is  not  uniform  over  the  earth’s  surface,  nor  yet 
under  its  crust.  While  in  some  countries,  natural  fountains,  capacious  rivers, 
and  frequent  rains,  present  abundant  sources  for  all  the  purposes  of  human 
life  ;  in  others,  it  is  extremely  scarce,  and  procured  only  with  difficulty,  and 
constant  labor.  This  has  ever  been  the  case  in  various  parts  of  Asia,  and 
also  in  Egypt  and  other  parts  of  Africa,  where  rain  seldom  falls.  It  is 
only  from  a  knowledge  of  this  fact  and  of  the  temperature  and  debilitating 
influences  of  eastern  climates,  that  we  are  enabled  to  appreciate  the  pecu¬ 
liar  force  and  beauty  of  numerous  allusions  to  water,  which  pervade  all 
the  writings  of  eastern  authors,  both  sacred  and  profane.  Nor  without 
this  knowledge  could  we  understand  many  of  the  peculiar  customs  of  the 
people  of  the  east. 

Mahomet  well  knew  that  his  followers,  living  under  the  scorching 
rays  of  the  sun,  their  flesh  shrivelled  with  the  desiccating  influences  of 
the  air,  and  “  dried  up  with  thirst,”  could  only  be  moved  to  embrace  his 
doctrines  by  such  promises  as  he  made  them,  of  “  springs  of  living  waters,” 
“security  in  shades,”  “  amidst  gardens”  and  “  fountains  pouring  forth  plen¬ 
ty  of  water.”a  Nor  could  his  ingenuity  have  devised  a  more  appropriate 
punishment,  than  that  with  which  he  threatened  unbelieving  Arabs  in  hell. 
They  were  to  have  no  mitigation  of  their  torments;  no  cessation  of  them, 
except  at  certain  intervals,  when  they  were  to  take  copious  draughts  of 
“filthy  and  boiling  water.”b  It  was  universally  believed  by  the  ancients, 
that  the  manes  of  their  deceased  friends  experienced  a  suspension  of 
punishment  in  the  infernal  regions,  while  partaking  of  the  provisions  which 
their  relatives  placed  on  their  graves.  The  Arabian  legislator  improved 
upon  the  tradition. 

The  orientals  have  always  considered  water,  either  figuratively  or  lite¬ 
rally,  as  one  of  the  principal  enjoyments  of  a  future  state.  Gardens, 
shades,  and  fountains,  are  the  prominent  objects  in  their  paradise.  In  the 
Revelations  we  are  told  “  the  Lamb  shall  lead  them,  (the  righteous,)  un¬ 
to  living  fountains  of  waters.”  Chap,  vii,  17. — “  A  pure  river  of  water  of 
life.”  Chap,  xxii,  1.  The  book  which  contains  an  account  of  the  religion 
and  philosophy  of  the  Hindoos,  is  named  anbertkend,  signifying,  “  the 
cistern  of  the  waters  of  life.”6 

Inhabitants  of  temperate  climates,  seldom  or  never  experience  that  ex¬ 
cruciating  thirst  implied  in  such  expressions  as  “  the  soul  panting  for  wa¬ 
ter;”  nor  that  extremity  of  despair  when,  under  such  suffering,  the  exhaus¬ 
ted  traveller  arrives  at  a  place  “  where  no  water  is.”  Under  these  cir¬ 
cumstances,  the  orientals  have  often  been  compelled  to  slay  their  camels, 
for  the  sake  of  the  water  they  might  find  in  their  stomachs ;  and  a  sum 
exceeding  five  hundred  dollars,  has  been  given  for  a  single  draught  of  it. 

It  is  necessary  to  experience  something  like  this,  in  order  fully  to  com¬ 
prehend  the  importance  of  the  Savior’s  precept,  respecting  the  giving  “  a 
cup  of  cold  water,”  and  to  know  the  real  value  of  such  a  gift.  We  should 
then  see  that  sources  of  this  liquid  are  to  the  orientals,  literally  “ fountains 
of  life ,”  and  “  wells  of  salvation .”  And  when  we  become  acquainted  with 
their  methods  of  raising  water,  we  shall  perceive  how  singularly  apposite 
are  those  illustrations,  which  the  author  of  Ecclesiastes  has  drawn  from  “the 
pitcher  broken  at  the  fountain;”  and  from  “the  wheel  broken  at  the  cis¬ 
tern.”  Chap,  xii,  6. 


‘Sale’s  Koran,  chaps.  55, 76, 83.  b  Koran,  chaps.  14, 22,  37.  'Million  of  Facts,  p.  253. 


Chap.  2.] 


'Primitive  Modes  of  Quenching  Thirst. 


11 


In  attempting  to  discover  the  origin,  and  to  trace  the  progress  of  the  art 
of  raising  water,  we  must  have  recourse  to  Asia,  the  birthplace  of  the  arts 
and  sciences;  from  whence,  as  from  a  centre,  they  have  become  extended 
to  the  circumference  of  the  earth.  It  was  there  the  original  families  of 
our  race  dwelt,  and  the  inventive  faculties  of  man  were  first  developed.  It 
was  from  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  that  continent  that  much  of  the  know¬ 
ledge,  nearly  all  the  arts,  and  not  a  few  of  the  machines  which  we  possess 
at  this  day,  were  derived. 

That  man  at  the  first  imitated  the  lower  animals  in  quenching  his  thirst  at 
the  running  stream,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  was  natural,  and  because  it 
was  so,  his  descendants  have  always  been  found,  when  under  similar  cir¬ 
cumstances,  to  follow  his  example.  The  inhabitants  of  New  Holland,  and 
other  savages  quench  their  thirst  in  this  manner,  (i.  e.  by  laying  down.) 
The  Indians  of  California  were  observed  by  Shelvock  in  1719,  to  pursue 
the  same  method.  “  When  they  want  to  drink  they  go  to  the  river.”a 

The  heathen  deities,  who  in  general  were  distinguished  men  and  wo¬ 
men,  that  were  idolized  after  death,  are  represented  as  practising  this  and 
similar  primeval  customs.  Thus  Ovid  describes  Latona  on  a  journey,  and 
languishing  with  thirst,  she  arrives  at  a  brook, 

. And  kneeling  on  the  brink 

Stooped  at  the  fresh  repast,  prepared  to  drink, 

But  was  hindered  by  the  rabble  race.  Mctam.  vi,  500. 

When  circumstances  rendered  it  difficult  to  reach  the  liquid  with  the 
mouth,  then  “  the  hollow  of  the  hand  ”  was  used  to  transfer  it. 

Gideon’s  soldiers  pursued  both  modes  in  allaying  their  thirst  ;b  and  it 
was  the  practice  of  the  last,  which  Diogenes  witnessed  in  a  boy  at  Athens, 
which  induced  that  philosopher  to  throw  away  his  jug,  as  an  implement  no 
longer  necessary. 

Virgil  represents  Eneas  practising  it : 

Then  water  in  his  hollow  palm  he  took 
From  Tyber’s  flood.  En.  viii,  95.  Dryden. 

And  Titrnus ,  in  the  absence  of  a  suitable  vessel,  made  libations  in  the 
same  way.  The  practice  was  common. 

. As  by  the  brook  he  stood, 

He  scooped  the  water  from  the  chrystal  flood  ; 

Then  with  his  hands  the  drops  to  heaven  he  throws, 

And  loads  the  powers  above  with  offered  vows. 

“  At  sunrise,  the  Bramins  take  water  out  of  a  tank  with  the  hollow  of  their 
hands,  which  they  throw  sometimes  behind  and  sometimes  before  them,  in¬ 
voking  Brama.”c 

Herodotus,  describing  the  Nasamones,  an  ancient  people  of  northern 
Africa,  observes,  “  when  they  pledge  their  word,  they  drink  alternately 
from  each  other’s  hands (b.  iv,  172.)  a  custom  still  retained  among  their 
descendants.  It  is,  according  to  Dr.  Shaw,  “  the  only  ceremony  that  is 
used  by  the  Algerines  in  their  marriages.”  (Travels,  p.  303.) 

A  Hindoo,  says  Mr.  Ward,  “  drinks  out  of  a  brass  cup  or  takes  up  li¬ 
quids  in  the  balls  of  his  hands.”  (View  of  the  Hindoos,  p.  130.)  This  mode 
of  drinking  may  appear  to  us  constrained  and  awkward ;  but  in  warm  cli¬ 
mates,  the  flexibility  of  the  human  body,  and  custom,  make  the  performance 
of  it  easy  and  not  ungraceful. 

“  I  drank  repeatedly  as  I  walked  along,  wherever  the  pebbles  at  the 
bottom  gleamed  clearest — just  deep  enough  to  use  one's  hand  as  a  cup.’* 


*  Voyages  round  the  World,  ii,  231.  Lon.  1774  b  Judges,  vii,  5,  6. 
eSonnerat,  Voyage  to  the  East  Indies  and  China,  i.  161.  Calcutta,  1789. 


12 


Traditions  of  Man, 


[Book  I. 


(Lord  Lindsay’s  Travels,  letter  7,  Arabia.)  Another  English  traveller  no¬ 
ticed  women  in  India  use  “  their  hands  as  ladles  to  fill  their  pitchers.” 

Some  writers  suppose  that  Adam,  at  the  beginning  of  his  existence,  was 
not  subject  to  such  inconvenient  modes  of  supplying  his  natural  wants. 
They  will  have  it,  that  he  possessed  the  knowledge  of  a  philosopher,  and 
was  equally  expert  as  a  modem  mechanic,  in  applying  it  to  the  practical 
purposes  of  life.  It  need  scarcely  be  remarked,  that  this  is  imaginary  :  we 
might  as  well  credit  the  visionary  tales  of  the  rabbis,  or  digest  the  equally 
authentic  accounts  of  Mahomedan  writers.  According  to  these,  Adam  must 
have  been  a  blacksmith,  for  he  brought  down  from  paradise  with  him,  five 
things  made  of  iron ;  an  anvil,  a  pair  of  tongs ,  two  hammers,  a  large  and  a 
small  one,  and  a  needle!  Analogous  to  this  is  the  affirmation  of  the  Scyth¬ 
ians,  mentioned  by  Herodotus,®  that  there  fell  from  heaven  into  the  Scythian 
district,  four  things  made  of  gold;  a  plough,  a  yoke,  an  axe,  and  a  goblet. 
The  palladium  of  Troy,  it  was  said,  also,  fell  down  from  heaven.  It  was 
a  small  statue  of  Pallas,  holding  a  distaff  and  spindled 

We  believe  there  is  no  authority  in  the  bible,  either  for  the  superiority 
of  Adam’s  knowledge,  or  of  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed  : 
on  the  contrary,  Moses  represents  him  and  his  :  immediate  descendants,  in 
that  rude  state,  in  which  all  the  original  and  distinct  tribes  of  men  have  been 
found  at  one  time  or  another ;  living  on  the  spontaneous  productions  of  the 
earth,  on  fruits  and  roots ;  ignorant  of  the  existence  and  use  of  the  metals,  (and 
there  could  be  no  civilization  where  these  were  unknown;)  naked  and  in¬ 
sensible  of  the  advantages  of  clothing :  in  process  of  time,  using  a  slight  co¬ 
vering  of  leaves,  or  other  vegetable  productions,  and  subsequently  applying 
the  skins  of  animals  to  the  same  purpose ;  then  constructing  huts  or  dwellings 
of  the  leaves  and  branches  of  trees;  attaining  the  knowledge  of,  and  use  of 
fire  ;  and  making  slight  attempts  to  cultivate  the  earth;  for  slight  indeed  they 
must  have  been,  in  the  infancy  of  the  human  race,  before  animal  power 
was  applied  to  agricultural  labor,  or  the  implements  of  husbandry  were 
known.  Of  these  last,  rude  implements  formed  of  sticks,  might  have  been, 
and  probably  were  used,  as  they  have  been  by  rude  people  in  all  ages. 
Virgil’s  description  of  the  aborigines  of  Italy,  previous  to  the  reign  of 
Saturn,  is  merely  a  poetic  version  of  traditions  of  man  in  primeval  times : 

Nor  laws  they  knew,  nor  manners,  nor  the  care 
Of  lab’ring  oxen,  nor  the  shining  share,  (the  plough.) 

Nor  arts  of  gain,  nor  what  they  gained  to  spare. 

Their  exercise  the  chase  :  the  running  flood 
Supplied  their  thirst :  the  trees  supplied  their  food. 

Then  Saturn  came.  En.  viii,  420. 

Vitruvius  says,  “  In  ancient  times,  men,  like  wild  beasts,  lived  in  forests, 
caves,  and  groves,  feeding  on  wild  food;  and  that  they  acquired  the  art  of 
producing  fire,  from  observing  it  evolved  from  the  branches  of  trees,  when 
violently  rubbed  against  each  otheb,  during  tempestuous  winds.”6 

Similar  traditions  of  their  ancestors  were  preserved  by  all  die  ancient 
nations,  and  some  of  their  religious  ceremonies  were  based  upon  them. 
Thus  at  the  Plynteria,  a  festival  of  the  Greeks  in  honor  of  Minerva,  it  was 
customary  to  carry  in  the  procession  a  cluster  of  figs,  which  intimated  the 
progress  of  civilization  among  the  first  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  as  figs  served 
them  for  food,  after  they  had  acquired  a  disrelish  for  acorns.  The  Arca¬ 
dians  eat  apples  till  the  Lacedemonians  warred  with  them.d 

The  oak  was  revered  because  it  afforded  man  in  the  first  ages,  both  food 
and  drink,  by  its  acorns  and  honey,  (bees  frequently  making  their  hives 

a  iv,  5.  b  These  and  similar  traditions  of  other  people,  indicate  the  extreme  antiquity 
»f  the  implements  named.  The  ancients  were  as  ignorant  of  their  origin  as  we  are. 

c  ii,  1.  d  Plutarch  in  Alcibiades  and  Coriolanus. 


In  Primeval  Times. 


13 


t^hap.  2.] 

upon  it,)  and  from  this  circumstance  probably,  was  it  made  “  sacred  to  Jupi¬ 
ter.”  The  elder  Pliny,  in  the  proem  to  his  16th  book,  speaks  of  trees 
which  bear  mast,  which  says  he,  “  ministered  the  first  food  unto  our  fore¬ 
fathers.”  Thus  Ovid  in  his  description  of  the  golden  age : — 

The  teeming  earth,  yet  guiltless  of  the  plough, 

And  unprovoked,  did  fruitful  stores  allow  : 

Content  with  food  which  nature  freely  bred, 

On  wildings  and  on  strawberries  they  fed  ; 

Cornels  and  bramble-berries  gave  the  rest, 

And  falling  acorns  furnished  out  the  feast.  Metam.  ii,  135. 

In  the  ancient  histories  of  the  Chinese,  it  is  recorded  of  their  remote  an¬ 
cestors,  that  they  were  entirely  naked  and  lived  in  caves ;  their  food  wild 
herbs  and  fruits,  and  the  raw  flesh  of  animals ;  until  the  art  of  obtaining 
fire  by  the  rubbing  of  two  sticks  together  was  discovered,  and  husbandry 
introduced. 

There  are  persons  however,  who  suppose  it  dishonoring  the  Creator,  to 
imagine  that  Adam,  the  immediate  work  of  his  hands,  and  the  intellectual 
and  moral  head  of  the  human  family,  should  at  any  period  of  his  existence 
have  been  destitute  of  many  of  those  resources  which  the  Indians  of  our 
continent,  and  other  savages  possess  ;  although  it  is  evident,  that  some 
time  must  have  elapsed  before  he  could  realize,  (if  he  ever  did,)  all  the 
conveniences  which  even  they  enjoy. 

There  is  nothing  unreasonable  or  unscriptural  in  supposing  that  all  the 
primitive  arts  originated  in  man’s  immediate  wants.  Indeed,  they  could 
not  have  been  introduced  in  any  other  way,  for  it  is  preposterous  to  sup¬ 
pose  the  Creator  would  directly  reveal  an  art  to  man,  the  utility  of  which 
he  could  not  perceive,  and  the  exercise  of  which  his  wants  did  not  require. 

Nor  could  any  art  have  been  preserved  in  the  early  ages,  except  it  fur¬ 
nished  conveniences  which  could  not  otherwise  be  procured.  On  no 
other  consideration  could  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  world  have  been  in¬ 
duced  to  practice  it.  But  when  success  attended  the  exercise  of  their  in¬ 
genuity  in  devising  means  to  supply  their  natural  and  artificial  wants,  the 
simple  arts  would  be  gradually  introduced,  and  their  progress  and  perpe¬ 
tuity  secured  by  practice  and  by  that  alone. 

This  appears  to  have  been  the  opinion  of  the  ancients: 

Jove  willed  that  man,  by  long  experience  taught, 

Should  various  arts  invent  by  gradual  thought.  Geor.  i,  150. 


14 


Original  Water  Vessels 


rBook  l 

L. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Origin  or  Vessels  for  containing  water — The  Calabash  the  first  one — It  has  always  been  used — 
Found  by  Columbus  in  the  cabins  of  Americans — Inhabitants  of  New  Zealand,  Java,  Sumatra,  and  of 
the  Pacific  Islands  employ  it— Principal  vessel  of  the  Africans — Curious  remark  of  Pliny  respecting  it 
— Common  among  the  ancient  Mexicans,  Romans  and  Egyptians — Offered  by  the  latter  people  ^>n  their 
altars — The  model  after  which  vessels  of  capacity  were  originally  formed — Its  figure  still  preserved  in 
several — Ancient  American  vessels  copied  from  it — Peruvian  bottles — Gurgulets — The  form  of  the  Cala¬ 
bash  prevailed  in  the  vases  and  goblets  of  the  ancients— Extract  from  Persius’  Satires— Ancient  veisels 
for  heating  water  modeled  after  it — Pipkin— Sauce-pan — Anecdote  of  a  Roman  Dictator — The  com¬ 
mon  cast  iron  cauldron,  of  great  antiquity;  similar  in  shape  to  those  used  in  Egypt,  in  the  time  of  Ra- 
meses  —Often  referred  to  in  the  Bible  and  in  the  Iliad — Grecian,  Roman,  Celtic,  Chinese,  aud  Peruvian 
cauldions — Expertness  of  Chinese  tinkers— Croesus  and  the  Delphic  oracle— Uniformity  in  the  figure 
of  cauldrons— Cause  of  this— Superiority  of  their  form  over  straight  sided  boilers— Braz-eu  cauldrons 
highly  prized — Water  Pots  of  the  Hindoos — Women  drawing  water — Anecdote  of  Darius  and  a 
young  female  of  Sardis — Dexterity  of  oriental  women  in  balancing  water  pots — Origin  of  the  Canopus 
—Ingenuity  and  fraud  of  an  Egyptian  priest — Ecclesiastical  deceptions  in  the  middle  ages. 

Water  being  equally  necessary  as  more  solid  food,  man  would  early  be 
impelled  by  bis  appetite,  to  procure  it  in  larger  quantities  than  were  re¬ 
quired  to  allay  his  thirst  upon  a  single  occasion;  and,  also  the  means  by 
which  he  might  convey  it  with  him,  in  his  wanderings,  and  to  his  family. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  this  was  the  first  of  man’s  natural  wants  which 
required  the  exercise  of  his  inventive  faculties  to  supply.  The  luxuri¬ 
ance  of  the  vegetable  region,  in  which  all  agree  that  he  was  placed,  fur¬ 
nished  in  abundance  the  means  that  he  sought ;  and  which  his  natural  sa¬ 
gacity  -would  lead  him,  almost  instinctively,  to  adopt.  The  calabash  or 
gourd,  was  probably  the  first  vessel  used  by  man  for  collecting  and  con¬ 
taining  water:  and  although  we  have  no  direct  proof  of  this,  there  is 
evidence,  (that  may  be  deemed  equally  conclusive,)  in  the  general  fact — 
that  man,  in  the  infancy  of  the  arts,  has  always,  when  under  similar  cir¬ 
cumstances,  adopted  the  same  means,  to  accomplish  the  same  objects.  Of 
this,  proofs  innumerable,  might  be  adduced  from  the  history  of  the  old 
world,  particularly  with  regard  to  the  uses  and  application  of  natural 
productions;  and  when  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  Columbus 
opened  the  way  to  a  new  world,  having  in  his  search  after  one  continent  dis¬ 
covered  another  (of  which  neither  he,  nor  his  contemporaries  ever  dreamt, 
and  which  in  extent  exceeded  all  that  his  visions  ever  portrayed;)  he  found 
the  calabash  the  principal  vessel  in  use  among  the  inhabitants,  both  for 
containing  and  transporting  water. 

The  calabashes  of  the  Indians,  (says  Washington  Irving,)  served  all 
the  purposes  of  glass  and  earthenware,  supplying  them  with  all  sorts  of  do¬ 
mestic  utensils.  They  are  produced  on  stately  trees,  of  the  size  of  elms.®  The 
New  Zealanders  possessed  no  other  vessel  for  holding  liquids  ;  and  the 
same  remark  is  applicable  at  the  present  day  to  numerous  savage  tribes. 
Osbeck,  in  his  Voyage  to  China,  remarks,  that  the  Javanese  sold  to  Eu¬ 
ropean  ships,  among  other  necessaries,  “  bottles  of  gourds  filled  with  wa¬ 
ter,  as  it  is  made  up  for  their  own  use.”b 

When  Kotzebue  was  at  Owhyhee,  Tamaahmaah  the  king,  although  he 


•Irving’s  Colum.  i,  105,  and  Penny  Mag.  for  1834,  p.  416.  b  i,  150. 


Chap.  3  ] 


The  Calabash. 


15 


possessed  elegant  European  table  utensils,  used  at  dinner,  a  gourd  contain¬ 
ing  taro-dough,  into  which  he  dipped  his  fingers,  and  conveyed  it  by 
them  to  his  mouth,  observing  to  the  Russian  navigator,  “  this  is  the  cus¬ 
tom  in  my  country  and  I  will  not  depart  from  it.”a  This  conduct  of  Ta- 
maahmaah,  resembled  that  of  Motezuma.  Solis  observes,  that  he  ha  I 
“  cups  of  gold  and  salvers  of  the  same,”  but  that  he  sometimes  drank  out 
of  cocoas  and  natural  shells.b 

When  Kotzebue  revisited  the  Radack  Islands,  “  he  carried  to  them 
seeds  of  gourds  for  valuable  vessels,”  as  well  as  others  of  which  the 
fruit  is  eaten.0 

“  There  is  a  gourd  more  esteemed  by  the  inhabitants  of  Johanna  for 
the  large  shell,  than  for  the  meat.  It  will  hold  a  pailful.  Its  figure  is 
like  a  man’s  head,  and  therefore  called  a  calabash. ”d 

The  people  of  Sumatra  drink  out  of  the  fruit  called  labu,  resembling 
the  calabash  of  the  West  Indies  :  a  hole  being  made  in  the  side  of  the 
neck  and  another  one  at  the  top  for  vent.  In  drinking  they  generally 
hold  the  vessel  at  a  distance  above  their  mouths,  (like  the  ancient  Greeks 
and  Romans)  and  catch  the  stream  as  it  falls;  the  liquid  descending  to  the 
stomach  without  the  action  of  swallowing.0 

The  Japanese  have  a  tradition  that  the  first  man  owed  his  being  to  a 
calabash/ 

Capt.  Harris,  in  his  “  Wild  sports  of  Southern  Africa”  (chap,  xvii.)  in 
describing  the  residence  of  the  king  of  Kapaue,  observes,  “  the  furniture 
consisted  exclusively  of  calabashes  of  beer,  ranged  round  the  wall.”  And 
again  in  chap,  xx  : — “  a  few  melons,  rather  deserving  the  name  of  vegeta¬ 
bles,  were  the  only  fruit  we  met  with  ;  and  these  I  presume  are  nurtured 
chiefly  for  the  gourd,  which  becomes  their  calabash  or  water  flagon.” 

Clavigero  says,  “  the  drinking  vessels  of  the  ancient  Mexicans,  were 
made  of  a  fruit  similar  to  gourds.”^ 

For  such  purposes,  the  calabash  has  ever  been  used  wherever  it  was 
known,  and  will  continue  to  be  so,  as  long  as  it  grows  and  man  lives. 

The  elder  Pliny,  in  speaking  of  the  cultivation  of  gourds,  a  species  of 
which  were  used  as  food  by  the  Romans,  observes,  “  of  late  they  have 
been  used  in  baths  and  hot  houses  for  pots  and  pitchers ;”  but  he  adds, 
that  they  were  used  in  ancient  times  to  contain  wine,  “  in  place  of  rund- 
lets  and  barrels.”  From  him  we  learn  that  the  ancients  had  discovered 
the  means  of  controlling  their  forms  at  pleasure.  He  says,  long  gourds  are 
produced  from  seeds  taken  from  the  neck ;  while  those  from  the  middle 
produce  round  or  spherical  ones,  and  those  from  the  sides,  bring  forth  such 
as  are  short  and  thicks 

Among  the  offerings  which  the  Egyptians  placed  on  their  altars,  was 
the  gourd.  An  undeniable  proof  of  its  value  in  their  estimation;  for  no¬ 
thing  was  ever  offered  by  the  ancients  to  their  gods,  which  was  not  highly 
esteemed  by  themselves.1  The  consecration  of  this  primeval  vessel,  in 
common  with  other  objects  of  ancient  sacrifice,  doubtless  originated  in  its 
universal  use  in  the  early  ages;  and  most  likely  gave  rise  to  the  subse¬ 
quent  practice  of  dedicating  cups  and  goblets,  of  gold,  silver,  and  some¬ 
times  of  precious  stones. 

As  the  gourd  or  calabash  was  not  only  the  first  vessel  used  to  collect 
and  convey  water,  but  one  apparently  designed  by  the  Creator  for  these 
purposes,  a  figure  of  it  is  here  given. 

*  Y.°ya?e  Discov.  Lon.  1821.  i,  313,  and  ii,  193.  b  Conquest  Mexico,  Lon.  1724.  iii,  83. 

e  iii,  175.  d  A  New  Account  of  East  India  and  Persia,  by  Dr.  Fryer.  Lon.  1698.  17 

«Marden’s  Suraat.  61.  fMontanus’  Japan.  275.  e  Hist,  of  Mexico.  Lon.  1837.  i.  438. 

k  Nat.  Hist,  xix,  5.  '  Wilkinson  i,  276. 


16 


Ancient  Vases. 


[Book  I. 


This  interesting  production  of  nature  is  entitled  to  par¬ 
ticular  notice,  because,  it  is,  in  all  probability,  the  original 
model  of  the  earliest  artificial  vessels  of  capacity ;  the 
pattern  from  which  they  were  formed.  It  is  impossible 
to  glance  at  the  figure  without  recognizing  its  striking  re¬ 
semblance  to  our  jugs,  flasks,  jars,  demijohns,  &c.  In¬ 
deed  when  man  first  began  to  make  vessels  of  clay,  he 
had  no  other  pattern  to  guide  him  in  their  formation  but 
this,  one  with  which  he  had  been  so  long  familiar,  and  the 
figure  of  which  experience  had  taught  him  was  so  well 
adapted  to  his  wants.  Independent  of  other  advantages  of  this  form,  it 
is  the  best  to  impart  strength  to  fragile  materials. 

That  the  long  necked  vases  of  the  ancients  were  modeled  after  it,  is 
obvious.  Many  of  them  differ  nothing  from  it  in  form,  except  in  the  ad¬ 
dition  of  a  handle  and  base.  The  oldest  vessels  figured  in  the  Grande 
Description  of  Egypt,  by  the  Savans  of  France,  and  in  Mr.  Wilkinson’s 
late  work  on  the  ancient  Egyptians,  are  fac-similes  of  it.  The  same  remark 
applies  to  those  of  the  Hindoos  and  Chinese. 


The  first  three  on  the  left  are  of  earthenware  from  Thebes,  from 
Wilkinson’s  second  volume,  p.  345,  354.  “  Golden  ewers”  of  a  similar 

form  were  used  by  the  rich  Egyptians  for  containing  water,  to  wash  the 
hands  and  feet  of  their  guests,  (page  202.)  The  next  is  Etruscan,  from 
the  “  History  of  the  ancient  people  of  Italy.”  Florence  1832.  Plate  82. 
The  adjoining  one  is  a  Chinese  vase,  from  “  Designs  of  Chinese  Build¬ 
ings,  Furniture,”  &c.  Lon.  1757.  The  last  is  from  Egypt.  Similar  shaped 
vessels  of  the  Greeks,  Romans,  and  other  people  might  easily  be  pro¬ 
duced.  See  Salt’s  Voyage  to  Abyssinia,  page  408,  and  Grande  Descrip¬ 
tion,  E.  M.  Vol.  2.  Plates  I,  I,  and  F,  F.  In  the  Hamilton  Collection  of 
Vases,  examples  may  be  found.  In  the  splendid  volume  of  plates  to 
D’Agincourt’s  Storia  Dell’  Arte,  the  figure  of  the  gourd  may  be  seen  to 
have  prevailed  in  artificial  vessels  in  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  up  to  the 
twelfth  centuries. 

Numerous  vessels  from  the  tombs  of  the  Incas,  are  identical  in  figure 
with  the  calabash;  while  others,  retaining  its  general  feature,  have  the 
bellied  part  worked  into  resemblances  of  the  human  face.  As  several 
old  Peruvian  bottles  exhibit  a  peculiar  and  useful  feature,  we  have  inserted 
(figure  3,)  a  representation  of  one,  in  the  possession  of  J.  R.  Chilton,  M.  D. 
of  this  city.  An  opening  is  formed  in  the  inner  side  of  the  handle  which 
communicates  with  the  interior  of  the  vessel,  by  a  smaller  one  made 
through  the  side,  as  shown  in  the  section.  By  this  device  air  is  admit¬ 
ted,  and  a  person  can  either  drink  from,  or  pour  out  the  contents,  with- 


(Ihap.  3.] 


'Peruvian  Vessels. 


17 


out  experiencing  that  disagreeable  gurgling 
which  accompanies  the  emptying  of  a  modern 
bottle.  The  openings  are  so  arranged  as  to 
form  a  very  shrill  whistle — by  blowing  into  the 
mouth  of  the  vessel,  a  sound  is  produced, 
equal  to  that  from  a  boatswain’s  call  on 
board  a  man  of  war. 

These  vessels  have  been  noticed  bv  most 
7ZT  travelers  in  South  America.  They  are  some- 

„  _  0  .  _  ...  times  found  double — two  being’  connected  at 

the  bottom  with  only  one  discharging  orifice. 
Some  are  of  silver.  Frezier,  among  others,  gives  a  figure  of  one  resembling 
two  gourds  united.  It  “  consists  of  two  bottles  joined  together,  each  about 
six  inches  high,  having  a  hole  (tube)  of  communication  at  the  bottom.  One 
of  them  is  open,  and  the  other  has  on  its  orifice  a  little  animal,  like  a  mon¬ 
key,  eating  a  cod  of  some  sort ;  under  which  is  a  hole  which  makes  a  whist¬ 
ling  when  water  is  poured  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  other  bottle,  or  when 
that  within  is  but  shaken ;  because  the  air  being  pressed  along  the  surface 
of  both  bottles,  is  forced  out  at  that  little  hole  in  a  violent  manner.”4 

These  whistles  are  so  constructed,  as  to  play  either  when  the  air  is 
drawn  in  through  them,  or  forced  out.  Perhaps  the  water  organs  of  the 
ancients,  were  originally  little  more  than  an  assemblage  of  similar  vessels. 
M.  Frezier  thought  the  smallest  of  these  bottles  were  designed  expressly 
to  produce  music ;  if  so,  they  are  (we  suppose)  the  only  water  instru 
ments  extant.b 

The  large  earthen  vessels  used  by  the  water  carriers  of  Mexico,  strict¬ 
ly  resemble  the  gourd.  Saturday  Mag.  vol.  vi,  128. 

The  “gurgulets”  of  the  Persians,  Hindoos,  and  Egyptians  of  the  present 
day,  are  rather  larger,  but  of  the  same  shape  as  the  Florence  flask,  i.  e. 
of  the  gourd.  They  are  formed  “  of  a  porous  earth,  and  are  so  called, 
from  the  sound  made  when  water  is  poured  out  of  them  to  be  drunk,  as 


a  A  Voyage  to  the  South  Sea,  &c.  in  1712,  ’13,  T4.  Lon.  1717.  274. 

b  The  following  extract  from  a  late  newspaper  affords  additional  information  respect¬ 
ing  these  vessels  in  remote  ages: 

“The  Peruvian  Pompeii. — We  recently  gave  a  description  of  an  ancient  subterranean 
city,  destroyed  by  an  earthquake,  or  some  other  sudden  convulsion  of  nature,  lately 
discovered  near  the  port  of  Guarmey,  in  Truxillo,  on  the  coast  of  Peru.  Tiie  only  ac¬ 
count  of  it  which  appears  to  have  as  yet  been  received  in  the  United  States,  was  brought 
by  Capt.  Ray  of  Nantucket,  who  a  few  weeks  since  returned  from  the  South  Seas  in 
the  ship  Logan,  and  who,  havings  visited  the  spot  whilst  the  inhabitants  of  Guarmey 
were  excavating  the  buried  streets  and  buildings,  obtained  several  interesting  relics  of 
its  ancient  but  unknown  population.  The  Portland  Orion  describes  some  of  these,  of 
which  we  did  not  find  any  mention  in  the  Nantucket  Inquirer  from  whom  we  derived 
our  former  information,  and  they  are  of  a  character  which  may  possibly  afford  the  dili¬ 
gent  antiquary  some  clue  to  the  age  and  origin  of  the  people  to  whom  they  belonged. 
They  are  two  grotesquely  shaped  earthen  vessels,  somewhat  rudely  yet  ingeniously 
constructed,  of  a  species  of  clay,  colored  or  burnt  nearly  black.  One  of  these,  which 
is  capable  of  holding  about  a  pint,  is  shaped  somewhat  like  a  quail,  with  a  spout  two 
inches  long,  rising  from  the  centre  of  the  back,  from  which  also  a  handle  extends  to 
the  side. 

The  other  is  a  double  vessel,  connected  at  the  centre,  and  also  at  the  top,  by  a  handle 
reaching  from  the  spout  or  nozzle  of  one  vessel  to  the  upper  part  of  the  other — the  lat¬ 
ter  not  being  perforated  but  wrought  into  the  likeness  of  a  very  unprepossessing  hu¬ 
man  countenance.  At  the  back  of  what  may  be  considered  the  head  of  this  face,  is  a 
small  hole,  so  contrived  that  on  blowing  into  the  mouth  of  the  vessel  a  shrill  note  is 
produced,  similar  to  that  of  a  boatswain’s  call.  From  the  activity  with  which  the  exca¬ 
vations  were  proceeding  when  Capt.  Ray  left  the  place,  it  may  be  hoped  that  discover¬ 
ies  will  be  made  which  will  greatly  add  to  the  antiquarian  history  of  this  continent.” 

3 


18  Primitive  Boilers.  [Book  I. 

the  Indians  do  without  touching  it  with  their  lips.”a  The  bottles  of  the 
Negroes  of  Africa,  are  made  of  woven  grass  of  the  same  shape.  Earth¬ 
en  gnrgulets  for  cooling  liquids  are  made  in  this  city. 

The  gourd  was  not  merely  imitated  by  primitive  potters  and  braziers, 
but  when  the  arts  were  at  their  zenith,  its  figure  predominated  in  the  most 
elaborate  of  vases.  The  preceding  remarks  show,  that  the  forms  of  many 
of  our  ordinary  vessels  of  capacity,  did  not  originate  in  caprice  or  by 
chance,  but  are  derived  from  nature ;  that  the  pattern  which  man  has  co¬ 
pied,  was  furnished  him  by  his  Maker ;  and  that  with  all  his  ingenuity, 
he  has  never  been  able  to  supersede  it.  Persius  in  his  third  Satire,  al¬ 
ludes  to  the  transition  from  primitive  earthenware  and  brazen  vessels  to 
those  which  luxury  had  introduced  in  his  days  : 

Now  gold  hath  banished  Numa’s  simple  vase, 

And  the  plain  brass  of  Saturn's  frugal  days. — 

Now  do  we  see  to  precious  goblets  turu, 

The  Tuscan  pitcher,  and  the  vestal  urn.  Drummond,  105. 


Although 


VESSELS  FOR  HEATING  WATER. 

not  strictly  connected  with  the  subject,  we  may  observe 
that  the  gourd  is  probably  the  original  vessel  for  heating  water ,  cooking, 
8fc.  In  these  and  other  applications,  the  neck  is  sometimes  used  as  a 
handle,  and  an  opening  made  into  the  body  by  removing  a  portion  of  it, 
(see  illustration  No.  4,)  its  exterior  being  kept  moistened  by  water  while 
on  the  fire,  as  still  practised  by  some  people,  while  others  apply  a  coating 
of  clay  to  protect  it  from  the  effects  of  flame. 

In  some  parts  where  the  calabash  or  gourd  is  not  cultivated,  cocoa  shells 
are  used  in  the  same  manner.  Kotzebue  found  the  Radack  Islanders 
thus  heating  liquids.  “  On  my  return,  I  fell  in  with  a  company  sitting 
round  a  fire  and  boiling  something  in  cocoa  shells.”b  A  primitive  Su¬ 
matran  vessel  for  boiling  rice  is  the  bamboo,  which  is  still  used — by  the 
time  the  rice  is  dressed,  the  vessel  is  nearly  destroyed  by  the  fire.c  When 
in  process  of  time,  vessels  for  heating  water  were  formed  wholly  of  clay, 
they  were  fashioned  after  the  gourd.  Figures  of  ancient  saucepans  both 
of  metal  and  fictile  ware,  greatly  resemble  it,  and  so  do  some  of  those  of 

.  '  O  «/  t 

modern  times.  The  common  earthenware  pipkin  is  an  example. 

This  useful  implement  has  come  down  from  very  remote  ages,  and 
apparently  with  slight  alteration  in  its  figure.  (See  figure  in  No.  4.)  In 
some  parts  of  Europe,  its  form  approaches  still  nearer  to  that  of  the  gourd. 

It  is  used  over  all  the  eastern 
world.  Dampier  observed  in 
Tonquin,  “  women  sitting  in  the 
streets  with  a  pipkin,  over  a  small 
fire  full  of  chau,”  or  tea,  which 
they  thus  prepared  and  sold.d 
Fosbroke  enumerating  the  house¬ 
hold  utensils  represented  in 
Egyptian  sculptures,  remarks, 
“  we  meet  too  with  vessels  of 
the  precise  form  of  modern  sauce¬ 
pans.”6  An  interesting  circum- 
in  connection  with  one  of  these 
was  three  times  Consul,  was  as 


No.  4.  Gourd,  Cauldron,  and  Pipkin. 


stance  is 
vessels. 


recorded  in  Roman  history 
Marcus  Curius  Dentatus,  who 


47. 


o  Fryer’s  India  and  Persia,  p 
b  Voyage  Discov.  ii,  109,  and  iii,  152,  and  Fryer’s  India,  7. 
c  Marsden’s  Sumatra,  GO.  d  Dampier’s  Voyage.  Lon.  1705 


t 


1705.  ii,  31  •  For.  Topog.  83. 


Iron  and  Brasen  Cauldrons. 


19 


Chap.  3.] 


remarkable  for  his  frugality  as  his  patriotism.  During  the  time  that  he 
swayed  the  destinies  of  his  country,  the  ambassadors  of  the  Samnites  vi¬ 
sited  him  at  his  cottage,  and  found  him  boiling  vegetables  in  an  earthen 
pot  or  pipkin  ;  they  attempted  to  bribe  him  with  large  presents ;  but  he 
characteristically  replied,  “  I  prefer  my  earthen  pots  to  all  your  vessels 
of  gold  and  of  silver.”  To  this  Juvpnal  alludes,  when  contrasting  the 
frugality  of  former  times  with  the  luxury  of  his  contemporaries  : 

When  with  the  herbs*  he  gathered,  Curius  stood 
And  seethed  his  pottage  o’er  the  flaming  wood  ; 

That  simple  mess,  an  old  Dictator’s  treat, 

The  highway  laborer  now  would  scorn  to  eat.  Sat.  xi,  105. 

The  common  cast  iron  bellied  kettle  or  cauldron,  furnishes  another 
proof  of  the  forms  of  culinary  vessels  having  undergone  little  or  no 
change,  while  passing  through  so  many  ages  :  its  shape  is  precisely  the 
same  as  that  of  the  situla  or  pot,  sculptured  on  the  obelisk  of  Heliopolis, 
(See  its  figure  in  No.  4,  and  Dr.  Shaw’s  Travels,  402,  413.)  Others 
with  ears  and  feet,  are  delineated  in  the  Theban  sculptures.  In  the  tomb 
of  Rameses  the  Third,  is  a  graphic  representation  of  an  Egyptian  kitchen, 
showing  the  processes  of  slaying  the  animals — cutting  the  joints — pre¬ 
paring  ingredients  for  seasoning — boiling  the  meat — stirring  the  fire — 
making-  and  baking  bread,  &c.  &c.  The  cauldrons  of  various  sizes  are 
similar  in  shape  to  ours.  Wilkinson’s  An.  Egyp.  ii,  351,  383,  385.  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  boilers  of  this  form  were  common  to  all  the  na¬ 
tions  of  the  ancient  world  ;  that  the  ‘  pottage  ’  by  which  Jacob  defrauded 
Esau  of  his  birthright ;  and  the  ‘  savoury  meat,’  which  Rebecca  cooked 
for  Isaac,  were  prepared  in  them.  To  one  of  these,  Job  referred;  “  out 
of  his  nostrils  goeth  smoke,  as  out  of  a  seething  pot  or  cauldron.”  xli,  20. 
And  Elisha  also,  when  he  said  to  his  servant.  “  Set  on  the  great  pot,  and 
seethe  pottage  for  the  sons  of  the  prophets.”  2  Kings,  iv,  38.  It  is  often 
mentioned  by  Homer,  in  whose  writings  it  forms  a  conspicuous  object: 

And  soon  the  flames  encompassing  around  its  ample  belly. 

Iliad,  xviii,  427.  Cowper 

Such  were  the  boilers  of  Argos,  (respecting  which  arose  the  saying,  “  a 
cook  from  Elis — a  cauldron  from  Argos — tapestry  from  Corinth,  &c.)  and 
of  the  Spartans,  in  which  they  prepared  their  famous  *  black  broth.’  A 
figure  of  a  Roman  carddron,  in  which  the  priests  boiled  their  portion  of 
the  sacrifice,  is  given  by  Misson,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Travels,  plate  4. 
It  has  a  bail,  three  studs  or  feet,  and  is  of  a  spherical  shape  resembling 
ours,  -but  ornamented  with  figures  round  its  sides. 

The  same  shaped  boilers  were  common  among  the  Gauls,  who  probably 
derived  the  knowledge  of  making  them  from  the  Phenicians.  The  art 
of  tinning  culinary  vessels,  which  they  are  said  to  have  invented,  (Pliny, 
Nat.  Hist,  xxxiv,  17,)  was  most  likely  obtained  from  the  same  source.6 
The  Celtiberi  are  said  to  have  been  expert  workers  of  iron.  Their 
“  most  ancient  iron  pot,”  had  ears  and  feet,  and  was  shaped  like  those  of 
the  Egyptians.  (See  its  figure  in  ‘  Scottish  Gael.’  p.  316.  The  cast  iron 
cauldrons  of  the  Chinese  are  also  examples.  These  are  made  very  thin ; 
and  what  is  singular,  their  mechanics  have  the  art  of  soldering  them  when 
cracked,  with  portions  of  the  same  metal,  by  means  of  a  blow-pipe  and 
small  furnace.0  They  are  the  principal  article  of  furniture  in  the  dwell- 


*  Plutarch,  says  they  were  turnips. 

b  Pliny,  b.  xii,  1,  says,  the  Gauls  were  first  induced  to  invade  Rome,  by  one  of  their 
countrymen,  a  smith,  who  had  long  worked  in  that  city.  He  carried  home,  figs,  raisins, 
oil  and  wine,  which  “  set  the  teeth  of  his  countrymen  watering.”  Holland’s  Trans. 
c  “  During  our  short  stay  this  morning  in  the  village  of  Fan-houn,  I  had  an  oppor 


20 


Cauldrons. 


[Book  1 

ings  of  the  poor.  The  kettles  of  the  Chinese  says  Mr.  Bell,  (who  lodged 
one  day  in  a  cook’s  house  near  Pekin,)  “  are  indeed  very  thin,  and  made 
of  cast  iron,  being  extremely  smooth  both  within  and  without.”  Fuel  is 
scarce  and  they  used  bellows  to  heat  them.a  These  we  have  no  reason  to 
suppose  have  undergone  any  change  from  the  remotest  times,  and  they 
are  in  all  probability  of  the  same  foym  as  the  celebrated  cauldrons  of  an¬ 
tiquity.  That  those  of  the  Scythians,  the  ancient  Tartars  and  Chinese, 
were  similar  to  those  of  the  Greeks,  is  asserted  by  Herodotus.  “  As 
Scythia  is  barren  of  wood,  they  have  the  following  contrivance  to  dress 
the  flesh  of  the  victim :  having  flayed  the  animal,  they  strip  the  flesh 
from  the  bones;  and  if  they  have  them  at  hand,  they  throw  it  into  certain 
pots  made  in  Scythia,  and  resembling  the  lesbian  cauldrons,  though 
somewhat  larger.”  Herod,  iv,  61. 

The  boilers  of  the  ancient  Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  had  the  same  ge¬ 
neral  form.  See  plate  31  of  Frezier’s  Voyage  to  the  South  Sea,  in  1712, 
’13,  ’14.  As  these  people  had  not  the  use  of  iron,  their  vessels  were  of 
earthenware,  copper  and  its  alloys,  silver,  and  even  of  gold.  In  the  temple 
pie  at  Cusco,  “were  boyling  pots  and  other  vessels  of  gold.”  Two  enor¬ 
mous  cauldrons  were  carried  by  the  conquerors  to  Spain,  “  each  sufficient 
wherein  to  boyle  a  cow.”  (Purchas’  Pilgrimage,  1061,  and  1073.)  The 
negroes  of  Africa,  made  theirs  of  the  same  shape.  (Generale  Histoire, 
tom.  v,  Planche  88.)  Large  cauldrons  were  common  of  old ;  they  are 
frequently  mentioned  by  Homer,  Herodotus,  &c.  and  in  the  Bible.  Maho¬ 
met,  in  the  34th  chapter  of  the  Koran,  speaks  of  large  cauldrons  be¬ 
longing  to  David.  Some  of  those  represented  at  Thebes,  appear  suf¬ 
ficiently  capacious  to  contain  the  cooks  that  attend  them.  Croesus  boiled 
together  a  tortoise  and  a  lamb  in  a  large  brasen  cauldron,  which  had  a 
cover  of  the  same  metal ;  hence  the  reply  of  the  Delphic  oracle,  to  the 
demand  of  his  ambassadors  to  be  informed  what  Croesus  was  at  that  mo¬ 
ment  doing : 

E’en  now  the  odors  to  my  sense  that  rise 

A  tortoise  boiling  with  a  lamb  supplies, 

Where  brass  below,  and  brass  above  it  lies.  Herod,  i,  47. 

The  question  naturally  arises — why  such  uniformity  in  the  figure  of  this 
utensil  ?  and  what  has  induced  people  in  distant  times  and  countries  to 
make  it  resemble  a  portion  of  a  hollow  sphere  or  spheroid,  instead  of 
forming  it  with  plane  sides  and  bottom  ?  It  is  clear  there  was  some  con¬ 
trolling  reason  for  this — else  why  should  the  fanciful  Greek  and  Roman 
artists,  have  permitted  it  to  retain  its  primitive  form,  while  all  other  house¬ 
hold  implements,  as  lamps,  vases,  drinking  vessels,  and  tripods,  &c.  were 
moulded  by  them  into  endless  shapes  Brasen  cauldrons  we  know  were 
highly  prized.  They  were  sometimes  polished,  and  their  sides  richly  or¬ 
namented,  but  still  their  general  form  was  the  same  as  those  of  more  an¬ 
cient  people.  In  this  respect,  both  Greeks  and  Romans  left  them  as  they 
found  them.  The  reason  is  obvious.  When  a  liquid  is  heated  in  a  cy¬ 
lindrical  or  other  vessel  having  perpendicular  sides,  it  easily  ‘  boils  over 
but  when  the  sides  incline  inwards  at  the  top,  as  in  these  cauldrons ;  it 
cannot  well  be  thrown  out  by  ebullition  alone  ;  for  the  heated  waves  as  they 

tunity  of  seeing  a  tinker  execute  what  I  believe  is  unknown  in  Europe.  He  mended 
and  soldered  frying-pans  of  cast  iron,  that  were  cracked  and  full  of  holes,  and  restored 
them  to  their  primitive  state,  so  that  they  became  as  serviceable  as  ever.  He  even  took 
so  little  pains  to  effect  this,  and  succeeded  so  speedily,  as  to  excite  my  astonishment.” 
Van  Braam’s  Journal  of  the  Dutch  embassy  to  China,  1794 — 5.  Lon.  1798.  ii,  78,  and 
Chinese  Repository,  Canton,  1838.  iv,  38. 

‘Travels  from  Petersburgh  to  diverse  parts  of  Asia.  Lon  1764.  i,  312. 


Cauldrons. 


21 


Chap.  3.j 

rise  are  directed  towards  the  centre,  where  their  force  is  expended  against 
each  other.  Dyers,  brewers,  distillers,  Sec.  are  well  aware  of  this  fact. 
The  remote  ancients  had  therefore  observed  the  inefficiency  of  straight 
sided  boilers,  and  applied  a  simple  and  beautiful  remedy ;  one  whch  was 
possibly  suggested  by  the  previous  use  of  natural  vessels,  as  the  gourd, 
&c.  This  is  no  mean  proof  of  their  sagacity,  and  of  the  early  progress  of 
the  arts  of  founding  and  moulding.  From  the  extreme  antiquity  of  these 
cauldrons,  it  is  not  improbable  that  their  form  is  similar  to  the  pattern, 
which  Tubal-Cain  himself  used,  and  which  he  taught  his  pupils  to  imitate. 
Similar  vessels  are  found  in  the  workshops  of  Vulcan.  See  plate  20, 
Painting,  in  D’Agincourt’s  Storia  Dell’ Arte,  Prato,  1S27.  Brasen  caul¬ 
drons  were  formerly  considered  suitable  presents  for  kings — rewards  of 
valor — prizes  in  the  games,  &c.  Of  the  gifts  offered  by  Agamemnon  to 
to  appease  the  wrath  of  Achilles,  were — 

Seven  tripods,  never  sullied  yet  by  fire ; 

Of  gold,  ten  talents;  twenty  cauldrons  bright.’1 

Iliad,  ix,  150.  Coicper. 

They  were .  among  the  goods  which  Priam  took  to  redeem  the  body  of 
Hector. 

He  also  took  ten  talents  forth  of  gold, 

All  weighed ;  two  splendid  tripods  ;  cauldrons  four ; 

And  after  these  a  cup  of  matchless  worth.  Jb.  xxiv.  294. 

The  prizes  at  the  funeral  games  on  the  death  of  Patrocles,  were — 

‘  Capacious  cauldrons,  tripods  bright.’ 

In  the  17th  century,  they  were  considered  suitable  presents  to  a  Persian 
Emir — “  At  length  he  came,  and  was  presented  by  the  caravan-Bashi 
with  a  piece  of  satin,  half  a  piece  of  scarlet  cloth,  and  two  large  copper 
cauldrons.”  Tavernier’s  Trav.  Lon.  167S.  61. 

These  unobtrusive  vessels  are  now  used  without  exciting  a  thought  of 
their  worth,  or  of  the  ingenuity  of  those  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
them ;  although  they  have  contributed  infinitely  more  to  the  real  comfort 
and  innocent  gratification  of  man,  than  all  the  splendid  vases  that  were 
ever  made.  These  have  always  had  their  admirers  and  historians.  Vo¬ 
lumes  embellished  with  costly  illustrations,  have  been  written  on  their 
forms,  materials,  ages  and  authors ;  but  no  modern  Hamilton,  has  entered 
the  kitchen  to  record  and  illustrate  the  origin,  improvement,  modifications 
and  various  uses  of  the  cauldron.  This  vessel,  like  a  despised  but  ne¬ 
cessary  attendant,  has  been  the  inseparable  companion  of  man  in  his  pro¬ 
gress  from  barbarism  to  refinement,  and  has  administered  to  his  necessi¬ 
ties  at  every  stage:  yet  it  has  ever  been  disregarded,  while  literary  cuisi- 
niers  have  expatiated  in  numerous  treatises  on  the  virtues  of  meats  pre¬ 
pared  in  it.  Endless  are  the  essays  on  sauces,  but  the  history  of  the  more 
useful  sauce-pan  is  yet  to  be  written.  An  account  of  this  vessel  and  of 
the  cauldron,  would  place  in  a  very  novel  and  instructive  light,  the  do¬ 
mestic  manners  of  the  world ;  and  an  examination  of  the  various  modes 
of  heating  the  latter,  would  bring  to  view  many  excellent  devices  for 
economizing  fuel.1 

Vases  used  by  oriental  women  to  convey  water  from  public  wells  and 
fountains  for  domestic  purposes,  are  often  referred  to,  by  sacred  and  pro¬ 
fane  authors.  Figure  No.  5,  represents  a  female  of  Hindostan,  bearing 


a  See  the  ancient  Peruvian  furnace  in  Frezier’s  Voyage  to  the  South  Seas,  by  which 
three  cauldrons  were  heated  by  a  very  small  pot  of  lama’s  dung,  or  of  the  plant  icho  ; 
whicn  were  used  for  want  of  other  fuel. 


22 


Water  Pots. 


[Book  1. 


one,  the  shape  of  which,  closely  resembles  tho 
gourd  with  the  neck  removed.  This  is  their  ge¬ 
neral  form  throughout  the  east.  The  Hindoos, 
have  them  of  copper  or  brass,  as  well  as  of  earth¬ 
enware,  but  they  are  all  shaped  alike.  This  is 
not  a  little  singular,  because  a  deviation  from  a 
globular  to  a  cylindrical  form,  would  enable  theii 
mechanics  to  make  those  of  metal  at  much  less 
expense.  They  therefore  adhere  to  the  pri¬ 
mitive  model,  because  of  its  superiority  over 
others,  or  from  that  adhesion  to  ancient  customs 
which  forms  so  prominent  a  feature  in  Asiatic 
character.  In  the  early  ages  it  was  the  univer¬ 
sal  custom  for  young  women  to  draw  water. 
The  daughters  of  princes  and  chief  men,  were 
not  exempt  from  it.  Isis  and  Osiris  are  sometimes  represented  with  wa¬ 
ter  vessels  on  their  heads.  There  are  several  interesting  examples  in  the 
Old  Testament.  Homer,  as  might  be  expected,  frequently  introduces  fe¬ 
males  thus  occupied.  When  Nestor  entertained  Telemachus,  he  bade 

. The  handmaids  for  the  feast  prepare, 

The  seats  to  range,  the  fragrant  wood  to  bring, 

And  limpid  waters  from  the  living  spring.  Odys.  iii,  544.  Pope. 

And  again  at  Ithaca ; 

. With  duteous  haste  a  bevy  fair, 

Of  twenty  virgins  to  the  spring  repair: 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

Soon  from  the  fount,  with  each  a  brimming  urn, 

(Eumaeus  in  their  train)  the  maids  return.  Ib.  xx,  193  and  202. 

Fountains  and  wells  became  the  ordinary  places  of  assembly  for  young 
people — especially,  “  at  the  time  of  the  evening,  the  time  that  women  go 
out  to  draw  water.”  Gen.  xxiv,  11.  Several  of  the  Patriarchs  first  be¬ 
held  their  future  wives  on  these  occasions  ;  and  were  doubtless  as  much 
captivated  by  their  industry  and  benevolent  dispositions  in  relieving  the 
wants  of  strangers  and  travelers,  as  by  their  personal  charms.  It  was 

. Beside  a  chrystal  spring — 

that  Ulysses  met  the  daughter  of  Antiphates.  Travelers  have  often  no¬ 
ticed  the  singular  tact  with  which  Asiatic  women  balance  several  of  these 
water  pots  on  their  heads  without  once  touching  them  with  their  hands. 
“  The  finest  dames  of  the  Gentoos  disdained  not  to  carry  water  on  their 
heads,  with  sometimes  two  or  three  earthen  pots  over  one  another ,  for  house¬ 
hold  service  ;  the  like  do  all  the  women  of  the  Gentiles.”  Fryer’s  Trav. 
117.  At  one  of  their  religious  festivals,  Hindoo  women,  “have  a  custom 
of  dancing  with  several  pots  of  water  on  their  heads,  placed  one  above 
anothei'.”  Sonnerat,  i,  150. 

A  very  pleasing  instance  of  female  dexterity  in  carrying  water,  is  re¬ 
corded  by  Herodotus,  v,  12.  As  Darius,  king  of  Persia,  was  sitting  pub¬ 
licly  in  one  of  the  streets  of  Sardis,  he  observed  a  young  woman  of’ great 
elegance  and  beauty,  bearing  a  vessel  on  her  head,  leading  a  horse  by  a 
bridle  fastened  round  her  arm,  and  at  the  same  time  spinning  some  thread. 
Darius  viewed  her  as  she  passed,  with  attentive  curiosity,  observing  that 
her  employments  were  not  those  of  a  Persian,  Lydian,  nor  indeed  of  any 
Asiatic  female  ;  prompted  by  what  he  had  seen,  he  sent  some  of  his  at¬ 
tendants  to  observe  what  she  did  with  the  horse.  They  accordingly  fol¬ 
lowed  her — When  she  came  to  the  river,  she  gave  the  horse  some  water 


Chap.  3.] 


Canopus. 


23 


and  then  filled  her  pitcher  :  having  done  this,  she  returned  by  the  way 
she  came,  with  the  pitcher  of  water  on  her  head,  the  horse  fastened  by  a 
bridle  to  her  arm,  and  as  before,  employed  in  spinning. 

Industrious  labor  is  an  ornament  to  every  young  woman — indeed  nei¬ 
ther  the  symmetry  of  her  person,  nor  the  vigor  of  her  mind,  can  be  per¬ 
fectly  developed  without  it.  The  fine  forms  and  glowing  health  of  the 
women  of  old,  were  chiefly  owing  to  their  temperate  modes  of  living, 
their  industrious  habits,  and  the  exercise  they  took  in  the  open  air. 

A  circumstance  recorded  in  the  history  of  the  Egyptians, 
accounts  for  the  peculiar  form  of  one  of  their  favorite  ves¬ 
sels,  the  Canopus ;  the  annexed  figure  of  which,  is  taken 
from  the  ‘History  of  the  ancient  people  of  Italy,’  plate  27. 
It  was  named  after  one  of  their  deities,  who  became  fa¬ 
mous  on  account  of  a  victory  which  he  obtained  over 
the  Chaldean  deity,  Fire; — the  story  of  which  exhibits 
no  small  degree  of  ingenuity  in  a  priest,  and  it  affords  a 
fair  specimen  of  the  miracles  by  which  people  were  de¬ 
luded  in  remote  times.  The  Chaldeans  boasted,  as  they 
justly  might,  of  the  unlimited  power  of  their  god,  and 
No.  6.  A  Canopus,  they  carried  him  about  to  combat  with  those  of  other 
provinces,  all  which  he  easily  overcame  and  destroyed, 
for  none  of  their  images  were  able  to  resist  the  force  of  fire  ! — At  length 
a  shrewd  priest  of  Canopus,  devised  this  artifice  and  challenged  the  Chal¬ 
deans  to  a  trial,  tie  took  an  earthen  jar,  in  the  bottom  and  sides  of 
which  he  drilled  a  great  number  of  small  holes  ; — these  he  stopt  up  with 
wax,  and  then  filled  the  jar  with  water  :  he  secured  the  head  of  an  old 
image  upon  it,  and  having  painted  and  sufficiently  disguised  it,  brought 
it  forth  as  the  god  Canopus !  In  the  conflict  with  the  Chaldean  Deity 
the  wax  was  soon  melted  by  the  latter,  when  the  water  rushed  out  of  the 
holes,  and  quickly  extinguished  the  flames.  Univ.  Hist,  i,  206.  In  me¬ 
mory  of  this  victory,  vessels  resembling  the  figure  of  the  god  used  on 
this  occasion  became  common.  Dr.  Shaw  gives  the  figure  of  one  which 
he  brought  with  him  from  Egypt.  Trav.  425.  See  Montfaucon,  tom.  ii, 
liv.  i,  cap.  IS.  A  figure  of  one  throwing  out  water  from  numerous  holes 
on  every  side  is  also  given.  Tom.  ii,  liv.  iii. 

A  somewhat  similar  case  of  superstition  in  the  middle  ages,  is  quoted 
by  Bayle  from  Baronius  ;  being  a  trial  of  the  virtue  in  the  bones  of  two 
saints  ;  or  rather  a  contest  of  priestly  skill.  St.  Martin's  relics  being 
carried  over  all  France  came  to  Auxerre,  and  were  deposited  in  the 
church  of  St.  Germain,  where  they  wrought  several  miracles.  The 
priests  of  the  latter  considered  him  as  great  a  saint  as  the  former ;  they 
therefore  demanded  one  half  of  the  receipts,  “  which  were  considerable;” 
but  Martin’s  priests  contended  that  it  was  his  relics  that  performed  all 
the  miracles,  and  therefore  all  the  gifts  belonged  to  them.  To  prove 
this,  they  proposed  that  a  sick  person  should  be  put  between  the  shrines 
of  the  saints,  to  ascertain  which  performed  the  cure.  They  therefore 
laid  a  leper  between  them,  and  he  was  healed  on  that  side  which  was 
next  to  St.  Martin’s  bones,  and  not  on  the  other  !  the  sick  man  then  very 
naturally  turned  his  other  side,  and  was  instantly  healed  on  that  also ! 
Cardinal  Baronius  in  commenting  on  this  result,  seriously  observes,  that 
St.  Germain  was  as  great  a  saint  as  St.  Martin,  but  that  as  the  latter  had 
done  him  the  fiavor  ofi  a  visit,  he  suspended  the  influence  he  had  with 
God,  to  do  his  guest  the  greatest  honor  !  The  custom  of  having  patron 
saints  or  gods  was  universal  among  the  ancient  heathen  ;  and  the  same  sys¬ 
tem  was  carried  by  half  pagan  Christians  of  the  dark  ages  to  an  incredible 


Wells. 


*4 


[Book  I. 


extent.  Ecclesiastics  peddled  the  country,  like  itinerant  jugglers,  with 
sacks  of  bones  and  other  relics  from  the  charnel  house — the  pretended 
virtues  of  which,  they  sold  to  the  deluded  multitude  as  in  the  above  instance. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

On  Wells — Water  one  of  the  first  objects  of  ancient  husbandmen — Lot — Wells  before  the  deluge— 
Digging  them  through  rock  subsequent  to  the  use  of  metals — Art  of  digging  them  carried  to  great  per¬ 
fection  by  the  Asiatics — Modern  methods  of  making  them  in  loose  soils  derived  from  the  East — Wells 
often  the  nuclei  of  cities — Private  wells  common  of  old — Public  wells  infested  by  Banditti — Wells  nu¬ 
merous  in  Greece — Introduced  there  by  Danaus — Facts  connected  with  them  in  the  mythologic  ages — 
Persian  ambassadors  to  Athens  and  Lacedemon  thrown  into  wells — Phenician,  Carthagenian  and  Roman 
wells  extant — Caesar  and  Pompey’s  knowledge  of  making  wells  enabled  them  to  conquer — City  of 
Pompeii  discovered  by  digging  a  well — Wells  in  China,  Persia,  Palestine,  India,  and  Turkey — Cisterns 
of  Solomon — Sufferings  of  travelers  from  thirst — Affecting  account  from  Leo  Africanus — Mr.  Bruce  in 
Abyssinia — Dr.  Ryers  in  Gombroon — Hindoos  praying  for  water — Caravan  of  2000  persons  and  1800 
camels  perished  in  the  African  desert — Crusaders. 

As  the  human  family  multiplied,  its  members  necessarily  kept  extend¬ 
ing  themselves  more  and  more  from  their  first  abode  ;  and  in  searching 
for  suitable  locations  the  prospect  of  obtaining  water  would  necessarily  ex¬ 
ert  a  controlling  influence  in  their  decisions.  An  example  of  this,  in  later 
times,  is  given  by  Moses  in  the  case  of  Abraham  and  Lot.  The  land 
was  too  much  crowded  by  their  families  and  flocks,  “  so  that  they  could 
not  dwell  together,”  and  when  they  had  concluded  to  separate,  Lot 
selected  the  plain  of  Jordan,  because  ‘‘it  was  well  watered  everywhere.” 
Gen.  xiii,  10.  In  the  figurative  language  of  the  East,  “Lot  lifted  up  his 
eyes  and  beheld  all  the  plain  of  Jordan  ;”  in  plain  English,  he  went  and 
carefully  examined  it.  When  thus  extending  themselves,  the  early  in¬ 
habitants  of  the  world,  would  frequently  meet  with  locations  every  way 
adapted  to  their  wants  with  the  single  exception  of  water ;  circumstances, 
which  necessarily  must  have  excited  their  ingenuity  in  devising  means 
to  obtain  it. 

At  what  period  of  mans’  history  he  first  had  recourse  to  wells,  we 
have  no  account ;  nor  of  the  circumstances  which  led  him  to  penetrate  the 
earth ,  in  search  of  water.  Wells,  we  have  no  doubt,  are  of  antediluvian 
origin,  and  the  knowledge  of  them,  like  that  of  the  primitive  arts,  has 
been  preserved  by  uninterrupted  use  from  the  period  of  their  first  dis¬ 
covery.  At  first,  they  were  probably  -nothing  more  than  shallow  cavities 
dug  in  moist  places ;  and  their  depth  occasionally  increased,  in  order  to 
contain  the  surface  water  that  might  drain  into  them  within  certain  inter¬ 
vals  of  time  ;  a  mode  of  obtaining  it  still  practised  among  barbarous  peo¬ 
ple.  The  wells  of  Latakoo,  described  by  Mr.  Campbell,  in  his  “  Travels 
in  South  Africa,”  were  of  this  description.  They  were  but  two  feet 
deep  and  were  emptied  every  morning.  The  people  of  New  Holland, 
the  most  wretched  and  ignorant  of  our  species,  had  similar  excavations, 
at  which  Dampier,  when  on  the  coast  in  16SS,  obtained  a  supply  for  his 
ships.  He  says,  “  we  filled  our  barrels  with  water  at  wells  which  had  been 
dug  by  the  natives.”  Burney’s  Voy.  iv,  260.  Wells  are  also  connected 
with  the  superstitions  of  th'e  New  Zealanders ;  and  the  Radack  Islanders, 
when  discovered  by  Kotzebue,  had  pits  or  square  wells,  which  they  had 


Chap.  4.] 


'Public  Wells. 


25 


dug  for  water.  Kotzebue’s  Voy.  ii,  28,  66,  and  iii,  145,  223.  The  fresh 
water  which  Columbus  found  in  the  huts  belonging  to  the  Indians  of 
Cuba,  was  probably  obtained  from  similar  wells  ;  but  which  the  Span¬ 
iards,  who  found  none  but  salt  water,  were  unable  to  discover.  Personal 
Nar.  of  Colum.  67.  Boston,  1827. 

These  simple  excavations  would  naturally  be  multiplied  and  their 
dimensions  enlarged  as  far  as  the  limited  means  of  man,  in  the  early  ages, 
would  permit,  and  his  increasing  wants  require.  But  when  the  discovery 
of  the  metals  took  place,  (in  the  seventh  generation  from  the  first  pair,  ac¬ 
cording  to  both  Moses  and  Sanchoniathon,)  the  depth,  of  wells  would  no 
longer  be  arrested  by  rocks,  nor  their  construction  limited  to  locations 
where  these  did  not  occur.  From  very  ancient  wells  which  still  remain, 
it  is  certain,  that  at  a  time  long  anterior  to  the  commencement  of  history, 
the  knowledge  of  procuring  water  by  means  of  them,  was  well  under¬ 
stood,  perhaps,  equally  so  as  at  present.  On  this  supposition  only,  can  we 
reconcile  the  selection  of  locations  for  them  composed  wholly  of  rock. 
Some  of  the  oldest  wells  known  are  dug  entirely  through  that  material, 
and  to  a  prodigious  depth. 

Man’s  ingenuity  was,  perhaps,  first  exercised  in  procuring  water ; 
and  it  is  not  improbable,  that  the  art  of  constructing  wells  was  more 
rapidly  carried  to  perfection  than  any  other.  The  physical  character  of 
central  Asia,  its  climate,  universal  deficiency  of  water,  its  swarms  of  in¬ 
habitants,  and  their  pastoral,  and  agricultural  pursuits,  would  necessarily 
contribute  to  this  result.  The  Abbe  Fleury,  in  his  “  Manners  of  the  An¬ 
cient  Israelites,”  justly  observes,  “  their  numerous  herds' of  cattle  necessa¬ 
rily  induced  them  to  set  a  very  high  value  on  their  wells  and  cisterns  ;  and 
more  especially  as  they  occupied  a  country  where  there  was  no  river  but 
Jordan,  and  where  rain  seldom  fell.”  Chap.  iii.  In  no  other  part  of  the 
world,  even  in  modern  times,  has  more  science  been  evinced,  or  mechani¬ 
cal  skill  displayed  in  penetrating  the  earth,  than  is  exhibited  in  some  of  the 
ancient  wells  of  the  east ;  and  it  is  to  their  authors,  that  we  are  indebted 
for  the  only  known  method  of  sinking  wells  of  great  depth,  through  loose 
soils  and  quicksands,  viz  :  by  first  constructing  a  curb,  (of  stone,  brick, 
&c.)  which  settles  as  the  excavation  is  deepened,  and  thereby  resists  the 
pressui-e  of  the  surrounding  soil. 

Wells  are  mentioned  by  Moses,  as  in  common  use  among  the  ancient 
Canaanites ;  some  of  which  at  that  remote  age  adjoined  roads,  for  the  be¬ 
nefit  of  travelers  and  the  public  at  large.  Indeed,  all  people  who  have  had 
recourse  to  wells,  have  consecrated  some  of  them  to  the  convenience  of 
strangers  and  travelers.  The  first  wells  were  probably  all  of  this  descrip¬ 
tion.  Most  of  those  mentioned  in  history  were  certainly  such.  At  one  of 
these,  Hagar  rested  and  refreshed  herself,  when  she  fled  from  the  ill  treat¬ 
ment  of  Sarah.  And  it  was  “by  the  way”  of  this  well,  that  Isaac  was  going 
when  he  first  met  with  Rebecca.  And  we  learn  from  Gen.  xxv,  11,  that 
he  subsequently  took  up  his  abode  near  it ;  a  custom  by  which  wells 
frequently  became  nuclei  of  ancient  cities.  Jacob’s  well  is  an  example, 
if  really  dug  by_him.  When  that  patriarch  and  his  family  drank  of  its 
waters,  few  dwellings  were  near  it;  (Gen.  xxiii,  19  ;)  but,  before  the  time 
of  Alexander,  these  had  so  far  increased,  as  with  the  ancient  Shalem,  to 
form  the  capital  city  of  Samaria.  And  600  years  before  Alexander’s  con¬ 
quest  of  Judea,  Jeroboam  when  he  governed  the  ten  tribes  had  a  palace 
in  the  vicinity  of  this  well.  Josephus,  Antiq.  viii,  3.  “  Tadmor  in  the  wil¬ 

derness,”  or  Palmyra,  one  of  the  most  splendid  cities  of  the  old  world, 
Was  built  by  Solomon  (2  Chron.  viii,  4,)  in  the-  Syrian  desert,  and  its  loca¬ 
tion  determined  according  to  Josephus,  (Antiq.  viii,  6,)  “because  at  that 

4 


26 


Private  Wells. 


[Book  I, 

place  only  there  are  springs  and  pits  (wells)  of  water.”  Pliny  makes  the 
same  remark,  and  speaks  of  its  “abundance  of  water.”  Nat.  His.  v,  25. 
Bonnini,  in  his  ‘  Syracuse  Antichi,’  remarks  that  most  of  the  Sicilian  cities 
took  their  names  from  the  fountains  they  were  near,  or  the  rivers  they 
bordered  upon.  The  deep  well  in  the  Cumean  Sybil’s  cave,  gave  its  name 
Lily  be,  both  to  the  cape  and  town  near  it.  Breval’s  Remarks  on  Europe,  19 
and  39.  The  same  may  be  said  of  other  European  cities.  Bath  in  Eng¬ 
land  derived  its  name  from  the  springs  near  it.  It  was  named  Caer-Badon, 
or  the  place  of  baths,  before  the  Roman  invasion.  The  city  of  Wells, 
also,  was  named  after  the  wells  of  water  near  it,  especially  the  one  now 
known  as  St.  Andrew’s  Well.  Lewis’s  Topographical  Dictionary.  Many 
others  might  be  named. 

Private  wells  were,  however,  very  common  in  ancient  times.  Abraham 
and  Isaac  constructed  several  for  the  use  of  their  own  families  and  flocks. 
David’s  spies  were  secreted  in  the  well  of  a  private  house.  “Water 
out  of  thine  own  cistern  and  running  waters  out  of  thine  own  well,”  is 
the  language  of  Proverbs,  v,  15  ;  and  in  the  2d  Book  of  Kings,  xviii,  31, 
we  read  of  “  every  one  drinking  water  out  his  of  own  cistern or  pit  as  it 
is  in  the  margin ;  a  term  often  used  by  eastern  writers,  synonymously  with 
well.  In  the  plans  of  private  houses  at  Karnac,  it  appears  that  the  ancient 
Egyptians  arranged  their  houses  and  court  yards  ( Grande  Description , 
tom.  iii,  Planche  xvi,)  in  a  manner  very  similar  to  those  of  the  Romans,- 
as  seen  at  Pompeii,  and  like  these,  each  house  was  generally  furnished 
with  a  round  well  and  an  oblong  cistern.  Lardner’s  Arts  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans,  i,  44.  “  If  I  knew  a  man  incurably  thankless,”  says  Seneca, 

“  I  would  yet  be  so  kind  as  to  put  him  on  his  way,  to  let  him  light  a  can¬ 
dle  at  mine,  or  draw  water  at  my  well.”  Seneca  on  Benefits;  L’Estrange’s 
Trans.  The  story  of  Apono,  an  Italian  philosopher,  and  reputed  magi¬ 
cian,  of  the  13th  century,  indicates  that  almost  every  house  had  a  well. 
He,  however,  had  not  one,  or  it  was  dry,  and  his  neighbor  having  refused 
to  let  his  maid  draw  water  from  his  well,  Apono,  it  was  said,  by  his 
magic  caused  it  through  revenge  to  be  carried  off  by  devils.  Bayle. 

Numerous  wells  of  extreme  antiquity  are  still  to  be  seen  in  Egypt. 
Van  Sleb  notices  several.  Besides  those  in  some  of  the  pyramids,  there  are 
others  which  are  probably  as  old  as  those  structures.  Mr.  Wilkinson  men¬ 
tions  one  near  the  pyramids  of  Geezer.  An.  Egyp.  vol.  iii.  Among  the 
ruins  of  Nineveh,  a  city  whose  foundations  were  laid  by  Ashur,  the  son 
of  an  antediluvian,  is  a  remarkable  well,  which  supplies  the  peasants  of 
the  vicinity  with  water,  and  who  attribute  to  it  many  virtues.®  Captain 
Rich  named  it  Tkisbe’s  Well.  The  immediate  successors  of  that  Pharaoh 
who  patronized  Joseph  erected  stations  to  command  the  wells,  (which  were 
previously  in  use,  and  probably  had  been  for  ages,)  at  Wadec  Jasous,  and 
these  same  wells  still  supply  the  port'of  Philoteras  or  iEnnum,  on  the  Red 
Sea,  with  water,  as  they  did  four  thousand  years  ago.b 

The  building  of  stations  to  protect  wells  was  common  in  ancient  times, 
on  account  of  robbers  laying  in  wait  near  them.  There  is  an  allusion  to 
this  in  Judges,  “  They  are  delivered  from  the  noise  of  archers  in  the  places 
of  drawing  water.”  Chap,  v,  11.  It  was  at  the  public  fountains  that  the 
Pelasgi  attacked  the  Athenian  women.  Near  the  ruins  of  an  Egyptian 
Temple  at  Wady  El  Mecah,  is  an  enclosure,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  a 
well.  “All  round  the  well  there  is  a  platform  or  gallery  raised  six  feet, 
on  which  a  guard  of  soldiers  might  walk  all  round.  In  the  upper  part 

“Narrative  of  a  residence  in  Koordistan,  and  on  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh,  by 
C.  J.  Rich,  Lon  1836.  Vol.  ii,  26  and  34.  bAn.  Egyp.  Vol  i,  46. 


Grecian  Wells. 


27 


Chap.  4.] 

of  the  wall  are  holes  for  discharging  arrows.”  Fosbrokes ’  For.  Top.  322. 
The  custom  of  guarding  the  roads,  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  tanks  and 
wells,  is  still  common.  Fryer  in  his  Travels  in  India,  noticed  it.  “We 
found  them  in  arms,  not  suffering  their  women  to  stir  out  of  the  town  un¬ 
guarded,  to  fetch  water.”  Page  126,  222.  In  Shaw’s  Travels  in  Mauri¬ 
tania,  he  noticed  a  beautiful  rill  of  water,  which  flowed  into  a  basin  of 
Roman  workmanship,  named  1  Shrub  tve  Krub ,’  i.  e.  “drink  and  be  off,” 
on  account  of  the  danger  of  meeting  assassins  in  its  vicinity.  Sandys 
speaks  of  the  “  wells  of  fear.”  Travels,  p.  140. 

In  ancient  Greece,  wells  were  very  numerous.  The  inhabitants  of 
Attica  were  supplied  with  water  principally  from  them.  Vitruvius  re¬ 
marks,  that  the  other  water  which  they  had,  was  of  bad  quality.  B.  viii, 
Chap.  3.  Plutarch  has  preserved  some  of  the  laws  of  Solon  respecting 
wells.  By  these  it  was  enacted  that  all  persons  who  lived  within  four 
furlongs  of  a  public  well,  had  liberty  to  use  it;  but  when  the  distance  was 
greater,  they  were  to  dig  one  for  themselves ;  and  they  were  requir¬ 
ed  to  dig  at  least  six  feet  from  their  neighbor’s  ground.  Life  of  Solon. 
According  to  Pliny,  Danaus  sunk  the  first  wells  in  Greece.  Nat.  His. 
vii,  56.  Plutarch,  in  his  life  of  Cimon,  says  the  Athenians  taught  the  rest 
of  the  Greeks  “  to  sow  bread  corn,  to  avail  themselves  of  the  use  of  wells, 
and  of  the  benefit  of  fire  ”  From  the  connection  in  which  wells  are  here 
mentioned,  it  is  evident,  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  they 
were  among  the  first  of  man’s  inventions  ;  and  hence  the  antiquity  of  de¬ 
vices  to  raise  water  from  them.  In  the  mythologic  ages,  the  labor  of  rais¬ 
ing  water  out  of  deep  wells  was  imposed  as  a  punishment  on  the  daugh¬ 
ters  of  Danaus,  for  the  murder  of  their  husbands.  The  daughters  of  Phae- 
don  (who  was  put  to  death  by  the  thirty  tyrants)  threw  themselves  into  a 
well,  preferring  death  to  dishonor.  The  body  of  Chrysippus,  son  of 
Pelops,  was  disposed  of  in  the  same  way,  after  being  murdered  by  his 
brothers,  or  his  step-mother.  When  Darius  sent  two  heralds  to  demand 
earth  and  water  of  the  Athenians,  (the  giving  of  which  was  an  acknow¬ 
ledgment  of  subjection,)  they  threw  one  of  them  into  a  ditch,  and  the 
other  into  a  well,  telling  them  in  mockery  to  take  what  they  came  for. 
Plutarch.  And  Herodotus  informs  us,  that  the  Lacedemonians  treated  the 
Persian  ambassadors,  who  were  sent  to  them  on  the  same  errand,  in  pre 
cisely  the  same  manner.  Herod,  b.  viii.  133.  These  brutal  acts  led  to 
the  invasion  of  Greece  by  Xerxes. 

Shortly  after  Alexander’s  death,  Perdiccas  and  Roxana  murdered  Statira 
and  her  sisters,  and  had  their  bodies  thrown1  into  a  well.  Hence,  wells 
were  probably  common  in  Babylon  as  well  as  in  Nineveh ;  for  this  was 
most  likely  a  private  one ;  a  public  one  would  scarcely  have  been  select¬ 
ed,  where  concealment  was  required.  Sir  R.  K.  Porter,  in  his  Travels  in 
Georgia,  Persia,  Armenia,  and  ancient  Babylon,  Vol.  i.  698,  speaks  of  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  and  “  amazing  deep  well,”  near  Shiraz.  Remains 
of  Phenician  and  Carthagenian  wells  are  still  to  be  seen.  Near  the  ancient 
Barca,  Della  Celia  discovered  “wells  of  great  depth,  some  of  which  still 
afford  most  excellent  water.”a  At  Arar,  are  others,  some  of  which  are 
excavated  through  rocks  of  sandstone.  At  Arzew,  the  ancient  Arsenaria, 
Dr.  Shaw  observed  a  number  of  wells,  “which  from  the  masonry  appear 
to  be  as  old  as  the  city.”b  The  celebrated  fountain  of  the  sun  of  the  an¬ 
cients,  near  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon,  according  to  Belzoni,  is 
a  well  sixty  feet  deep,  and  eight  feet  square.  (In  this  case  and 


*  Russel’s  Barbary  States.  b  Trav.  p.  29. 


28 


Discovery  of  Herculaneum , 


[Book  L 


numerous  others,  the  terms  “  well”  and  “  fountain,”  are  synonymous. 
“  The  following  is  among  the  first  observations  of  Sir  William  Gell, 
after  landing  on  the  Troad ;  “  we  past  many  wells  on  the  road,  a 

proof  that  the  country  was  once  more  populous  than  at  present.®  The 
inhabitants  of  Ithaca,  the  birth  place  of  Ulysses  and  Telemachus,  and 
the  scene  of  some  of  the  principal  events  recorded  in  the  poetry  of 
Homer,  still  draw  their  supplies  of  water,  as  in  former  times,  from  wells. b 
And  as  in  other  places,  a  tower  was  anciently  erected  to  guard  one  of 
these  wells,  and  protect  the  inhabitants  while  drawing  water  from  it.c 

The  ancient  Egyptians  irrigated  the  borders  of  the  desert  above  the 
reach  of  the  inundations  of  the  Nile,yrom  wells,  which  they  dug  for  that 
purpose/1  The  Chinese  also  use  wells  to  water  their  land. 

As  it  regards  the  antiquity  and  importance  of  wells,  it  has  been  observed 
that  the  earliest  account  on  record  of  the  'purchase  of  land,  23  Gen.  was 
subsequent  to  that  of  a  well,  Gen.  xxi,  30. 

Roman  wells  are  found  in  every  country  which  that  people  conquered. 
Their  armies  had  constant  recourse  to  them,  when  other  sources  of  water 
failed,  or  were  cut  off  by  their  enemies.  Paulus  Emilius,  Pompey,  and  Cae¬ 
sar,  often  preserved  their  troops  from  destruction  by  havingrecoursetothem. 
This  was  strikingly  illustrated  by  Caesar  when  besieged  in  Alexandria;  the 
water  in  the  cisterns  having  been  spoiled  by  the  Egyptians.  It  was  Pom- 
pey’s  superior  knowledge  in  thus  obtaining  water,  which  enabled  him  to 
overthrow  Mithridates,  by  retaining  possession  of  an  important  post, 
which  the  latter  abandoned  for  want  of  water.  Thus  the  destinies  of 
these  manslayers  and  their  armies,  frequently  depended  on  the  wells 
which  they  made. 

The  city  of  Rome,  previous  to  the  time  of  Appius  Claudius  Caecus,  who 
first  conveyed  water  to  it  by  an  aqueduct,  A.  U.  C.  411,  was  supplied  chiefly 
from  fountains  and  wells,  several  of  which  are  preserved  to  this  day.  (At 
Chartres  in  France,  a  Roman  well  is  still  known  as  the  ‘  Saints’  Well,’  on 
account  of  martyrs  drowned  in  it  by  the  Romans.) 

In  noticing  the  wells  of  ancient  Italy,  we  may  refer  to  a  circumstance, 
which  although  trivial  in  itself,  led  to  the  most  surprising  discovery  that 
had  ever  taken  place  on  this  globe,  and  one  which  in  the  interest  it  has 
excited  is  unexampled.  In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  1711, 
an  Italian  peasant  while  digging  a  well  near  his  cottage,  found  some 
fragments  of  colored  marble.  These  attracting  attention,  led  to  further  ex¬ 
cavation,  when  a  statue  of  Hercules  was  disinterred,  and  shortly  after¬ 
wards  a  mutilated  one  of  Cleopatra.  These  specimens  of  ancient  art, 
were  found  at  a  considerable  depth  below  the  surface,  and  in  a  place 
which  subsequently  proved  to  be  a  temple  situated  in  the  centre  of  the 
ancient  city  of  Herculaneum !  This  city  was  overwhelmed  with  ashes 
and  lava,  during  an  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  A.  D.  79,  being  the  same  in 
which  the  elder  Pliny  perished,  who  was  suffocated  with  sulphurous  va¬ 
pors,  like  Lot’s  wife  in  a  similar  calamity.  Herculaneum  therefore  had 
been  buried  1630  years  !  and  while  every  memorial  of  it  was  lost,  and 
even  the  site  unknown,  it  was  thus  suddenly,  by  a  resurrection  then 
unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  brought  again  to  light ;  and 
streets,  temples,  houses,  statues,  paintings,  jewellery,  professional  imple¬ 
ments,  kitchen  utensils,  and  other  articles  connected  with  ancient  domestic 
life,  were  to  be  seen  arranged,  as  when  their  owners  were  actively  mov- 


aTop.  of  Troy,  Lon.  1804,  p.  5.  b  Ed.  Encyc.  Art.  Ithaca. 
c  Lard.  Arts  of  the  Greeks  and  Rom.  Vci.  i,  136.  d  Wilk.  Vol.  i,  220. 


By  Digging  a  Well. 


29 


Chap.  4.] 


ing  among  them.  Even  the  skeletons  of  some  of  the  inhabitants  were 
found  ;  one,  near  the  threshold  of  his  door,  with  a  bag  of  money  in  his 
hand,  and  apparently  in  the  act  of  escaping. 

The  light  which  this  important  discovery  reflected  upon  numerous  sub¬ 
jects  connected  with  the  ancients,  has  greatly  eclipsed  all  previous  sour¬ 
ces  of  information ;  and  as  regards  some  of  the  arts  of  the  Romans,  the 
information  thus  obtained,  may  be  considered  almost  as  full  and  satisfactory, 
as  if  one  of  their  mechanics  had  risen  from  the  dead  and  described  them. 

Among  the  early  discoveries  made  in  this  city  of  Hercules,  (it  having 
been  founded  by,  or  in  honor  of  him,  1250,  B.  C.)  not  the  least  interesting 
is  one  of  its  public  wells  ;  which  having  been  covered  by  an  arch  and 
surrounded  by  a  curb,  the  ashes  were  excluded.  Phil.  Trans,  xlvii, 
151.  This  well  was  found  in  a  high  state  of  preservation — it  still  con¬ 
tains  excellent  water,  and  is  in  the  same  condition  as  when  the  last  fe¬ 
males  retired  from  it,  bearing  vases  of  its  water  to  their  dwellings,  and 
probably  on  the  evening  that  preceded  the  calamity,  which  drove  them 
from  it  for  ever. 

Forty  years  after  the  discovery  of  Herculaneum,  another  city  over¬ 
whelmed  at  the  same  time,  was  “  destined  to  be  the  partner  of  its  disinter¬ 
ment,  as  well  as  of  its  burial.”  This  was  Pompeii,  the  very  name  of 
which  had  been  almost  forgotten.  As  it  lay  at  a  greater  distance  from 
Vesuvius  than  Herculaneum,  the  stream  of  lava  never  reached  it.  It  was 
inhumed  by  showers  of  ashes,  pumice  and  stones,  which  formed  a  bed  of 
variable  depth  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet,  and  which  is  easily  removed; 
whereas  the  former  city  was  entombed  in  ashes  and  lava  to  the  depth  of 
from  seventy  to  a  hundred  feet.  With  the  exception  of  the  upper  stories 
of  the  houses,  which  were  either  consumed  by  red  hot  stones  ejected  from 
the  volcano,  or  crushed  by  the  weight  of  the  matter  collected  on  their 
roofs,  we  behold  in  Pompeii  a  flourishing  city  nearly  in  the  state  in  which 
it  existed  eighteen  centuries  ago !  The  buildings  unaltered  by  newer 
fashions  ;  the  paintings  undimmed  by  the  leaden  touch  of  time  ;  household 
furniture  left  in  the  confusion  of  use ;  articles  even  of  intrinsic  value 
abandoned  in  the  hurry  of  escape,  yet  safe  from  the  robber,  or  scattered 
about  as  they  fell  from  the  trembling  hand  which  could  not  stoop  or  pause 
for  the  most  valuable  possessions ;  and  in  some  instances  the  bones  of  the 
inhabitants,  bearing  sad  testimony  to  the  suddenness  and  completeness  of 
the  calamity  which  overwhelmed  them.  Pompeii,  i,  5.  Lib.  Entertaining 
Knowledge.  In  the  prison,  skeletons  of  unfortunate  men  were  discov¬ 
ered,  their  leg  bones  being  enclosed  in  shackles,  and  are  so  preserved  in 
the  museum  at  Portici. 

I  noticed,  says  M.  Simond,  a  striking  memorial  of  this  mighty  eruption, 
in  the  Forum  opposite  to  the  temple  of  Jupiter;  a  new  altar  of  white 
marble  exquisitely  beautiful,  and  apparently  just  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
sculptor,  had  been  erected  there  ;  an  enclosure  was  building  all  around  ; 
the  mortar  just  dashed  against  the  side  of  the  wall,  was  but  half  spread 
out ;  you  saw  the  long  sliding  stroke  of  the  trowel  about  to  return  and 
obliterate  its  own  track — but  it  never  did  return ;  the  hand  of  the  work¬ 
man  was  suddenly  arrested  ;  and,  after  the  lapse  of  1800  years,  the  whole 
looks  so  fresh,  that  you  would  almost  swear  the  mason  was  only  gone  to 
his  dinner,  and  about  to  come  back  immediately  to  finish  his  work ! 
We  can  scarcely  conceive  it  possible  for  an  event  connected  with  the  arts 
of  former  ages,  ever  to  happen  in  future  times,  equal  in  interest  to  the  re¬ 
surrection  of  these  Roman  towns,  unless  it  be  the  reappearance  of  the 
Phenician  cities  of  the  plain. 

From  the  facility  of  removing  the  materials  at  Pompeii,  much  greater 


Wells  in  Asia. 


[Book  I, 


:$o 

advances  have  been  made  in  uncovering  the  buildings  and  clearing  the 
streets,  than  will  probably  ever  be  accomplished  in  Herculaneum.  As 
might  have  been  expected,  several  toclls  have  been  found,  besides  rain¬ 
water  cisterns  and  fountains  in  great  numbers.  The  latter  were  so  com¬ 
mon,  that  scarcely  a  street  has  been  found  without  one  ;  and  every  house 
was  provided  with  one  or  more  of  the  former. 

During  the  excavations  immediately  previous  to  the  publication  of  Sir 
Wm.  Gell’s  splendid  work,  ‘  Pompeiana,’  in  1832.  a  very  fine  well  was 
discovered  near  the  gate  of  the  Pantheon,  11G  feet  in  depth  and  contain 
ing  15  feet  of  water  !u 

That  wells  were  numerous  in  Asia  and  the  east  generally,  we  can 
readily  believe,  when  we  learn  that  some  of  the  most  fertile  districts, 
could  neither  be  cultivated  nor  inhabited  without  them.  Not  less  than 
fifty  thousand  wells  were  counted  in  one  district  of  Hindostan,  when  taken 
possession  of  by  the  British;  several  of  which  are  of  very  high  antiquity. 
In  China,  wells  are  numerous,  and  often  of  large  dimensions,  and  even 
lined  with  marble.  In  Pekin  they  are  very  common,  some  of  the  deepest 
wells  of  the  world  are  in  this  country.  M.  Arago,  (in  his  Essay  on  Arte¬ 
sian  Wells,)  observes  that  the  Chinese  have  sunk  them  to  the  enormous 
depth  of  eighteen  hundred  feet !  “  Dig  a  well  before  you  are  thirsty,”  is 
one  of  their  ancient  proverbs.  The  scarcity  of  water  over  all  Persia  has 
been  noticed  by  every  traveler  in  that  country.  In  general  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  depend  entirely  on  wells,  the  water  of  which  is  commonly  bad. 
Fryer,  xxxv,  67. 

To  provide  water  for  the  thirsty  has  always  been  esteemed  in  the  east, 
one  of  the  most  excellent  of  moral  duties,  hence  benevolent  princes  and  rich 
men,  have,  from  the  remotest  ages,  consecrated  a  portion  of  their  wealth 
to  the  construction  of  wells,  tanks,  fountains,  &c.  for  public  use.  It  is  re¬ 
corded  as  one  of  the  glories  of  Uzziah’s  reign,  that  he  “digged  many 
wells.”  Over  all  Persia,  there  are  numerous  cisterns  built  for  public  use 
by  the  rich.  Fryer,  225.  “Another  work  of  charity  among  the  Hindoos” 
observes  Mr.  Ward,  “is  the  digging  of  pools,  to  supply  the  thirsty  traveler 
with  water.  The  cutting  of  these,  and  building  flights  of  steps,  in  order  to 
descend  into  them,  is  in  many  cases  very  expensive;  4,000  rupees,  (2,000 
dollars,)  are  frequently  expended  on  one.”  At  the  ceremony  of  setting  it 
apart  for  public  use,  a  Brahmin,  in  the  name  of  the  donor,  exclaims,  “  I 
offer  this  pond  of  water  to  quench  the  thirst  of  mankind,”  after  which  the 
owner  cannot  appropriate  it  to  his  own  use.  Hist.  Hindoos,  374. 

Ferose,  one  of  the  monarchs  of  India,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  “built 
fifty  sluices”  (to  irrigate  the  land,)  and  “  one  hundred  and  fifty  wells.” 
One  of  the  objects,  which  the  fakirs,  or  mendicant  philosophers  of  India, 
have  frequently  in  view,  in  collecting  alms,  is  to  ‘  dig  a  well,’  and  thereby 
atone  for  some  particular  sin.  Other  devotees  stand  in  the  roads  with 
vessels  of  water,  and  give  drink  to  thirsty  travelers  from  the  same  motives. 
Among  the  supposed  causes  of  Job’s  affliction,  adduced  by  Eliphaz,  was, 
“thou  hast  not  given  water  to  the  weary  to  drink,”  xxii,  7:  a  most  hor¬ 
rible  accusation  in  such  a  country  as  Syria,  and  one  which  that  righteous 
man  denied  with  the  awful  imprecation,  “  then  let  mine  arm  fall  from  my 
ihoulder  blade,  and  mine  arm  be  broken  from  the  bone.”  xxxi,  22 

“  The  sun  was  setting,”  says  Mr.  Emerson,  “as  we  descended  the  last 
chain,  and  with  the  departure  of  daylight,  our  tortures  commenced,  as  it 
was  too  dark  to  see  any  of  the  fountains  charitably  erected  by  the  Turks 
near  the  road.”b  Large  legacies  are  sometimes  left  by  pious  Turks  for  the 


•  Pompeiana,  Preface.  8  Letters  from  the  Egean,  Let.  5. 


Sufferings  of  Travelers. 


31 


Chap.  4.  | 


erection  of  fountains,  who  believe  they  can  do  no  act  more  acceptable  to 
God.a  This  mode  of  expending'  their  wealth,  at  the  same  time  that  it 
conferred  real  and  lasting  benefits  on  the  public,  was  the  surest  way  of 
transmitting  to  posterity  the  names  of  the  donors.  The  pools  of  Solomon, 
might  have  preserved  his  name  from  oblivion  had  nothing  else  respecting 
him  been  known.  These  noble  structures,  in  a  land  where  every  other  work 
of  art  has  been  hurried  to  destruction,  remain  almost  as  perfect  as  when 
they  were  constructed,  and  Jerusalem  is  still  supplied  with  water  from 
them,  by  an  earthen  pipe  about  ten  inches  in  diameter.  “  These  reser¬ 
voirs  are  really  worthy  of  Solomon ;  I  had  formed  no  conception  of  their 
magnificence ;  they  are  three  in  number,  the  smallest  between  four,  and 
five  hundred  feet  in  length.”  The  waters  are  discharged  from  one  into 
another,  and  conveyed  from  the  lowest  to  the  city.  “  1  descended  into 
the  third  and  largest ;  it  is  lined  with  plaister  like  the  Indian  chunan,  and 
hanging  terraces  run  all  round  it.”  Lindsay’s  Trav.  Let.  9. 

According  to  the  moral  doctrines  of  the  Chinese,  “to  repair  a  road, 
make  a  bridge,  or  dig  a  well,”  will  atone  for  many  sins.  Davis’  China, 
ii,  89.  The  Hindoos,  says  Sonnerat,  believe  the  digging  of  tanks  on  the 
highways,  renders  the  gods  propitious  to  them ;  and  he  adds,  “  Is  not  this 
the  best  manner  of  honoring  the  deity,  as  it  contributes  to  the  natural 
good  of  his  creatures'?”  Vol.  i,  94. 


SUFFERINGS  OF  TRAVELERS  FROM  THIRST. 

The  extreme  sufferings  which  orientals  have  been,  and  are  still  called  to 
endure  from  the  want  of  water,  have  been  noticed  by  all  modern  travelers, 
from  Rubriques  and  Marco  Paulo,  to  Burckhardt  and  Niebuhr.  Wells  in 
some  routes,  are  a  hundred  miles  apart,  and  are  sometimes  found  empty ; 
hence  travelers  have  often  been  obliged  to  slay  their  camels  for  the  wa¬ 
ter  these  animals  retain  in  their  stomachs.  Leo  Africanus  noticed  two 
marble  monuments  in  his  travels ;  upon  one  of  which  was  an  epitaph, 
recording  the  manner  in  which  those  who  slept  beneath  them  had  met 
their  doom.  One  was  a  rich  merchant,  the  other  a  water  carrier,  who 
furnished  caravans  with  water  and  provisions.  On  reaching  this  spot, 
scorched  by  the  sun  and  their  entrails  tortured  by  the  most  excruciating 
thirst;  there  remained  but  a  small  quantity  of  water  between  them.  The 
rich  man,  whose  thirst  now  made  him  regard  his  gold  as  dirt,  purchased  a 
single  cup  of  it  for  ten  thousand  ducats  ;  but  that  which  possibly  might 
have  been  sufficient  to  save  the  life  of  one  of  them,  being  divided  be¬ 
tween  both,  served  only  to  prolong  their  sufferings  for  a  moment,  and  they 
both  sunk  into  that  sleep  from  which  there  is  no  waking  upon  earth. 
Lives  of  Travelers,  by  St.  John. 

Mr.  Bruce,  when  in  Abyssinia,  obtained  water  from  the  stomachs  of 
camels,  which  his  companions  slew  for  that  purpose.  Sometimes  the 
mouths  and  tongues  of  travelers,  from  want  of  this  precious  liquid,  be¬ 
come  dry  and  hard  like  those  of  parrots  ;  but  these  are  not  the  only 
people  who  suffer  from  thirst.  During  the  long  continuance  of  a  drought 
which  prevailed  over  all  Judea  in  Ahab’s  reign,  every  class  of  people 
suffered.  1  Kings,  xvii  and  xviii.  And  such  droughts  are  not  uncom¬ 
mon.  “  The  poor  and  needy  seek  water,  and  there  is  none,  and  their 
tongue  faileth  for  thirst,”  (Isa.  xli,  17,)  in  modern  times  as  when  the  pro¬ 
phet  wrote,  and  not  the  poor  alone,  for  “  the  honorable  men  are  famish¬ 
ed,”  and,  as  well  as  the  multitude,  are  “dried  up  with  thirst.”  Isa.  v,  13. 


Com.  Porter’s  Letters  from  Constantinople,  i,  101. 


32 


Crusaders. 


[Book  I 


Mechanics  in  cities  were  not  exempt.  “  The  smith  with  the  tongs,  both 
worketh  in  the  coals  and  fashioneth  it  with  hammers,  and  worketh  it  with  ■ 
jhe  strength  of  his  arms,  is  hungry  and  his  strength  faileth,  he  drinketh  no 
ivater  and  is  faint.”  Isa.  xliv,  12. 

Dr.  Ryers,  who  lived  in  the  city  of  Gombroon,  on  the  Persian  Gulf, 
when  describing  the  heat  of  the  climate  and  the  deficiency  and  bad  quality 
of  the  water,  observes  that  the  heat  made  “  the  mountains  gape,  the  rocks 
cleft  in  sunder,  the  waters  stagnate,  to  which  the  birds  with  hanging 
wings  repair  to  quench  their  thirst ;  for  want  of  which  the  herds  do  low, 
the  camels  cry,  the  barren  earth  opens  wide  for  drink ;  and  all  things  ap¬ 
pear  calamitous  for  want  of  kindly  moisture ;  in  lieu  of  which  hot  blasts 
of  wind  and  showers  of  sand  infest  the  purer  air,  and  drive  not  only  us, 
but  birds  and  beasts  to  seek  remote  dwellings,  or  else  to  perish  here  ;”  and 
after  removing  to  a  village  some  miles  distant,  “  for  the  sake  of  water,” 
by  a  metaphor,  that  will  appear  to  some  persons  as  bordering  on  blas¬ 
phemy,  he  says,  “  it  was  as  welcome  to  our  parched  throats,  as  a  drop  of 
that  cool  liquid,  to  the  importunate  Dives.”  Fryer,  p.  418.  Under  similar 
circumstances,  the  Hindoos,  night  and  day  run  through  the  streets,  carry¬ 
ing  boards  with  earth  on  their  heads,  and  loudly  repeating  after  the  Brah¬ 
mins,  a  prayer,  signifying  “  God  give  us  water.”  Even  in  Greece  and 
Rome,  where  water  was  in  comparative  abundance,  agricultural  laborers 
considered  the  Frog  an  object  of  envy,  inasmuch  as  it  had  always 
enough  to  drink  in  the  most  sultry  weather.  Lard.  Arts  Greeks  and  Rom. 
Yol.  ii,  20.  The  ignorant  and  clamorous  Israelites,  enraged  with  thirst, 
abused  Moses,  and  were  ready  to  stone  him,  because  they  had  no  water. 

One  of  the  most  appalling  facts  that  is  recorded  of  suffering  from  thirst 
occurred  in  1805.  A  caravan  proceeding  from  Timboctoo  to  Talifet,  was 
disappointed  in  not  finding  water  at  the  usual  watering  places  ;  when, 
horrible  to  relate,  all  the  persons  belonging  to  it,  two  thousand  in  number, 
besides  eighteen  hundred  camels,  perished  by  thirst!  Occurrences  like 
this,  account  for  the  vast  quantities  of  human  and  other  bones,  which  are 
found  heaped  together  in  various  parts  of  the  desert.  Wonders  of  the 
World,  p.246.  While  the  crusaders  besieged  Jerusalem,  great  numbers 
perished  of  thirst,  for  the  Turks  had  filled  the  wells  in  the  vicinity.  Me¬ 
morials  of  their  sufferings  may  yet  be  found  in  the  heraldic  bearings  of  their 
descendants.  The  charge  of  a  foraging  party  ‘for  water,’  we  are  told,  “was 
an  office  of  distinction;”  hence,  some  of  the  commanders  on  these  occa¬ 
sions,  subsequently  adopted  water  buckets  in  their  coats  of  arms,  as  em¬ 
blems  of  their  labors  in  Palestine.  ‘Water  Bougettes,’  formed  part  of 
the  arms  of  Sir  Humphrey  Bouchier,  who  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Bar- 
net,  in  1471.  Moules’  Ant.  of  Westminster  Abbey. 


Chap.  5.] 


Worship  of  Wells. 


33 


CHAPTER  V. 

Subject  of  Wells  continued — Wells  worshipped — River  Ganges — Sacred  well  at  Benares — Ob'.'jj  *- 
ken  at  Wells — Tradition  of  the  Rabbins-Altars  erected  near  them — Invoked-Ceremonies  with  regvri 
water  in  Egypt,  Greece,  Peru,  Mexico,  Rome,  and  Judea — Temples  erected  over  wells— The  fountala 
of  Apollo— Well  Zem  Zem — Prophet  Joel— Temple  of  Isis — Mahommedan  Mosques — Hiudoo  temple* 
— Woden’s  well — Wells  in  Chinese  temples — Pliny — Celts  —Gauls — Modern  superstitions  with  regasil 
to  water  and  wells — Hindoos— Algerines— Nineveh — Greeks — Tombs  of  saints  near  wells— Supersti¬ 
tions  of  the  Persians — Anglo  Saxons— Hindoos — Scotch — English— St.  Genevieve’s  well— St.  Wini¬ 
fred’s  wfell — House  and  well  *  warming.’ 

In  the  early  ages  water  was  reverenced  as  the  substance  of  which  all 
tilings  in  the  universe  were  supposed  to  be  made,  and  the  vivifying  prin¬ 
ciple  that  animated  the  whole ;  hence,  rivers,  fountains,  and  wells,  were 
worshipped  and  religious  feasts  and  ceremonies  instituted  in  honor  of 
them,  or  of  the  spirits  which  were  believed  to  preside  over  them.  Al¬ 
most  all  nations  retain  relics  of  this  superstition,  while  in  some  it  is  practi¬ 
sed  to  a  lamentable  extent.  Asia  exhibits  the  humiliating  spectacle  of 
millions  of  her  people  degraded  by  it,  as  in  former  ages.  Shoals  of  pil¬ 
grims  are  constantly  in  motion  over  all  Hindoston,  on  their  way  to  the 
*  sacred  Ganges  their  tracks  stained  with  the  blood  and  covered  with 
the  bones  of  thousands  that  perish  on  the  road.  With  these  people,  it  is 
deemed  a  virtue  even  to  think  of  this  river ;  while  to  bathe  in  its  waters 
washes  away  all  sin,  and  to  expire  on  its  brink,  or  be  suffocated  in  it,  is 
the  climax  of  human  felicity.  The  holy  well  in  the  city  of  Benares  is 
visited  by  devotees  from  all  parts  of  India ;  to  it  they  offer  rice,  &c.  as  to 
their  idols. 

From  this  sacred  character  of  water,  it  very  early  became  a  custom,  in 
order  to  render  obligations  inviolable,  to  take  oaths,  conclude  treaties, 
make  bargains,  &c.  at  wells.  We  learn  that  when  Jacob  was  on  his  way 
to  Egypt,  he  came  to  the  “  well  of  the  oath,”  and  offered  sacrifices  to  God. 
Josephus,  Ant.  ii,  7.  At  the  same  well,  his  grandfather  Abraham  conclu¬ 
ded  a  treaty  with  Abimelech,  which  was  accompanied  with  ceremonies 
and  oaths.  Gen.  xxi.  At  the  celebrated  Puteol  Libonis,  at  Rome,  oaths 
were  publicly  administered  every  morning;  a  representation  of  this  well 
is  on  the  reverse  of  a  medal  of  Libo.  Encyc.  Ant.  412.  It  was  believed 
that  the  “oaths  of  the  Gods”  was  also  by  water.  Univer.  His.  Vol.  iv, 
17.  The  Rabbins  have  a  tradition  that  their  kings  were  always  anoint¬ 
ed  by  the  side  of  a  fountain.  Solomon  was  carried  by  order  of  David  to 
the  ‘fountain  of  Gihon/  and  there  proclaimed  king.  Joseph.  Ant.  vii,  14. 

The  ancient  Cuthites,  says  Mr.  Bryant,  and  the  Persians  after  them,  had 
a  great  veneration  for  fountains  and  streams.  Altars  were  erected  in 
the  vicinity  of  wells  and  fountains,  and  religious  ceremonies  performed 
around  them.  Thus  Ulysses  : 

Beside  a  fountain’s  sacred  brink,  we  raised 

Our  verdant  altars,  and  the  victims  blazed.  Iliad  ii,  3G8. 

“  Wherever  a  spring  rises,  or  a  river  flows,”  says  Seneca,  “  there  we 
should  build  altars  and  offer  sacrifices,”  and  a  thousand  years  before  Se¬ 
neca  lived,  the  author  of  the  68th  Psalm  spoke  of  worshipping  God  from 
the  “  fountains  of  Israel.”  The  Syracusans  held  great  festivals  every 

5 


Religious  Customs. 


'34 


[Book  I. 


year  at  the  fountains  of  Aretnusa,  and  they  sacrificed  black  bulls  to  Pluto 
at  the  fountain  of  Cyane.  Wells  were  sometimes  dedicated  to  particular 
deities,  as  the  oracular  fountain  mentioned  by  Pausanias,  near  the  sea  at 
Patra,  which  still  remains  nearly  as  he  described  it ;  and  having  been  re¬ 
dedicated  to  a  Christian  saint,  “  is  still  a  sacred  well.”  Divination  by 
water,  was  practised  at  this  well.  A  mirror  was  suspended  by  a  thread, 
having  its  polished  surface  upwards,  and  while  floating  on  the  water, 
presages  were  drawn  from  the  images  reflected. 

Polynices,  in  CEdipus  Coloneus,  swears  “  by  our  native  fountains  and 
our  kindred  gods.”  Antigone,  when  about  to  be  sacrificed,  appeals  to  the 
“  fountains  of  Dirce,  and  the  grove  of  Thebe.”  Ajax  before  he  slew 
himself,  called  on  the  sun,  the  soil  of  Salamis,  and  “ye  fountains  and 
rivers  here.”  Trag.  of  Sophocles  lit,  trans.  1837. 

“At  Peneus’  fount  Aristeus  stood  and  bowed  with  woe, 

Breathed  his  deep  murmurs  to  the  nymph  below  :  Georgies  L.  iv,  365. 

Cyrene !  thou  whom  these  fair  springs  revere.” 

The  fountain  of  Aponeus,  (now  Albano)  the  birth  place  of  Livy,  was 
an  oracular  one.  That  of  Pirene  at  Corinth,  was  sacred  to  the  muses. 
Eneas  invoked  “  living  fountains”  among  other  “  Ethereal  Gods.”  And 
old  Latinus 

“  Sought  the  shades  renowned  for  prophecy. 

Which  near  Albuneas’  sulphureous  fountain  lie.”  En.  vii,  124. 

Cicero  says,  the  Roman  priests  and  augurs,  in  their  prayers,  called  on 
the  names  of  rivers,  brooks,  and  springs. 

Vessels  of  water  were  carried  by  the  Egyptian  priests  in  their  sacred 
processions,  to  denote  the  great  blessings  derived  from  it,  and  that  it  was 
the  beginning  of  all  things.  Vitruvius  says  they  were  accustomed  to 
place  a  vase  of  it  in  their  temples  with  great  devotion,  and  prostrating 
themselves  on  the  earth,  returned  thanks  to  the  divine  goodness  for  its  pro¬ 
tection.  Book  viii,  Proem.  In  the  celebration  of  the  Eleusinian  myste¬ 
ries,  those  who  entered  the  temple,  washed  their  hands  in  holy  water,  and 
on  the  ninth  and  last  day  of  the  festival,  vessels  of  water  were  offered 
with  great  ceremonies,  and  accompanied  with  mystical  expressions  to  the 
Gods.  Those  who  were  initiated  were  prohibited  from  ever  sitting  on 
the  cover  of  a  well.  Sojourners  among  the  Greeks  carried  in  the  religious 
processions,  small  vessels  formed  in  the  shape  of  boats  ;  and  their  daugh¬ 
ters  water  2)ois  with  umbrellas.  Rob.  Ant.  Greece.  Plutarch  says, 
“ fishes  were  not  eaten  of  old,  from  reverence  of  springs.” 

Among  the  ancient  Peruvians,  certain  Indians  were  appointed  to  sacri¬ 
fice  “to  fountains,  springs,  and  rivers.”  Pur.  Pil.  1076.  Holy  water  was 
placed  near  the  altars  of  the  Mexicans.  Ibid,  987.  Tlaloc  was  their  God 
of  water;  on  fulfilling  particular  vows  they  bathed  in  the  sacred  pond 
Tezcapan.  The  water  of  the  fountain  Toxpalatl  was  drank  only  at  the 
most  solemn  feasts:  no  one  was  allowed  to  taste  it  at  any  other  time.  Cla- 
vigero,  Lon.  17S6,  vol.  i,  251  and  265.  The  Fontinalia  of  the  Romans, 
were  religious  festivals,  held  in  October,  in  honor  of  the  Nymphs  of  wells 
and  fountains ;  part  of  the  ceremonies  consisted  in  throwing  nosegays  into 
fountains,  and  decorating  the  curbs  of  wells  with  wreaths  of  flowers. 

The  Jews  had  a  religious  festival  in  connection  with  water,  the  origin 
of  which  is  not  clearly  ascertained.  It  was  kept  on  the  last  day  of  the 
feast  of  tabernacles,  when  they  drew  water  with  great  ceremony  from 
the  pool  of  Siloah  and  conveyed  it  to  the  temple.a  It  is  supposed,  the  Sa- 


aUni.  Hist,  i,  607. 


Relating  to  Wells. 


35 


Chap.  5.] 


vior  alludes  to  this  practice,  when  on  “  the  last  day,  that  great  day  of  die 
feast,  he  stood  and  cried,  saying,  if  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me, 
and  drink.  •  He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his 
belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  waters.”  John,  vii,  37.  One  of  the  five 
solemn  festivals  of  the  people  of  Pegu,  is  ‘  the  feast  of  water,’  during 
which,  *  the  king,  nobles  and  all  the  people  throw  water  upon  one  another.’ 
Ovington’s  Voy.  to  Surat.  1689.  597.  The  superstitious  veneration  for  wells, 
induced  the  ancients  to  erect  temples  near,  and  sometimes  over  them ;  as 
the  fountain  of  Apollo,  near  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon;  the  well 
Zemzem  in  the  temple  of  Mecca,  &c.  In  accordance  with  this  prevailing 
custom,  we  find  the  prophet  Joel  speaks  of  a  fountain  which  should  come 
forth  out  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  water  the  valley,  iii,  18.  And 
when  Jeroboam  built  a  temple,  that  the  ten  tribes  might  not  be  obliged  to 
go  to  Jerusalem  to  worship,  and  there  be  seduced  from  him,  Josephus 
tells  us,  that  he  built  it  by  the  fountains  of  the  lesser  Jordan.  Antiq.  viii, 
cap.  8.  In  the  temple  of  Isis,  at  Pompeii,  the  ‘  sacred  well’  has  been 
found.  Pompeii,  i,  277,  279. 

The  ancient  custom  of  enclosing  wells  in  religious  edifices  was  adopted 
by  both  Christians  and  Mahommedans.  Among  the  latter  it  is  still  con 
tinued,  and  it  is  not  altogether  abandoned  by  the  former. 

“  This  afternoon,”  says  F ryer,  speaking  of  one  of  the  mosques  in  India, 
“  their  sanctum  sanctorum  was  open,  the  priest  entering  in  barefoot,  and 
prostrating  himself  on  one  of  the  mats  spread  on  the  floor,  whither  I  must 
not  have  gone,  could  his  authority  have  kept  me  out.  The  walls  were 
white  and  clean  but  plain,  only  the  commandments  wrote  in  Arabic  at  the 
west  end,  were  hung  over  a  table  in  an  arched  place,  where  the  priest  ex¬ 
pounds,  on  an  ascent  of  seven  steps,  railed  at  top  with  stone  very  hand¬ 
somely.  Underneath  are  fine  cool  vaults,  and  stone  stairs  to  descend  to  a 
deep  tank'' 

As  it  was  formerly  death  to  a  Christian  who  entered  a  mosque,  we  shall 
add  a  more  recent  instance.  In  1831,  Mr.  St.  John  disguised  himself, 
like  Burckhardt,  in  the  costume  of  a  native,  and  visited  the  mosques  of 
Cairo.  In  that  of  Sultan  Hassan,  he  observes,  “  ascending  a  long  flight 
of  steps,  and  passing  under  a  magnificent  doorway,  we  entered  the  vesti¬ 
bule,  and  proceeded  towards  the  most  sacred  portion  of  the  edifice,  where, 
on  stepping  over  a  small  railing,  it  was  necessary  to  take  off  our  babooshes, 
or  red  Turkish  shoes.  Here  we  beheld  a  spacious  square  court,  paved 
with  marble  of  various  colors,  fancifully  arranged,  with  a  beautiful  oc¬ 
tagonal  marble  fountain  in  the  centre.”  Egypt  and  Mohammed  Ali,  ii,  338. 
It  is  the  same  in  Persia.  Tavern.  Trav.  Lon.  1678.  29.  The  temples 
of  India  says  Sonnerat,  have  a  sacred  tank,  deified  by  the  Brahmins. 
The  figures  6f  gods  are  sometimes  thrown  ‘into  a  tank  or  well.’  Voy.  i 
111,  132.  In  old  times,  churches  were  removed  from  other  buildings, 
and  were  surrounded  with  courts,  in  the  centre  of  which  there  were 
fountains,  where  people  washed  before  going  to  prayers.  Moreri  Die.  In 
one  of  the  old  churches  at  Upsal,  is  an  ancient  well,  that  had  formerly 
been  famous  ‘  for  its  miraculous  cures.’  Woden’s  well  is  still  shown 
in  the  same  city.  It  was  in  the  vicinity  of  the  old  temple  of  that  great 
northern  deity.  De  la  Mortraye’s  Trav.  ii,  262.  Van  Braam  noticed  a 
well  in  one  of  the  large  temples  of  China.  Journ.  ii,  224.  ‘  Sacred 

springs,’  are  mentioned  by  Juvenal.  3  Sat.  30.  Pliny  speaks  of  fountains 
and  wells  of  water  as  very  ‘  wholesome  and  proper  for  the  cure  of  many 
diseases ;’  to  which,  he  says,  there  is  ascribed  some  divine  power,  inso¬ 
much  that  they  give  names  to  sundry  gods  and  goddesses,  xxxi,  2.  The 
Celts  venerated  lakes,  rivers,  and  fountains,  into  which  they  threw  gold. 


36 


[Book  I. 


Superstitions  of  the  Anglo  Saxons. 

The  Britons  and  Piets  did  the  same.  Scot.  Gael,  258.  Mezeray,  in  his 
History  of  F ranee,  when  speaking  of  the  church  in  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries,  remarks,  ‘  Hitherto  very  few  of  the  French  had  received  the 
light  of  the  gospel;  they  yet  adored  trees,  fountains,  serpents,  and  birds.’ 
i,  4.  In  the  eighth  century,  the  council  of  Soissons  condemned  a  heretic, 
who  built  oratories  and  set  up  crosses  near  fountains,  &c.  Ib.  113. 

Ancient  superstitions  with  regard  to  water  are  still  practised  more  or 
less  over  a  great  part  of  the  world.  At  the  first  new  moon  in  October, 
the  Hindoos  hold  a  great  celebration  to  their  Deities.  “  The  next  moon, 
their  women  flock  to  the  sacred  wells.”  Fryer,  110.  Many  of  the  cere¬ 
monies  performed  in  old  times  by  women  in  honor  of  wells  and  fountains, 
are  yet  practised  in  some  of  the  Grecian  islands.  There  the  females  still 
dance  round  the  wells,  the  ancient  Callichorus,  accompanied  with  songs  in 
honor  of  Ceres.  Dr.  Clarke.  “  I  have  just  returned  this  morning,”  (says  Mr. 
Campbell  in  his  Letters  from  the  South,  Phila.  Ed.  1836,  102,)  “  from  wit¬ 
nessing  a  superstitious  ceremony,  which,  though  unwarranted  by  the  Ko¬ 
ran,  is  practised  by  all  Mahometans  here,  [Algiers]  black,  brown,  and 
white,  nay  by  the  Jews  also.  It  consists  in  sacrificing  the  life  of  some 
eatable  animal  to  one  of  the  devils  who  inhabit  certain  fountains  near  Al¬ 
giers.  The  victims  were  fowls,  they  were  dipped  in  the  sacred  sea,  as 
Homer  calls  it,  after  which  the  high  priest  took  them  to  a  neighboring 
fountain,  and  having  waved  his  knife  thrice  around  the  head  of  an  old  wo¬ 
man,  who  sat  squatting  beside  it,  cut  their  throats,”  &c. 

The  custom  was  probably  a  common  one  in  ancient  Nineveh ;  for  once 
a  year  the  peasants  assemble  and  sacrifice  a  sheep  a#  Thisbe’s  well,  with 
music  and  other  festivities.  The  Greeks  are  so  much  attached  to  grottoes 
and  wells,  that  “  there  is  scarcely  one  in  all  Greece  and  the  islands,  which 
is  not  consecrated  to  the  Virgin,  who  seems  to  have  succeeded  the  ancient 
nymphs  in  the  guardianship  of  these  places.1 

The  supposed  sanctity  of  wells  also  led  to  the  custom  of  interring  the 
bodies  of  saints  or  holy  persons  near  them  ;  thus  in  all  parts  of  Egypt, 
the  tombs  of  saints  are  found  in  the  vicinity  of  those  places,  “  where  the 
wandering  dervishes  stop  to  pray,  and  less  pious  travelers  to  quench  their 
thirst.”  Some,  says  Fryer,  are  buried  with  “‘their  heels  upwards,  like 
Diogenes.” 

Worship  of  wells,  like  many  other  superstitions  of  Pagan  origin,  was 
early  incorporated  with  the  ceremonies  of  the  Christian  church,  and  carried 
to  an  idolatrous  excess.  A  schism  took  place  in  Persia  among  the  Arme¬ 
nians,  in  the  tenth  century ;  one  party  was  accused  of  ‘despising  the  holy 
well  of  Vagarsciebat.’  In  Europe  it  was  at  one  time  universal.  In  En¬ 
gland,  in  the  reigns  of  Canute  and  Edgar,  edicts  were  issued  prohibiting 
well  worship.  When  Hereward  the  Saxon  hero,  held  the  marshes  of 
Ely  against  the  Norman  conqueror,  he  said  he  heard  his  hostess  conversing 
with  a  witch  at  midnight!  he  arose  silently  from  his  bed,  and  followed 
them  into  the  garden,  to  a  ‘  fountain  of  water,’  and  there  he  ‘heard  them 
holding  converse  with  the  spirit  of  the  fountain.’  From  a  collection  of 
Anglo  Saxon  remains,  the  following  example  is  taken.  “  If  any  one  ob¬ 
serve  lots  or  divinations,  or  keep  his  wake,  [watch]  at  any  wells,  or  at 
any  other  created  things,  except  at  God’s  church,  let  him  fast  three  years  ; 
the  first  one  on  bread  and  water,”  &c.  In  a  Saxon  homily  against  witch¬ 
craft  and  magic,  in  the  library  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  it  is  said, 
“some  men  are  so  blind,  that  they  bring  their  offerings  to  immovable  rocks, 
and  also  to  trees  and  to  wells,  as  witches  do  teach.”  bThe  Hindoos  still  wor* 


•Rich’s  Nar.  of  a  Residence  in  Koordistan.  ii,  42.  b  Foreign  Quarterly.  July,  1838. 


Depth  of  Wells. 


3? 


Chap.  6.] 


6hip  stones,  trees,  and  water,  and  make  offerings  to  them.a  In  a  manu¬ 
script  written  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  there  is  a  humor¬ 
ous  song,  in  which  there  is  an  allusion  to  this  superstition.  Tt  begins  thus  : 

1  The  last  tyme  I  the  wel  woke 
Sir  John  caght  me  with  a  croke, 

He  made  me  swere  be  bel  and  boke 
I  shuld  not  tel.’ 

Even  so  late  as  the  seventeenth  century,  people  in  Scotland  were  in  the 
habit  of  visiting  wells,  at  which  they  performed  numerous  acts  of  super¬ 
stition.  Shaw,  in  his  History  of  the  Province  of  Moray,  says  that  ‘heathen 
customs  were  much  practised  among  the  people,’  and  among  them,  he  in¬ 
stances  their  ‘  performing  pilgrimages  to  wells,’  and  ‘  building  chapels  to 
fountains.’15  At  the  present  time  in  some  parts  of  England,  remains  of 
well  worship  are  preserved,  in  the  custom  of  performing  annual  proces¬ 
sions  to  them,  decorating  them  with  wreaths  and  chaplets  of  flowers, 
singing  of  hymns,  and  even  reading  a  portion  of  the  gospel  as  part  of  the 
ceremonies. 

These  same  customs  gave  rise  to  the  numerous  holy  wells,  which  for¬ 
merly  abounded  throughout  the  old  world,  and  the  memory  of  many  of 
which  is  still  preserved  in  names  of  towns.  In  the  church  of  Nantcrre , 
near  Paris,  the  birth  place  of  Saint  Genevieve,  is  a  well,  by  the  water  of 
which,  this  patroness  of  the  Parisians  miraculously  restored  her  blind 
mother  and  many  others  to  sight !  Breval’s  Eu.  307.  Saint  Winifred’s 
well  in  Flintshire,  Eng.  from  its  sacred  character  gave  name  to  the  town 
of  Holywell.  Mr.  Pennant  says,  the  custom  of  visiting  this  well  in  pil¬ 
grimage,  and  offering  up  devotions  there,  was  not  in  his  time  entirely  laid 
aside:  “in  the  summer,  a  few  are  to  be  seen  in  the  water,  in  deep  devo¬ 
tion  up  to  their  chin  for  hours,  sending  up  their  prayers,  or  performing  a 
number  of  evolutions  round  the  polygonal  well.”  Even  so  late  as  1804, 
a  Roman  catholic  bishop  of  Wolverhampton,  took  much  pains  to  persuade 
the  world,  that  an  ignorant  proselyte  of  his,' named  Winifred  White  was 
miraculously  cured  at  this  well  of  various  chronic  diseases  ! 

The  custom  of  *  house-warming’  is  very  ancient;  the  same  ceremonies, 
were  formerly  performed  on  the  completion  of  new  wells. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Wells  continued:  Depth  of  ancient  wells — In  Hindostan — Well  of  Tyre — Carthageuian  wells — Wells 
in  Greece,  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii — Wells  without  curbs — Ancient  laws  to  prevent  accidents  from 
persons  and  animals  falling  into  them — Sagacity  and  revenge  of  an  elephant — Hylas — Archelaus 
of  Macedon — Thracian  soldier  and  a  lady  at  Thebes — Wooden  covers — Wells  in  Judea — Reasons  for 
not  placing  curbs  round  wells — Scythians — Arabs — Aquilius — Abraham — Ilezekiah — David — Mardo- 
nius — Moses  and  the  people  of  Edom — Burckhardt  in  Petra — Woman  of  Bahurim — Persian  tradition — 
Ali,  the  fourth  Caliph — Covering  wells  with  large  stones — Mahommedan  tradition — Themistocles — Edicts 
of  Greek  emperors — Well  at  Ideliopolis — Juvenal — Roman  and  Grecian  curbs  of  marble — Capitals  of 
ancient  columns  converted  into  curbs  for  wells. 

A  knowledge  of  the  depth  and  other  circumstances,  relating  to  some 
ancient  wells,  is  necessary  to  a  due  investigation  of  the  various  methods 
of  raising  water  from  them.  We  cannot  indeed  form  a  correct  judgment 
of  the  latter,  without  some  acquaintance  with  the  former. 


•Ward’s  Hindoos,  342,  352.  b  Hone’s  Every  Day  Book,  ii,  636,  685.  Fosbroke,  684. 


38 


Wells  without  Curbs. 


[Book  I 

The  wells  of  Asia  are  generally  of  great  depth,  and  of  course  were 
so  in  former  times.  In  Guzzerat,  they  are  from  eighty  to  a  hundred  feet; 
in  the  adjoining  province  of  Mulwah,  they  are  frequently  three  hundred 
feet.  In  Ajmeer,  they  are  from  one  to  two  hundred  feet.  Mr.  Elphin- 
stone  in  his  mission  to  Cabaul  observes,  ‘  the  \yells  are  often  three  hun¬ 
dred  feet  deep ;  one  was  three  hundred  and  forty  five ;’  and  with  this 
enormous  depth,  some  are  only  three  feet  in  diameter.  The  famous  well 
of  ancient  Tyre,  ‘whose  merchants  were  princes,  and  whose  traffickers 
were  the  honorable  of  the  earth,’  is,  according  to  some  travelers,  without 
a  bottom  ;  but  La  Roque,  is  said  by  Volney,  to  have  found  it  at  the  depth 
of  ‘six  and  thirty  fathom.’ 

Shalmanezer  besieged  this  city  of  mechanics  for  five  years,  without 
being  able  to  take  it ;  at  last  he  cut  off  the  waters  of  this  well,  when  the 
inhabitants  dug  others  within  the  city ;  after  which  they  held  out  against 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  the  whole  power  of  the  Babylonian  empire  for 
thirteen  years ;  being  the  longest  siege  on  record,  except  that  of  Ashdod. 
Jos.  Antiq.  ix,  14.  Ancient  Carthagenian  wells  of  great  depth  have  been 
already  mentioned.  Dr.  Shaw  (Trav.  135,)  observes  of  a  tribe  of  the  Ka- 
byles,  ‘  their  country  is  very  dry,  they  have  no  fountains  or  rivulets,  and 
in  order  to  obtain  water,  they  dig  wells  ‘  to  the  depth  of  from  one  to  two 
hundred  fathom.’  Jacob’s  well  is  a  hundred  and  nine  feet,  and  Joseph’s 
well  at  Cairo,  near  three  hundred  feet  deep.  The  well  Zemzem  at  Mecca, 
is  two  hundred  and  ten  feet.  *  Exceeding  deep  wells’  in  Surat,  are  men¬ 
tioned  by  Toreen,  in  Osbeck’s  Voyage  to  China.  That  the  wells  of  Attica 
were  generally  deep,  is  obvious  from  a  provision  in  Solon’s  law  respecting 
them,  by  which  a  person,  after  digging  to  the  depth  of  sixty  feet  without 
obtaining  water,  was  allowed  to  fill  a  six  gallon  vessel  twice  a  day  at  his 
neighbor’s  well.  The  frequency  of  not  meeting  with  water  at  that  depth, 
evidently  gave  rise  to  this  provision.81  The  wells  of  Herculaneum  and 
Pompeii,  were  probably  all  of  considerable  depth,  if  we  judge  from  those 
that  have  been  discovered. 


WELLS  WITHOUT  CURBS. 

Another  feature  in  ancient — particularly  Asiatic — wells,  was,  they  were 
often  without  curbs  or  parapets  built  round  them ;  hence  animals  often 
fell  into  them  and  were  killed.  A  very  ancient  law  enacted,  that,  ‘  if  a 
man  shall  open  or  dig  a  pit,  [a  well]  and  not  cover  it ;  and  an  ox  or  an 
ass  fall  therein,  the  owner  of  the  pit  shall  make  it  good,  and  give  money 
to  the  owner  of  them,  and  the  dead  beasts  shall  be  his.’  Exo.  xxi,  33,  34. 
This  was  probably  an  old  Phenician  and  Egyptian  law  which  the  Is¬ 
raelites  adopted  from  its  obvious  utility.  Josephus’  account  of  it  is  more 
explicit :  ‘  let  those  that  dig  a  well  or  a  pit,  be  careful  to  lay  planks  over 
them,  and  so  keep  them  shut  up,  not  to  hinder  persons  from  drawing  wa¬ 
ter,  but  that  there  may  be  no  danger  of  falling  into  them.’  Antiq.  iv, 
8.  Numerous  examples  of  the  utility  of  such  a  law  might  be  produced 
from  oriental  histories.  Benaiah,  one  of  the  three  famous  warriors  of 
David,  who  broke  through  the  hosts  of  the  Philistines  and  drew  water 
for  him  out  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem,  ‘  slew  a  lion  in  the  midst  of  a  pit  in 
the  time  of  snow.’  Sam.  xxiii,  20  :  from  Josephus,  this  appears  to  have 
been  one  of  the  ordinary  wells  of  the  country,  which  having  no  curb, 
had  been  left  open,  and  the  ‘lion  slipped  and  fell  into  it.’  Antiq.  vii,  12. 

‘  On  our  way  back  to  the  town,  we  saw  a  poor  ass  dying  in  a  pit,  into 


*  Plutarch’s  Life  of  Solon. 


Chap.  6.] 


Wells  without  Curbs. 


39 


which  he  had  fallen  with  his  leg’s  tied,  that  being  the  practice  of  the  Arabs 
when  they  send  out  these  animals  to  feed.’a  The  custom  of  the  Arabs  in 
this  respect  has  probably,  like  many  others,  undergone  no  change.  It  ex¬ 
plains  the  necessity  of  the  law  in  Exodus,  as  quoted  above. 

As  two  elephant  drivers,  each  on  his  elephant,  one  of  which  was  re¬ 
markably  large  and  powerful,  and  the  other  small  and  weak,  were  ap¬ 
proaching  a  well,  the  latter  carried  at  the  end  of  his  proboscis  a  bucket 
by  which  to  raise  the  water.  The  larger  animal  instigated  by  his  driver, 
(who  was  not  provided  with  one,)  seized  and  easily  wrested  it  from  the 
weaker  elephant,  which,  though  unable  to  resent  the  insult,  obviously  felt 
it.  At  length,  watching  his  opportunity  when  the  other  was  standing  amid 
the  crowd  with  his  side  to  the  well,  he  retired  backwards  in  a  very  quiet 
and  unsuspicious  manner,  and  then  rushing  forward  with  all  his  might, 
drove  his  head  against  the  side  of  the  robber,  and  fairly  pushed  him  into 
the  well — the  surface  of  the  water  in  which,  was  twenty  feet  below  the 
level  of  the  ground. 

But  animals  were  not  the  only  sufferers  : — There  are  passages  in  an¬ 
cient  authors  which  indicate  the  loss  of  human  life  both  accidentally  and 
by  design,  in  consequence  of  the  absence  of  curbs  to  wells.  Thus  Hylas 
who  accompanied  Hercules  on  the  Argonautic  expedition,  went  ashore  to 
draw  water  from  a  well  or  fountain,  and  he  fell  in  and  was  drowned. 
Virgil  represents  the  companions  of  Hylas  after  missing  him,  as  spread¬ 
ing  themselves  along  the  coast  and  loudly  repeating  his  name  : 

And  Hylas,  whom  his  messmates  loud  deplore, 

While  Hylas!  Hylas!  rings  from  all  the  shore. 

Ec.  vi,  48.  Wrangham. 

Archelaus  of  Macedon,  a  contemporary  of  Socrates,  ascended  the  throne 
by  the  mostjiorrid  crimes.  Among  others  whom  he  murdered,  was  his 
own  brother,  a  boy  only  seven  years  old.  He  threw  his  body  into  a  well, 
and  endeavored  to  make  his  mother  believe  that  the  child  fell  in,  ‘  as  he 
was  running  after  a  goose.’  JBayle. 

When  Alexander,  like  a  demon,  destroyed  the  city  of  Thebes,  (the  ca¬ 
pital  of  one  of  the  States  of  Greece,)  and  murdered  six  thousand  of  its 
inhabitants,  a  party  of  Thracian  soldiers  belonging  to  his  army  demolished 
the  house  of  Timoclea,  a  lady  of  distinguished  virtue  and  honor.  The  soldiers 
carried  off  the  booty,  and  their  captain  having  violated  the  lady,  asked 
her,  if  she  had  not  concealed  some  of  her  treasures:  she  told  him  she 
had,  and  taking  him  alone  with  her  into  the  garden,  she  showed  him 
a  well,  into  which  she  said  she  had  thrown  every  thing  of  value.  Now 
we  are  told,  that  as  he  stooped  down  to  look  into  the  well,  this  high  spi¬ 
rited  and  much  injured  lady  pushed  him  in,  and  killed  him  with  stones.b 

From  these  accounts,  it  appears  that  wells  belonging  to  private  houses  in 
ancient  Greece,  were  sometimes  without  curbs,  although  they  probably  had 
portable  or  wooden  covers.  That  these  were  common,  is  evident  from  a  pas¬ 
sage  already  quoted  from  Josephus;  and  the  remains  of  one  have  been 
discovered  in  Pompeii.®  The  private  well  mentioned  in  2  Sam.  xvii,  18, 
had  no  curb.  Indeed  it  is  evident  from  the  New  Testament,  that  the  an¬ 
cient  custom  of  leaving  the  upper  surface  of  wells  level  with  the  ground, 
prevailed  among  the  Jews,  through  the  whole  of  their  history,  from  their 
independence  as  a  nation,  to  their  final  overthrow  by  Titus.  ‘  What  man 
among  you  having  one  sheep,  if  it  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  sabbath  day,  will 


St.  John’s  Egypt,  i,  354.  b  Plutarch’s  Life  of  Alexander.  c  Pompeii,  ii,  204- 


40 


Reasons  for  not  placing  Curbs  round  Wells.  [Book  I, 

he  not  lay  hold  of  it  and  lift  it  out  Matt,  xii,  11.  And  again  in  Luke, 
‘  which  of  you  shall  have  an  ass,  or  an  ox  fallen  into  a  pit,  and  will  not 
straightway  pull  him  out  on  the  sabbath  day.’  xiv,  5. 

In  these  passages,  which  are  parallel  to  those  quoted  from  Exodus  and 
Josephus,  the  word  ‘  pit’  is  synonymous  with  ‘  well.’  In  Antiq.  vii,  12. 
‘  the  well  of  Bethlehem,’  is  called  a  ‘  pit.’  Wells  without  curbs  are  met 
with  in  Judea  and  the  east  generally,  at  the  present  time,  although  they 
are  not  so  numerous  as  formerly.  Mr.  Stephens,  in  his  ‘  Incidents  of 
Travel,’  observed  on  the  road  to  Gaza,  ‘  two  remarkable  wells  of  the  very 
best  Roman  workmanship,  about  fifty  feet  deep,  lined  with  large  hard 
stones,  as  firm  and  perfect  as  on  the  day  on  which  they  were  laid;  the  up¬ 
permost  layer  on  the  top  of  the  well,  ‘  was  on  a  level  with  the  pavement.4 
In  some  illustrations  of'  the  Book  of  Genesis,  executed  in  the  fourth  or 
fifth  century,  one  represents  the  interview  between  Rebecca  and  Eliezer  ; 
the  well  is  square,  and  the  curb  but  a  few  inches  high. 


REASONS  FOR  NOT  PLACING  CURBS  ROUND  THE  MOUTHS  OF  WELLS. 

The  motives  which  induced  the  ancients  to  leave  their  wells  without 
curbs  were  various: 

1.  That  they  might  be  more  readily  concealed.  This  was  a  universal 
custom  in  times  of  war.  When  Darius  invaded  Scythia,  the  inhabitants 
did  not  attempt  an  open  resistance,  but  covered  up  their  wells  and  springs 
and  retired.  Herod,  iv,  120.  Mr.  Elpbinstone,  in  his  mission  to  Cabaul, 
says,  the  people  ‘  have  a  mode  of  covering  their  wells  with  boards,  heaped 
with  sand,  that  effectually  conceals  them  from  an  enemy.’  Diodorus  Si¬ 
culus,  remarked  the  same  of  the  Bedouin  Arabs,  eighteen  centuries  ago, 
and  they  still  practise  it.  Travelers  in  the  Lybian  desert  are  often  six  and 
seven  days  without  water,  and  frequently  perish  for  want  of  it ;  ‘  the 
drifting  sand  having  covered  the  marks  of  the  wells.’b  Wells,  when  thus  con¬ 
cealed  ‘  can  only  be  found  by  persons  whose  profession  it  is  to  pilot  cara¬ 
vans  across  this  ocean  of  sand,  and  the  sagacity  with  which  these  men  per¬ 
form  their  duty  is  wonderful ;’  like  pilots  at  sea  with  nothing  but  the  stars 
to  direct  them. 

2.  To  prevent  them  from  being  poisoned  or  filled  up,  both  of  which 
frequently  occurred.  The  Roman#General  Aquilius  conquered  the  cities 
of  the  kingdom  of  Pergamus,  one  by  one,  by  poisoning  the  waters.  This 
horrid  crime  has  always  prevailed.  In  1320,  many  Jews  were  burnt  in 
F ranee,  while  others  were  massacred  by  the  infuriate  people,  under  the 
belief  that  they  had  poisoned  the  wells  and  fountains  of  Paris.  The  Earl 
of  Savoy  was  poisoned  in  this  manner  in  1384,  and  the  practice  was  com¬ 
mon  in  the  fifteenth  century.0  Some  of  the  wells  belonging  to  Abraham, 
were  stopped  up  by  the  inhabitants..  ‘  And  Isaac  digged  again  the  wells 
of  water,  which  they  had  digged  in  the  days  of  Abraham  his  father,  for 
the  Philistines  had  stopped  them,  after  the  death  of  Abraham.’  Gen.  xxvi, 
IS.  ‘  We  walked  on  some  distance  to  a  well,  which  we  found  full  of 
sand  ;  Hussein  scooped  it  out  with  his  hands,  when  the  water  rose  and 
all  of  us  drank.’  Lindsay’s  Trav.  Let.  7.  When  the  Assyrians  under 
Senacherib,  invaded  Judea  in  the  eighth  century,  B.  C.  ‘  Hezekiah  took 
counsel  with  his  princes  and  mighty  men,  to  stop  the  waters  of  the  foun¬ 
tains  which  were  without  the  city ;  and  they  stopped  all  the  fountains, 
savins:,  why  should  the  kins:  of  Assyria  come  here  and  find  much  water  V 
2  Kings,  iii,  19.  25. 


aVol.  ii,  101,  and  Lindsay’s  Trav.  Let.  9.  bOgilvy’s  Africa,  281. 
cMezeray’s  France.  Lon.  1683.  pp.  349,  408,  414. 


Chap.  6.J 


Great  Value  of  Water. 


41 


The  custom  of  leaving  the  principal  supply  of  water  without  the  walls 
of  the  more  ancient  cities,  is  remarkable ;  and  the  reason  for  it  has  not 
yet  been  satisfactorily  explained.  The  water  which  supplied  Alba  Longa, 
lay  in  a  very  deep  glen,  and  was  therefore  scarcely  defensible  ;  but  the 
springs  of  the  Scamander  at  Troy,  of  Enneacrunus  at  Athens  ;  of  Dirce 
at  Thebes,  and  innumerable  others,  prove  that  such  instances  were  com¬ 
mon.1  When  David  waged  war  against  the  Ammonites,  his  success,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Josephus,  was  chiefly  owing  to  his  general  cutting  off  their 
waters,  and  especially  those  of  a  particular  well.  Antiq.  vii,  1.  Mardo- 
nius  stopped  up  the  Gargaphian  fountain,  which  supplied  the  Grecian  ar¬ 
my  with  water,  an  act  which  brought  on  in  its  vicinity,  the  famous  battle 
of  Platea,  in  which  he  was  slain,  and  the  power  of  Persia  in  Greece 
finally  prostrated.  A  remarkable  instance  of  the  labor  and  perseverance 
of  ancient  soldiers,  in  cutting  off  a  well  or  fountain  from  besieged  places, 
is  given  by  Caesar  in  his  Commentaries  on  the  War  in  Gaul,  viii,  33. 

3.  To  prevent  the  water  from  being  stolen;  which  could  scarcely  have 
been  prevented  at  wells  with  curbs,  for  they  could  not  then  have  been  con¬ 
cealed.  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  extreme  scarcity  of  water  in  the 
east,  required  a  vigilant  and  parsimonious  care  of  it ;  and  hence  continual 
quarrels  arose  from  attempts  to  purloin  it,  or  to  take  it  by  force.  ‘  And 
the  herdsmen  of  Gerar  did  strive  with  Isaac’s  herdsmen,  saying,  the 
water  is  ours.’  Gen.  xxvi,  20.  This  kind  of  strife,  says  Dr.  Richardson, 
between  the  different  villagers,  still  exists,  as  it  did  in  the  days  of  Abra¬ 
ham  and  Lot.  It  was  customary  for  shepherds  to  seize  on  the  wells  be¬ 
fore  others  came,  lest  there  should  not  be  sufficient  water  for  all  their 
flocks,  and  it  was  at  an  occurrence  of  this  kind,  that  Moses  first  became  ac¬ 
quainted  with  Zipporah  and  her  sisters.  Jos.  Antiq.  ii,  11.  “  Nearly  six 

hours  beyond  the  ruined  town  of  Ivournou,  and  two  beyond  the  dry  bed 
of  a  small  stream  called  El  Gerara,  [the  brook  of  Gerar?]  we  were  sur¬ 
prised  at  finding  two  large  and  deep  wells,  beautifully  built  of  hewn  stone. 
The  uppermost  course,  and  about  a  dozen  troughs  for  watering  cattle  dis¬ 
posed  round  them,  of  a  coarse  white  marble ;  they  were  evidently  coeval 
with  the  Romans.  Quite  a  patriarchal  scene  presented  itself  as  we  drew 
near  to  the  wells  ;  the  Bedouins  were  watering  their  flocks  ;  two  men  at 
each  well  letting  down  the  skins  and  pulling  them  up  again,  with  almost 
ferocious  haste,  and  with  quick  savage  shouts.”  Lindsay’s  Trav.  Let.  9. 

The  scarcity  of  water  in  those  countries  has  from  the  remotest  times 
made  it  an  object  of  merchandise. — “  Ye  shall  also  buy  water  of  them  for 
money  that  ye  may  drink.”  Deut.  ii,  6,  28.  And  Jeremiah — “  we  have 
drunken  our  water  for  money.”  Lam.  v,  4.  See  Ezekiel,  iv,  16,  17. 
This  value  of  water  may  be  perceived  in  the  negotiation  of  Moses  with 
the  king  of  Edom,  for  a  passage  through  that  country.  He  pledged  him¬ 
self  that  his  countrymen  would  not  injure  the  fields  or  the  vineyards ; 
“neither,”  says  he,  “will  we  drink  of  the  waters  of  the  wells;”  and  in  a 
subsequent  proposition,  he  adds,  “  if  I  and  my  cattle  drink  of  thy  waters, 
then  I  will  pay  for  it.”  Num.  xx,  17,  19.  It  is  we  think  evident  from 
the  text,  that  the  great  quantities  of  water  which  such  a  host  would  re¬ 
quire,  was  the  principal  objection  urged  by  the  people  of  Edom ;  they 
were  afraid,  and  very  naturally  too,  that  a  million  of  souls  might  drain  all 
their  wells  while  passing  through  the  land,  a  calamity  that  might  prove 
fatal  to  themselves.  Brooks  and  rivers,  were  dried  up  by  the  army  of 
Xerxes  as  he  advanced  towards  Greece. 

It  may  be  observed  here,  that  when  in  1811,  Burckhardt  discovered 


Gell’s  Topography  of  Rome,  i,  34. 

6 


42 


Wells  covered  by  large  Stones. 


[Book  I, 


Petra,  the  long  lost  capital^ of  Edom,  an  intense  interest  was  excited 
among  the  learned  men  of  Europe,  and  several  hastened  to  behold  the 
most  extraordinary  city  of  the  world ;  a  city  excavated  out  of  the  rocks, 
whose  origin  goes  back  to  the  times  of  Esau,  the  ‘  father  of  Edom,’  and 
which  had  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  been  completely  lost  to  the 
civilized  world.  But  the  natives  swore,  as  in  the  times  of  Moses,  they 
should  not  enter  their  country,  nor  drink  of  their  water,  and  they  threatened 
to  shoot  them  like  dogs,  if  they  attempted  it.  It  was  with  much  difficulty 
and  danger,  that  Burckhardt  at  length  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  glimpse 
of  this  singular  city.  He  was  disguised  as  an  Arab,  and  passed  under  the 
name  of  Sheik  Ibrahim.  The  difficulty  and  danger  of  a  visit  to  Petra, 
is  now  however  in  a  great  measure  removed  by  the  present  Pasha,  Ma- 
hommed  Ali. 

From  the  custom  of  concealing  many  ancient  wells,  we  learn  the  im¬ 
portant  fact,  that  machines  for  raising  the  water  could  not  have  been  at¬ 
tached  to,  or  permanently  placed  near  them.  As  these,  as  well  as  curbs 
or  parapets  projecting  above  the  ground,  would  have  betrayed  to  ene¬ 
mies  and  strangers  their  location.  When  the  woman  at  Bahurim  secreted 
David’s  spies  in  the  well  belonging  to  her  house,  and  “  spread  a  covering 
over  the  well’s  mouth,  and  spread  ground  corn  thereon;”  2  Sam.  xvii,  19, 
her  device  could  not  have  succeeded,  if  a  curb  had  enclosed  its  mouth, 
or  if  any  permanent  machine  had  been  erected  to  raise  the  water  from  it; 
as  these  would  have  indicated  the  well  to  the  soldiers  of  Absalom,  who 
would  certainly  have  examined  it,  because  wells  were  frequently  used 
as  hiding  places  in  those  days.  There  is  a  tradition  in  Persia  that  one  of 
the  Armenian  patriarchs,  was  concealed  several  years  in  a  well,  during 
the  persecution  of  the  Christians  under  Dioclesian  and  Maximinian  ;  and 
was  ‘  privately  relieved  by  the  daily  charity  of  a  poor  godly  woman.’ 
Fryer,  271. 

When  Ali  the  fourth  Caliph  of  the  Arabians,  marched  with  ninety 
thousand  men  into  Syria,  the  army  was  in  want  of  water.  An  old  hermit, 
whose  cell  was  near  the  camp,  was  applied  to  ;  he  said  he  knew  but  of 
one  cistern,  which  might  contain  two  or  three  buckets  of  water.  The 
Caliph  replied  that  the  ancient  patriarchs  had  dug  wells  in  that  neighbor¬ 
hood.  The  hermit  said  there  was  a  tradition  of  a  well  whose  mouth  was 
closed  by  a  stone  of  an  enormous  size,  but  no  person  knew  where  it  was. 
Ali  caused  his  men  to  dig  in  a  spot  which  he  pointed  out,  and  not  far  from 
the  surface,  the  mouth  of  the  well  was  found.4 

Where  wells  were  too  well  known  to  be  concealed,  as  those  in  the 
neighborhood  of  towns,  villages,  &c.  they  were  sometimes  secured  by 
large  stones  placed  over  them,  which  required  the  combined  strength 
of  several  persons  to  remove.  ‘  A  great  stone  was  upon  the  well’s  mouth; 
and  they  rolled  the  stone  from  the  well’s  mouth  and  watered  the  sheep, 
and  put  the  stone  again  upon  the  well’s  mouth.’  Gen.  xxix,  2,  3.  The  Ma- 
hommedans  have  a  tradition  that  the  well  at  which  Moses  watered  the 
flocks  of  his  father-in-law,  was  covered  by  a  stone  which  required  several 
men  to  remove  it.  It  is  indeed  obvious  large  stones  only  could  have  been 
used,  for  small  ones  could  not  extend  across  the  wells,  which  were  fre¬ 
quently  of  large  diameter.  Jacob’s  well  is  nine  feet  across,  and  some 
were  larger  The  curb  round  the  well  Zemzem  at  Mecca,  is  ten  feet  in 
diameter.  “  Another  time  we  passed  an  ancient  well,”  says  Lindsay,  Let. 
10,  “  in  an  excursion  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  and  the  Dead  Sea,  its 
mouth  sealed  with  a  large  stone,  with  a  hole  in  the  centre,  through  which 


Martigny’s  History  of  the  Arabians,  ii,  49. 


Roman  and  Grecian  Curbs. 


43 


Cliap.  6.] 

we  threw  a  pebble,  but  there  was  no  water,  and  we  should  have  been 
sorry  had  there  been  any,  for  our  united  strength  could  not  have  removed 
the  seal.” 

Notwithstanding  the  precautions  used,  shepherds  were  often  detected 
in  fraudulently  watering  their  flocks  at  their  neighbors’  wells,  to  prevent 
which,  locks  were  used  to  secure  the  covers.  These  continued  to  be 
used  till  recent  times.  M.  Chardin  noticed  them  in  several  parts  of  Asia. 
The  wells  at  Suez,  according  to  Niebuhr,  are  surrounded  by  a  strong 
wall  to  keep  out  the  Arabs,  and  entered  by  a  door  ‘fastened  with  enor¬ 
mous  clamps  of  iron.’  In  Greece  as  in  Asia,  those  were  fined  who  stole 
♦  water.  When  Themistocles  during  his  banishment  was  in  Sardis,  he  ob¬ 
served  in  the  temple  of  Cybele  a  female  figure  of  brass,  called  ‘  Hydro- 
phorus ’  or  Water  Bearer,  which  he  himself  had  caused  to  be  made  and 
dedicated  out  of  the  fines  of  such  as  had  stolen  the  water,  or  diverted  the 
stream.a  One  of  the  Greek  emperors  of  Constantinople  issued  an  edict 
A.  D.  404,  imposing  a  fine  of  a  pound  of  gold  for  every  ounce  of  water 
surreptitiously  taken  from  the  reservoirs.1*  And  a  more  ancient  ruler  re¬ 
marked  that  ‘  stolen  waters  are  sweet.’  Proverbs,  ix,  17.  The  ancient 
Peruvians  had  a  similar  law. 

Curbs  or  parapets  were  generally  placed  round  the  mouths  of  wells  in 
the  cities  of  Greece  and  Rome,  as  appears  from  many  of  them  preserved  to 
the  present  time,  as  well  as  those  discovered  in  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum. 
The  celebrated  mosaic  pavement  at  Preneste,  contains  the  representation 
of  an  ancient  well ;  by  some  authors  supposed  to  be  the  famous  fountain 
of  Heliopolis.  .  Montfaucon  and  Dr.  Shaw  have  given  a  figure  of  it.  The 
curb  is  represented  as  built  of  brick  or  cut  stone.  Curbs  were  generally 
massive  cylinders  .of  marble  and  mostly  formed  of  ane  block,  but  some¬ 
times  of  two,  cramped  together  with  iron.  Their  exterior  resembled 
round  altars.  Those  of  the  Greeks  were  ornamented  with  highly  wrought 
sculptures  and  were  about  twenty  inches  high.  Roman  curbs  were  ge¬ 
nerally  plain,  but  one  has  been  found  in  the  street  of  the  Mercuries  at 
Pompeii,  beautifully  ornamented  with  triglyphs.  To  these  curbs  Juvenal 
appears  to  allude  : 

Oh!  how  much  more  devoutly  should  we  cling 
To  thoughts  that  hover  round  the  sacred  spring, 

Were  it  still  margined  with  its  native  green, 

And  not  a  marble  near  the  spot  were  seen.  Sat.  iii,  30  Badham. 

That  Roman  wells  were  generally  protected  by  curbs,  appears  also  from 
a  remark  of  the  elder  Pliny  :  “  at  Gades  the  fountain  next  to  the  temple  of 
Hercules,  is  enclosed  about  like  a  well.”  B.  ii,  97.  Dr.  Shaw  mentions  se¬ 
veral  Roman  wells  with  corridors  round,  and  cupolas  over  them,  in  various 
parts  of  Mauritania.  Trav.  237.  Mr.  Dodwell  describes  the  rich  curb  of 
a  Corinthian  well,  ten  figures  of  divinities  being  carved  on  it.  Such  deco¬ 
rations  he  says  were  common  to  the  sacred  wells  of  Greece. 

In  various  parts  of  Asia  and  Egypt,  the  finest  columns  have  been  bro¬ 
ken  and  hollowed  out  to  serve  as  curbs  to  wells ;  and  in  some  instances, 
the  capitals  of  splendid  shafts  may  be  seen  appropriated  to  the  same  pur¬ 
pose.  Although  such  scenes  are  anything  but  pleasant  to  the  enlightened 
traveler,  the  preservation  of  valuable  fragments  of  antiquity  has  been  se¬ 
cured  by  these  and  similar  applications  of  them.  They  certainly  are  less 
subject  to  destruction,  as  curbs  of  wells,  than  when  employed,  like  the 
fine  Corinthian  capital  of  Parian  marble,  which  Dr.  Shaw  observed  at 
Arzew,  ‘  as  a  block  for  a  blacksmith’s  anvil'  Trav.  29,  30. 


Plutarch’s  L’fe  of  Themistocles.  b  Hydraulia,  p.  232.  Lon.  1835. 


44 


Description  of  ancient  Wells. 


[Book  1 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Wells  concluded:  Description  of  Jacob’s  well — Of  Zerazem  in  Mecca — Of  Joseph’s  well  at  Cairo — 
Reflections  on  wells — Oldest  monuments  extant — Wells  at  Elim — Bethlehem — Cos — Scyros — Heliopolis 
— Persepolis — Jerusalem — Troy — Ephesus — Tadmor — Mizra — Sarcophagi  employed  as  watering  troughs 
— Stone  coffin  of  Richard  IU  used  as  one — Ancient  American  wells — Indicate  the  existence  in  past  times 
of  a  more  refined  people  than  the  present  red  men — Their  examination  desirable — Might  furnish  (like 
the  wells  at  Athens,)  important  data  of  former  ages. 

A  description  of  some  celebrated  wells  may  liere  be  inserted,  as  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  them  hereafter.  Jacob's  well,  is  one  of 
the  most  ancient  and  interesting.  Through  a  period  of  thirty-five  cen¬ 
turies  it  has  been  used  by  that  patriarch’s  descendants,  and  distinguished 
by  his  name.  This  well  is,  as  every  reader  of  scripture  knows,  near  Sy- 
char,  the  ancient  Shechem,  on  the  road  to  Jerusalem,  and  has  been  visited 
by  pilgrims  in  all  ages.  Long  before  the  Christian  era,  it  was  greatly  re¬ 
vered,  and  subsequently  it  has  been  celebrated  on  account  of  the  inter¬ 
view  which  the  Savior  had  with  the  woman  of  Samaria  near  it.  Its  lo¬ 
cation  according  to  Dr.  Clarke  is  so  distinctly  marked  by  the  Evangelist, 
and  so  little  liable  to  uncertainty  from  the  circumstances  of  the  well  itself, 
and  the  features  of  the  country,  that  if  no  tradition  existed  for  its  identity, 
the  site  of  it  could  hardly  be  mistaken. 

The  date  of  its  construction  may,  for  aught  that  is  known  to  the  con 
trary,  extend  far  beyond  the  times  of  Jacob;  for  we  are  not  informed  that 
it  was  digged  by  him.  As  it  is  on  land  which  he  purchased  for  a  residence, 
“  of  the  sons  of  Hamor  the  father  of  Shechem,”  and  was  in  the  vicinity 
of  a  Canaanitish  town ;  it  may  have  been  constructed  by  the  forme1 
owners  of  the  soil,  and  probably  was  so.  The  woman  of  Samaria  when 
conversing  with  the  Savior  respecting  it,  asks  ‘  Art  thou  greater  than  our 
father  Jacob  who  gave  us  the  well,  and  drank  thereof  himself,  his  children 
and  cattle!”  John,  iv,  12.  She  does  not  say  he  dug  it.  This  famous 
well  is  one  hundred  and  five  feet  deep,  and  nine  feet  in  diameter,  and  when 
Maundrell  visited  it,  it  contained  fifteen  feet  of  water.  Its  great  an¬ 
tiquity  will  not  appear  very  extraordinary,  if  we  reflect  that  it  is  bored 
through  the  solid  rock,  and  therefore  could  not  be  destroyed,  except  by 
an  earthquake  or  some  other  convulsion  of  nature;  indeed  wells  of  this 
description,  are  the  most  durable  of  all  man’s  labors,  and  may,  for  aught 
we  know,  last  as  long  as  the  world  itself. 

The  well  Zcmzem  at  Mecca,  may  be  regarded  as  another  very  ancient 
one.  It  is  considered  by  Mahometans  one  of  the  three  holiest  things  in 
the  world,  and  as  the  source  whence  the  great  progenitor  of  the  Arabs 
was  refreshed  when  he  and  his  mother  left  his  father’s  house.  “  She  saw 
a  well  of  water,  and  she  went  and  filled  the  bottle  with  water  and  gave 
the  lad  to  drink.”  Gen.  xxi,  19.  This  well,  the  Caaba  and  the  black 
stone, a  were  connected  with  the  idolatry  of  the  ancient  Arabs,  centuries 
before  the  time  of  Mahomet.  The  Caaba  is  said  to  have  been  built  by 
Abraham  and  Ishmael,  and  it  is  certain  that  their  names  have  been  con¬ 
nected  with  it  from  the  remotest  ages.  Diodorus  Siculus,  mentions  it  as 

a  This  stone  like  those  of  the  Hindoos  and  the  one  mentioned  in  Acts,  xix,  “fell 
down  from  heaven"  and  is  probably  a  meteorite. 


Well  Zemze'm,. 


45 


Chap.  7] 

being  held  in  great  veneration  by  the  Arabs  in  his  time.  [50,  B.  C.]  The 
ceremonies  still  performed,  of  “  encircling  the  Caaba  seven  times,  kissing 
the  black  stone,  and  drinking  of  the  water  of  the  well  Zemzem,”  by  the 
pilgrims,  were  practices  of  the  ancient  idolaters,  and  which  Mahomet,  as  an 
adroit  politician,  incorporated  into  his  system,  when  unable  to  repress 
them.  The  conduct  of  the  pilgrims  when  approaching  this  well  and 
drinking  of  its  water,  has  direct  reference  to  that  of  Hagar,  and  to  her 
feelings  when  searching  for  water  to  preserve  the  life  of  her  expiring 
son. 

If  we  reflect  on  the  infinite  value  of  wells  in  Syria — on  the  jealous  care 
with  which  they  have  always  been  preserved — that  while  they  afforded 
good  water,  they  could  never  be  lost — that  Mecca  is  one  of  the  most  an¬ 
cient  cities  of  the  world,  the  supposed  Mesa  of  the  scriptures,  Gen.  x,  30, 
— and  that  this  well  is  the  only  one  in  the  city,  whose  waters  can  be 
drunk : — we  cannot  but  admit  the  possibility  at  least,  that  it  is  the  identi¬ 
cal  one,  as  the  Arabs  contend,  of  whose  waters,  Ishmael  and  his  mother 
partook. 

We  are  not  aware  that  any  modern  author  has  had  an  opportunity  of 
closely  examining  it ;  it  being  death  for  a  Christian  to  enter  the  Caaba. 
Burckhardt  visited  the  temple  in  the  disguise  of  a  pilgrim,  but  we  believe 
he  had  not  an  opportunity  to  ascertain  any  particulars  relating  to  its  depth, 
&c.  Purchas,  quoting  Barthema,  who  visited  Mecca  in  1503,  says  it  is 
“  three  score  and  ten  yards  deepe,”  [210  feet,]  “  thereat  stand  sixe  or 
eight  men,  appointed  to  draw  water  for  the  people,  who  after  their  seven¬ 
fold  ceremonie  come  to  the  brinke,”  &c.  Pil.  p.  306.  In  Crichton’s  His¬ 
tory  of  Arabia,  Ed.  1833.  Vol.  ii,  218,  this  well  is  said  to  be  fifty-six  feet 
to  the  surface  of  the  water.  The  curb  is  of  fine  white  marble,  five  feet 
high,  and  seven  feet  eight  inches  in  its  interior  diameter.  In  the  317th  year  of 
the  Hegira,  the  Karmatians  slew  seventeen  thousand  pilgrims  within  the  cir¬ 
cumference  of  the  Caaba,  and  filled  this  famous  well  with  the  dead  bo¬ 
dies; — they  also  carried  off  the  Black  Stone. 

Joseph’s  well. — The  most  remarkable  well  ever  made  by  man,  is  Jo¬ 
seph’s  well  at  Cairo.  Its  magnitude,  and  the  skill  displayed  in  its  con¬ 
struction,  which  is  perfectly  unique,  have  never  been  surpassed.  All 
travelers  have  spoken  of  it  with  admiration. 

This  stupendous  well  is  an  oblong  square,  twenty-four  feet  by  eighteen; 
being  sufficiently  capacious  to  admit  within  its  mouth  a  moderate  sized 
house.  It  is  excavated  (of  these  dimensions,)  through  solid  rock  to  the 
depth  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  W'here  it  is  enlarged  into  a  capa¬ 
cious  chamber,  in  the  bottom  of  which  is  formed  a  basin  or  reservoir,  to 
receive  the  water  raised  from  below ,  (for  this  chamber  is  not  the  bottom 
of  the  well.)  On  one  side  of  the  reservoir  another  shaft  is  continued,  one 
hundred  and  thirty  feet  lower,  where  it  emerges  through  the  rock  into  a 
bed  of  gravel,  in  which  the  water  is  found.  The  whole  depth,  being  two 
hundred  and  ninety-seven  feet.  The  lower  shaft  is  not  in  the  same  ver¬ 
tical  line  with  the  upper  one,  nor  is  it  so  large,  being  fifteen  feet  by 
nine.  As  the  water  is  first  raised  into  the  basin,  by  means  of  ma¬ 
chinery  propelled  by  horses  or  oxen  roithin  the  chamber ,  it  may  be 
asked,  how  are  these  animals  conveyed  to  that  depth  in  this  tremendous 
pit,  and  by  what  means  do  they  ascend  1  It  is  the  solution  of  this  prob¬ 
lem  that  renders  Joseph’s  well  so  peculiarly  interesting,  and  which  indi¬ 
cates  an  advanced  state  of  the  arts,  at  the  period  of  its  construction. 

A  spiral  passage-way  is  cut  through  the  rock,  from  the  surface  of  the 
ground  to  the  chamber,  independent  of  the  well,  round  which  it  winds 
with  so  gentle  a  descent,  that  persons  sometimes  ride  up  or  down  upon 


Joseph’s  Well, 


[Book  1. 


asses  or  mules.  It  is  six  feet  four  in¬ 
ches  wide,  and  seven  feet  two  inches 
high.  Between  it  and  the  interior  of 
the  well,  a  wall  of  rock  is  left,  to  pre 
vent  persons  falling  into,  or  even  look¬ 
ing  down  it,  (which  in  some  cases  would 
be  equally  fatal,)  except  through  certain 
openings  or  windows,  by  means  of  which, 
it  is  faintly  lighted  from  the  interior  of 
the  well :  by  this  passage  the  animals 
descend,  which  drive  the  machinery  that 
raises  the  water  from  the  lower  shaft 
into  the  reservoir  or  basin,  from  which 
it  is  again  elevated  by  similar  machinery, 
and  other  oxen  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  See  figure.  In  the  lower  shaft,  a 
path  is  also  cut  down  to  the  water,  but  as 
no  partition  is  left  between  it  and  the  well, 
it  is  extremely  perilous  for  strangers  to 
descend. 

The  square  openings  represented  on 
each  side  of  the  upper  shaft,  are  sec¬ 
tions  of  the  spiral  passage,  and  the  zig¬ 
zag  lines  indicate  its  direction.  The 
wheels  at  the  top  carry  endless  ropes, 
the  lower  parts  of  which  reach  down 
to  the  water  ;  to  these,  earthenware  va¬ 
ses  are  secured  by  ligatures,  see  A,  A, 
at  equal  distances  through  the  whole  of 
their  length,  so  that  when  the  machinery 
is  moved,  these  vessels  ascend  full  of 
water  on  one  side  of  the  wheels,  dis¬ 
charge  it  into  troughs  as  they  pass  over 
them  and  descend  in  an  inverted  po¬ 
sition  on  the  other.  For  a  further  de¬ 
scription  of  this  apparatus,  see  the  chap¬ 
ter  on  the  chain  ofi  pots. 

This  celebrated  production  of  former 
times,  it  will  be  perceived,  resembles  an 
enormous  hollow  screw,  the  centre  of 
which  forms  the  well,  and  the  threads,  a 
winding  stair-case  round  it.  To  erect 
of  .granite  a  flight  of  “  geometrical”  or 
“  well  stairs,”  two  or  three  hundred  feet 
high,  on  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
would  require  extraordinary  skill ;  al¬ 
though  in  the  execution,  every  aid  from 
rules,  measures,  and  the  light  of  day, 
would  guide  the  workmen  at  every  step; 
but  to  begin  such  a  work  at  the  top, 
and  construct  it  downioards  by  excava¬ 
tion  alone,  in  the  dark  bowels  of  the 
earth,  is  a  more  arduous  undertaking, 
especially  as  deviations  from  the  correct 
lines  could  not  be  remedied  ;  yet  in  Jo- 


No  7.  Section  of  Joseph’*  Well. 


At  Cairo. 


47 


Chap.  7.] 

seph’s  well,  the  partition  of  rock  between  the  pit  and  the  passage-way, 
and  the  uniform  inclination  of  the  latter,  seem  to  have  been  ascertained 
with  equal  precision,  as  if  the  whole  had  been  constructed  of  cut  stone  on 
the  surface.  Was  the  pit,  or  the  passage,  formed  first;  or  were  they  simul¬ 
taneously  carried  on,  and  the  excavated  masses  from  both  borne  up  the 
latter  ?  The  extreme  thinness  of  the  partition  wall,  excited  the  astonish¬ 
ment  of  M.  Jomard,  whos'e  account  of  the  well  is  inserted  in  the  second 
volume  of  Memoirs  in  Napoleon’s  great  Work  on  Egypt,  part  2nd,  p, 
691.  It  is,  according  to  him,  but  sixteen  centimetres  thick,  [about  six  in¬ 
ches!]  He  justly  remarks  that  it  must  have  required  singular  care  to 
leave  and  preserve  so  small  a  portion  while  excavating  the  rock  from  both 
sides  of  it.  It  would  seem  no  stronger  in  proportion,  than  sheets  of 
pasteboard  placed  on  edge,  to  support  one  end  of  the  stairs  of  a  modern 
built  house,  for  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  massive  roof  of  the  spiral 
passage  next  the  well,  has  nothing  but  this  film  of  rock  to  support  it, 
or  to  prevent  such  portions  from  falling,  as  are  loosened  by  fissures,  or 
such,  as  from  changes  in  the  direction  of  the  strata,  are  not  firmly  united 
to  the  general  mass.  But  this  is  not  all :  thin  and  insufficient  as  it  may 
seem,  the  bold  designer  has  pierced  it  through  its  whole  extent  with  semi¬ 
circular  openings,  to  admit  light  from  the  well:  those  on  one  side  are 
shown  in  the  figure.  * 

Opinions  respecting  the  date  of  this  well  are  exceedingly  various.  Po- 
cocke  thought  it  was  built  by  a  vizier  named  Joseph,  eight  hundred  years 
ago ;  other  authorities  more  generally  attribute  it  to  Saladin,  the  intrepid 
defender  of  his  country  against  the  hordes  of  European  savages,  who,  un¬ 
der  the  name  of  crusaders,  spread  rapine  and  carnage  through  his  land. 
His  name  was  Yussef,  [Joseph.]  By  the  common  people  of  Egypt,  it 
has  long  been  ascribed  to  the  patriarch  of  that  name,  and  their  traditions 
are  often  well-founded  ;  of  which  we  shall  give  an  example  in  the  ac¬ 
count  of  the  Swape.  Van  Sleb,  who  visited  Egypt  several  times  in  the 
17th  century,  says,  some  of  the  people  in  his  time,  thought  it  was  digged 
by  spirits,  and  he  adds,  “  I  am  almost  inclined  to  believe  it,  for  I  cannot 
conceive  how  man  can  compass  so  wonderful  a  work.”3  This  mode  of 
accounting  for  ancient  works  is  common  among  ignorant  people,  and  may 
be  considered  as  proof  of  their  great  antiquity.  Dr.  Robertson,  in  speak¬ 
ing  of  ancient  monuments  in  India,  remarks  that  they  are  of  such  high 
antiquity,  that  as  the  natives  cannot,  either  from  history  or  tradition,  give 
any  information  concerning  the  time  in  which  they  were  executed,  they 
universally  ascribe  the  formation  of  them  to  superior  beings.5  Some  wri¬ 
ters  believe  this  well  to  have  been  the  work  of  a  more  scientific  people 
than  any  of  the  comparatively  modern  possessors  of  Egypt — in  other 
words,  they  think  it  the  production  of  the  same  people  that  built  the  py¬ 
ramids  and  the  unrivalled  monuments  of  Thebes,  Dendarah  and  Ebsam- 
boul.  Lastly,  Cairo  is  supposed  by  others,  to  occupy  the  site  df  Egyp¬ 
tian  Babylon,  and  this  well  is  considered  by  them,  one  of  the  remains  of 
that  ancient  city.  Amidst  this  variety  of  opinions  respecting  its  origin,  it 
is  certain,  that  it  is  every  way  worthy  of  the  ancient  mechanics  of  Egypt; 
and  in  its  magnitude  exhibits  one  of  the  prominent  features  which  cha¬ 
racterize  all  their  known  productions. 

Why  was  this  celebrated  well  made  oblong?  Its  designer  had  cer¬ 
tainly  his  reasons  for  it.  May  not  this  form  have  been  intended  to  en¬ 
lighten  more  perfectly  the  interior,  by  sooner  receiving  and  retaining 
longer  the  rays  of  the  sun?  To  what  point  of  the  compass  its  longest 

•The  present  state  of  Egypt,  by  F.  Van  Sleb.  Lon.  1678.  p.  248.  b India,  Appendix 


48  Reflections  on  Ancient  Wells.  [Book  I. 

sides  coincide,  has  not,  that  we  are  aware  of,  been  recorded.  Should  they 
prove  to  be  in  the  direction  of  the  rising  and  setting  sun,  the  reason  sug¬ 
gested,  may  possibly  be  the  true  one. 

In  Ogilvy’s  Africa,  it  is  remarked  that  at  the  last  city  to  the  south  of 
Egypt,  “  is  a  deep  well,  into  whose  bosom  the  sun  shines  at  noon,  while 
he  passes  to  and  again  through  the  northern  signs.”  p.  99.  This  is  the 
same  well  that  Strabo  mentions  at  Syene,  which  marked  the  summer  sol¬ 
stice — the  day  was  known,  when  the  style  of  the  sun  dial  cast  no  shade  at 
noon,  and  the  vertical  sun  darted  his  rays  to  the  bottom  of  the  well.  It 
was  at  Syene,  that  Eratosthenes,  220  B.  C.  made  the  first  attempt  to 
measure  the  circumference  of  the  earth — and  to  the  same  city,  the  poet 
Juvenal  was  banished. 


REFLECTIONS  ON  ANCIENT  WELLS. 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  subject,  it  may  be  remarked  that  an¬ 
cient  wells  are  of  very  high  interest,  inasmuch  as  many  of  them  are  the 
only  memorials,  that  have  come  down  to  us,  of  the  early  inhabitants  of 
the  world;  and  they  differ  from  almost  all  other  monuments  of  man  in 
former  times ;  not  only  in  their  origin,  design,  and  duration,  but  above  all, 
in  their  utility.  In  this  respect,  no  barren  monument,  of  whatever 
magnitude  or  material,  which  ambition,  vanity,  or  power,  has  erected,  at 
the  expense  of  the  labor  and  lives  of  the  oppressed,  can  ever  be  com¬ 
pared  with  them.  Such  monuments  are,  with  few  exceptions,  proofs  of  a 
people’s  sufferings;  and  were  generally  erected  to  the  basest  of  our  spe¬ 
cies:  whereas  ancient  wells  have,  through  the  long  series  of  past  ages, 
continually  alleviated  human  woe;  and  have  furnished  man  with  one  of 
nature’s  best  gifts  without  the  least  alloy. 

It  would  almost  appear,  as  if  the  divine  Being  had  established  a  law, 
by  which  works  of  pure  beneficence  and  real  utility  should  endure  almost 
for  ever ;  while  those  of  mere  magnificence,  however  elaborately  con¬ 
structed,  should  in  time  pass  away.  The  temple  of  Solomon — his  golden 
house,  ivory  palaces,  and  splendid  gardens  are  wholly  gone ;  but  the  plain 
cisterns,  which  he  built  to  supply  his  people  with  water,  remain  almost  as 
perfect  as  ever.  Thus  the  pride  of  man  is  punished  by  a  law,  to  which 
the  most  favored  of  mortals  formed  no  exception. 

An  additional  interest  is  attached  to  several  "wells  and  fountains  of  the 
old  world,  from  the  frequent  allusion  to  them  in  the  Scriptures,  and  by 
the  classical  writers  of  Greece  and  Rome.  In  addition  to  those  already 
named,  the  following  may  be  noticed.  When  the  Israelites  left  Egypt, 
“  they  came  to  Elim,  where  were  twelve  wells  of  water,  and  three  score 
and  ten  palm  trees.”  Now  the  Grove  of  Elim  yet  flourishes;  and  its 
fountains  have  neither  increased  nor  diminished,  since  the  Israelites 
encamped  by  them.a  Modern  travelers  in  Palestine  often  allay  their 
thirst  at  the  well  which  belonged  to  the  birth  place  of  David,  the  “  Well 
of  Bethlehem,”  whose  waters  he  so  greatly  preferred  to  all  others.  The 
inhabitants  of  Cos,  drink  of  the  same  spring  which  Hippocrates  used 
twenty-three  hundred  years  ago;  and  their  traditions  still  connect  it  with 
his  name.  The  nymphs  of  Scyros,  another  island  in  the  Egean,  in  the 
early  ages  assembled  at  a  certain  fountain  to  draw  water  for  domestic 
uses.  This  fountain,  says  Dr.  Clarke,  exists  in  its  original  state;  and  is 
still  the  same  rendezvous  as  formerly,  of  love  or  of  gallantry,  of  gossip- 

*  We  are  aware  that  Dr.  Shaw — Travels,  p.  350 — observed  but  wine  wells.  Fie  says,  at 
that  time,  three  of  them  were  filled  up  with  sand;  but  the  whole  were  to  be  seen  a 
short  time  previous  to  his  visiting  them,  and  we  believe  since. 


Chap.  7. 


Aqueducts,  Fountains,  and  Cisterns. 


49 


ping  and  tale  telling.  Young  women  may  be  seen  coming  from  it  in 
groups,  and  singing,  with  vases  on  their  heads,  precisely  as  represented 
on  ancient  marbles.  It  was  at  Scyros  where  young  Achilles  was  concealed 
to  prevent  his  going  to  the  Trojan  war.  He  was  placed  among,  and  habited 
like,  the  daughters  of  Lycomedes;  but  Ulysses  adroitly  discovered  him, 
by  offering  for  sale,  in  the  disguise  of  a  pedler,  a  fine  suit  of  armor,  among 
trinkets  for  women. 

Heliopolis,  the  city  of  the  Sun,  the  On  of  Genesis,  of  which  Joseph’s 
father-in-law  was  governor  and  priest,  and  whose  inhabitants,  according 
to  Herodotus,  (ii.  3.)  were  the  most  ingenious  of  all  the  Egyptians,  and 
where  the  philosophers  of  Greece  assembled  to  acquire  “the  wisdom  of 
Egypt,”  was  famous  for  its  fountain  of  excellent  water: — this  fountain, 
with  a  solitary  obelisk,  is  all  that  remains  to  point  out  the  place  where 
that  splendid  city  stood. 

Aqueducts,  fountains,  cisterns  and  wells,  are  in  numerous  instances  the 
only  remains  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated  cities  of  the  ancient  world. 
Of  Heliopolis,  Syene  and  Babylon  in  Egyjat;  of  Tyre,  Sidon,  Palmyra, 
Nineveh,  Carthage,  Utica,  Barca,  and  many  others;  and  when,  in  the  course 
of  future  ages,  the  remaining  portals  and  columns  of  Persepolis  are 
entirely  decayed,  and  its  sculptures  crumbled  to  dust :  its  cisterns  and 
and  .  aqueduct  (both  hewn  out  of  the^rock)  will  serve  to  excite  the  curi¬ 
osity  of  future  antiquaries,  when  every  other  monument  of  the  city  to 
which  they  belonged  has  perished.  The  features  of  nature,  says  Dr. 
Clarke,  continue  the  same,  though  works  of  art  may  be  done  away:  the 
‘beautiful  gate’  of  the  Jerusalem  temple  is  no  more,  but  Siloah’s  Foun¬ 
tain  still  flows,  and  Kedron  yet  murmurs  in  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat. 
According  to  Chateaubriand,  the  Pool  of  Bethesda,  a  reservoir,  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  feet  by  forty,  constructed  of  large  stones  cramped  with 
iron,  and  lined  with  flints  embedded  in  cement,  is  the  only  specimen  re¬ 
maining  of  the  ancient  architecture  of  that  city. 

Ephesus,  too,  is  no  more ;  and  the  temple  of  Diana,  that  according  to 
Pliny  was  220  years  in  building,  and  upon  which  was  lavished  the  talent 
and  treasure  of  the  east;  the  pride  of  all  Asia,  and  one  of  the  wonders 
of  the  world,  has  vanished;  while  the  fountains  which  furnished  the  citi¬ 
zens  with  water,  remain  as  fresh  and  perfect  as  ever.  And  as  a  tremen¬ 
dous  satire  on  all  human  grandeur,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  a  few  solitary 
marble  sarcophagi,  which  once  enclosed  the  mighty  dead  of  Ephesus, 
have  been  preserved — but  as  watering  troughs  for  cattle  /a  Cisterns  have 
been  discovered  in  the  oldest  citadels  of  Greece.  The  fountains  of 
Bounarbashi  are  perhaps  the  only  objects  remaining,  that  can  be  relied  on, 
in  locating  the  palace  of  Priam  and  the  site  of  ancient  Troy.  And  the 
well  near  the  outer  walls  of  the  temple  of  the  sun  at  Palmyra,  will,  in 
all  probability,  furnish  men  with  water,  when  other  relics  of  Tadmor  in 
the  wilderness  have  disappeared. b 

To  conclude,  a  great  number  of  the  wells  of  the  ancient  world  still 
supply  man  with  water,  although  their  history  generally,  is  lost  in  the 
night  of  time. 


“  Mr.  Addison,  in  his  journey  southward  from  Damascus,  says  the  fountain  at  Nazcra, 
in  Gallilee,  “trickles  from  a  spout  into  a  marble  trough,  which  appears  to  have  been 
an  ancient  sarcophagus.”  And  close  by  the  well  at  Mizra,  he  observed  fragments  of  an¬ 
other,  which  had  been  used  for  a  similar  purpose.  VVe  may  add,  that  Speed,  the  old 
English  historian,  remarks  that  the  stone  colhn  of  Richard  3d,  “  is  now  made  a  drinking 
trough  for  horses  at  a  common  Inn.”  Edition  of  1615,  p.  737. 
bLord  Lindsay’s  Letters,  (10.) — Phil.  Trans.  Lowthorp’s  Abridg.  iii,  490. 


7 


50 


Wells,  among  the  Antiquities  of  America. 


[Book  I. 


ANCIENT  AMERICAN  WELLS. 

As  wells  are  among  the  most  ancient  of  man’s  labors,  that  are  extant 
in  the  old  world,  might  we  not  expect  to  find  some  on  these  continents, 
relics  of  those  races,  who,  in  the  unknown  depths  of  time,  are  supposed 
to  have  cultivated  the  arts  of  civilization  here'?  We  might:  and  true  it  is 
that  among  the  proofs  that  a  populous  and  much  more  enlightened  people 
than  the  Indians  have  ever  been,  were  at  one  time  the  possessors  of  Ame¬ 
rica,  ancient  wells  have  been  adduced.  “From  the  highest  point  of  the 
Ohio,  says  Mr.  T.  Flint,  to  where  I  am  now  writing  (St.  Charles  on  the 
Missouri)  and  far  up  the  upper  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  the  more  the 
country  is  explored  and  peopled,  and  the  more  its  surface  is  penetrated, 
not  only  are’ there  more  mounds  brought  to  view,  but  more  incontestible 
marks  of  a  numerous  population.  Wells,  artificially  walled,  dif¬ 
ferent  structures  of  convenience  or  defence,  have  been  found  in  such  num¬ 
bers,  as  no  longer  to  excite  curiosity .” 

But  American  antiquities  were  so  novel,  so  unlooked  for,  and  so  insu¬ 
lated  from  those  of  the  old  world,  that  learned  men  were  greatly  per¬ 
plexed  at  their  appearance  ;  and  at  a  loss  to  account  for  their  origin.  This 
is  still,  in  a  great  measure,  the  case.  A  mystery,  hitherto  impenetrable, 
hangs  over  the  primeval  inhabitants  of  these  continents.  Who  they  vere, 
and  whence  they  came,  are  problems  that  have  hitherto  defied  all  the  re¬ 
searches  of  antiquarians.  Nothing,  perhaps,  but  the  increasing  occupa¬ 
tion  of  the  soil,  and  excavations  which  civilization  induces,  will  eventually 
determine  the  question,  whether  these  antiquities  are  to  be  attributed  to 
European  settlers  of  the  sixteenth  century;  to  the  enterprising  Scandina¬ 
vians,  the  North  Men,  who,  centuries  before  the  voyages  of  Columbus  and 
the  Cabots,  visited  the  shores  of  New  England,  New  York  and  the 
Jerseys  ;  or  whether  some  of  them  did  not  belong  to  an  indigenous  or 
Cuthite  race,  who  inhabited  those  prolific  regions,  in  times  when  the 
mastodon  and  mammoth  and  megalonix  were  yet  in  the  land. 

No  one  can  reflect  on  the  myriads  of  our  species  who  have  occupied 
this  half  of  the  globe — perhaps  from  times  anterior  to  the  flood — without 
longing  to  know  something  of  their  history  ;  of  their  physical  and  intel¬ 
lectual  condition;  their  languages,  manners  and  arts;  of  the  revolutions 
through  which  they  passed ;  and  especially  of  those  circumstances  which 
caused  them  to  disappear  before  the  progenitors  of  the  present  red  men. 
The  subject  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  that  ever  exercised  the  human 
mind.  It  is  calculated  to  excite  the  most  thrilling  sensations,  and  we 
have  often  expressed  our  surprise,  that  one  of  the  most  obvious  and  pro¬ 
mising  sources  of  information  has  never  been  sufficiently  investigated  : 
we  allude  to  ancient  wells,  a  close  examination  of  which,  might  lead  to 
discoveries  equally  interesting,  and  far  more  important,  than  those  which 
resulted  from  a  similar  examination  of  Grecian  wells.  Dr.  Clarke  says, 
that  “Vases  of  Terra  Cotta,  of  the  highest  antiquity,  have  been  found  in 
cleansing  the  wells  of  Athens.”0 

Some  persons  may  perhaps  suppose  the  old  wells  in  the  western  parts 
of  this  continent,  to  be  the  work  of  Indians ;  but  these  people  have  never 
been  known  to  make  any  thing  like  a  regular  well.  Mr.  Catlin,  the  artist, 


"A  Roman  well  was  discovered  in  the  seventeenth  century,  near  the  great  road 
which  leads  to  Carlisle,  in  England.  Instead  of  being  walled  up  with  stone,  it  was 
lined  with  large  casks  or  hogsheads,  six  feet  deep,  and  made  of  pine.  The  well  was 
covered  with  oak  plank  nine  inches  thick.  In  it  were  found  nms,  drinking  cups,  san¬ 
dals  and  shoes,  the  soles  of  which  were  stitched  and  nailed.  Phil.  Trans.  Lowthorp’s 
Abridg.  iii,  431. 


51 


Chap.  8.J  Ancient  Modes  of  raising  Water. 

who  spent  eight  years  among  those  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Missis¬ 
sippi  and  Missouri,  and  another  gentleman  who  had  long  been  east  of  the 
Rocky  mountains,  among  the  Flat  Heads,  and  other  tribes  towards  the 
Pacific,  both  inform  us  that  the  wild  and  untutored  Indians  never  have 
recourse  to  wells.  They  in  fact  have  no  need  of  them,  as  their  villages 
are  invariably  located  on  the  borders  or  vicinity  of  rivers.  In  some  cases 
of  suffering  from  thirst  while  traveling,  they,  in  common  with  other  sava¬ 
ges,  sometimes  scrape  a  hole  in  sand  or  wet  soil,  to  obtain  a  temporary 
.supply. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Ancient  methods  of  raising  water  from  wells :  Inclined  planes— Stairs  within  wells :  In  Mesopotamia 
— Abyssinia — Hindostau — Persia — Judea — Greece — Thrace — England — Cord  and  bucket :  Used  at  Ja¬ 
cob's  well — by  the  patriarchs — Mahomet — In  Palestine — India — Alexandria — Arabian  Vizier  drawing  wa¬ 
ter — Gaza — Herculaneum  and  Pompeii — Wells  within  the  houses  of  the  latter  city — Aleppo — Tyre — 
Carthage — Cleanthes  the  ‘  Well  Drawer’  of  Athens,  and  successor  of  Zeno — Democritus — Plautus — As- 
clepindoe  and  Menedemus — Cistern  pole — Roman  cisterns  and  cement — Ancient  modes  of  purifying 
water. 

We  are  now  to  examine  the  modes  practised  by  the  ancients,  in  ob¬ 
taining  water  from  wells.  When  the  first  simple  excavations  became  so 
far  deepened,  that  the  water  could  no  longer  be  reached  by  a  vessel  in 
the  hand,  some  mode  of  readily  procuring  it  under  such  circumstances 
would  soon  be  devised.  In  all  cases  of  moderate  depth,  the  most  simple 
and  efficient,  was  to  form  an  inclined  plane  or  passage,  from  the  surface 
of  the  ground  to  that  of  the  water  ;  a  device  by  which  the  principal  ad- 
vatages  of  an  open  spring  on  the  surface  were  retained,  and  one  by  which 
domestic  animals  could  procure  water  for  themselves  without  the  aid  or 
attendance  of  man.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  was  one  of  the 
primitive  methods  of  obtaining  the  liquid,  when  it  was  but  a  short  dis¬ 
tance  below  the  surface  of  the  ground ;  and  was  most  likely  impercep¬ 
tibly  introduced  by  the  gradual  deepening  of,  or  enlarging  the  cavities  of 
natural  springs,  or  artificial  excavations. 

But  when  in  process  of  time,  these  became  too  deep  for  exterior  pas¬ 
sages  of  this  kind  to  be  convenient  or  practicable,  the  wells  themselves 
were  enlarged,  and  stairs  or  steps  for  descending  to  the  water,  constructed 
within  them.  The  circumstances  recorded  in  Genesis,  xxiv,  induce  us  to 
believe  that  the  well  at  which  Eliezer,  the  steward  of  Abraham,  met  Re¬ 
becca,  was  one  of  these.  When  the  former  arrived  at  Nahor,  he  made 
his  camels  “  to  kneel  down  without  the  city  by  a  well  of  water,  at  the 
time  of  the  evening  that  women  go  out  to  draw  water :  and  Rebecca 
came  out  with  her  pitcher  upon  her  shoulder — and  she  went  down  to  the 
well,  and  filled  her  pitcher  and  came  up Had  any  machine  been  attached 
to  this  well,  to  raise  its  water,  or  had  a  vessel  suspended  to  a  cord  been 
used,  she  could  have  had  no  occasion  to  descend.  It  therefore  appears 
that  the  liquid  was  obtained  by  immersing  the  pitcher  in  it,  and  in  order 
to  do  this,  the  persons  ‘  went  down’  to  the  water.  That  this  well  was 
not  deep,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  Rebecca  drew  water  suffi¬ 
cient  to  quench  the  thirst  of  ten  camels,  for  it  is  said,  she  supplied  them, 
“  till  they  had  done  drinking a  task  which  no  young  female  could  have 
accomplished  in  the  time  implied  in  the  text,  if  this  well  had  been  even 


52 


Wells  with  Stairs. 


[Book  I. 


moderately  deep,  and  one  which  under  all  circumstances  was  a  laborious 
performance ;  for  these  animals  take  a  prodigious  quantity  of  water  at 
a  time,  sufficient  to  last  them  from  ten  to  twenty  days.  Eliezer  might 
well  wonder  at  the  ingenuous  and  benevolent  disposition  of  Rebecca,  and 
every  reader  of  the  account  is  equally  surprised  at  his  insensibilty,  in  per¬ 
mitting  her  to  perform  the  labor  unaided  by  himself  or  his  attendants. 

Wells  with  stairs  by  which  to  descend  to  the  water,  are  still  common. 
The  inhabitants  of  Arkeko  in  Abyssinia,  are  supplied  with  water  from  six 
wells,  which  are  twenty  feet  deep  and  fifteen  in  diameter.  The  water 
is  collected  and  carried  vj>  a  broken  ascent  by  men,  women  and  children.3' 
Fryer  in  his  Travels  in  India,  p.  410,  speaks  of  “  deep  wells  many  fathom 
under  ground  with  stately  stone  stairs' ’  Joseph’s  well  in  Egypt  is  ano¬ 
ther  example  of  stairs  both  within  and  without.  Bishop  Heber  observed 
one  in  Benares,  with  a  tower  over  it,  and  a  “  steep  flight  of  steps  for  de¬ 
scending  to  the  water.”  Forrest,  in  his  Tour  along  the  Ganges  and  the- 
Jumna,  says,  “near  the  village  of  Futtehpore,  is  a  large  well,  ninety  feet 
in  circumference,  with  a.broad  stone  staircase  to  descend  to  the  water, 
which  might  be  about  thirty  feet.”  Mr.  Forbes,  in  his  Oriental  Memoirs, 
remarks  that  “  many  of  the  Guzzerat  wells,  have  steps  leading  down  to 
the  water ;  while  others  have  not.”  In  a  preceding  page,  we  quoted  a 
passage  from  Ward’s  History  of  the  Hindoos  to  the  same  effect.  Ta¬ 
vernier,  speaking  of  the  scarcity  of  water  in  Persia,  says,  of  wells  they 
have  a  great  many,  and  he  describes  one  with  steps  down  to  the  water.b 
“  We  passed  a  large  and  well  built  tank,  with  two  flights  of  steps  de¬ 
scending  into  it,  at  the  opposite  angles,  possibly  the  pool  of  Hebron,  where 
David  hanged  the  murderers  of  Ishbosheth.”c  The  fountain  of  Siloam 
is  reached  by  a  descent  of  thirty  steps  cut  in  the  solid  rock. 

The  small  quantity  of  water  furnished  by  some  wells,  rendered  a  de-*„ 
scent  to  it  desirable,  and  hence  it  was  often  collected  as  fast  as  it  appeared, 
by  women  who  often  waited  for  that  purpose.  “  That  which  pleased  me 
most  of  all,”  says  Fryer,  p.  126,  “was  a  sudden  surprise,  when  they 
brought  me  to  the  wrong  side  of  a  pretty  square  tank  or  well,  with  a  wall 
of  stone  breast  high;  when  expecting  to  find  it  covered  with  water, 
looking  down  five  fathom  deep,  I  saw  a  clutter  of  women,  very  handsome, 
waiting  the  distilling  of  the  water  from  its  dewy  sides,  which  they  catch 
in  jars.  It  is  cut  out  of  a  black  marble  rock,  up  almost  to  the  top,  with 
broad  steps  to  go  down.  Mr.  Addison  in  his  ‘Journey  Southward  from 
Damascus,’  says,  “  at  the  fountain  near  D’jenneen,  the  women  used  their 
hands  as  ladles  to  fill  their  pitchers.  This  scarcity  of  water,  and  the  prac¬ 
tice  of  scooping  it  up  in  small  quantities,  are  referred  to,  by  both  sacred 
and  profane  authors.  “  They  came  to  the  pits  and  found  no  water,  they 
returned  with  their  vessels  empty/’  Jer.  xiv,  3.  “  There  shall  not  be 
found  of  it  a  sherd,  [a  potter’s  vessel,]  to  take  fire  from  the  hearth,  or  to 
take  water  out  of  the  pit,” — that  is,  to  scoop  it  up  when  too  shallow  to  i 
immerse  a  vase  or  pitcher  in  it.  Isaiah,  iii,  14.  St.  Peter  speaks  of  wells 
‘  without  water,’  and  Hosea,  of  ‘  fountains  dried  up.’ 

The  water  nymphs  lament  their  empty  urns.”  Ovid,  Met.  ii,  278. 

The  inhabitants  of  Libya,  where  the  wells  often  contain  little  water, 

“  draw  it  out  in  little  buckets,  made  of  the  shank  bones  of  the  camel.d” 

Wells  with  stairs  are  not  only  of  very  remote  origin,  but  they  appear 
to  have  been  used  by  all  the  nations  of  antiquity.  They  were  common 
among  the  Greeks  and  Romans.e  The  well  mentioned  by  Pausanias,  of 


aEd.  Encyc.  Art.  Arkeko.  b Persian  Trav.  157.  c Lindsay’s  Trav.  Let.  9. 
d  Ogilvy’a  Africa,  306.  •’Lardner’s  Arts  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  i,  138. 


Chap.  8.] 


Cord  and  Bucket. 


53 


which  we  have  spoken  in  a  previous  chapter,  has  steps  which  lead  down 
to  the  water.a  The  well  for  the  purification  of  worshippers,  in  the  tem¬ 
ple  of  Isis,  in  Pompeii,  has  a  descent  by  steps  to  the  water.b  The  wells 
of  Thrace,  had  generally  a  covered  flight  of  steps.c  Ancient  wells  of 
similar  construction  are  still  to  be  seen  in  various  parts  of  Europe.  There 
is  one  near  Hempstead,  Eng.  for  the  protection  of  which,  an  act  of  par¬ 
liament  was  passed  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 

Such  wells,  probably  gave  rise  to  the  beautiful  circular  stairs  so  com¬ 
mon  in  old  towers,  and  still  known,  as  ‘  well  stairs.’ 

In  Galveston,  (Texas,)  and  other  parts  of  America,  where  there  are  no 
springs,  cisterns  are  sunk  in  the  sand  between  hillocks,  into  which  the 
surface  water  drains,  and  steps  are  formed  to  lead  down  to  it. 


CORD  AND  BUCKET. 


No.  8.  Modern  Greek  female  drawing  water.  No.  9.  From  a  manuscript  of  the  12th  century. 

However  old  and  numerous  wells  with  stairs  within  them  may  be, 
most  of  the  ancient  ones  were  constructed  without  them ;  hence  the  ne¬ 
cessity  of  some  mode  of  raising  the  water.  From  the  earliest  ages,  a 
vessel  suspended  to  a  cord ,  has  been  used  by  all  nations — a  device  more 
simple  and  more  extensively  employed  than  any  other,  and  one  which  was 
undoubtedly  the  germ  of  the  most  useful  hydraulic  machines  of  the  an¬ 
cients,  as  the  chain  of  pots,  chain  pump,  &c.  That  a  cord  and  bucket 
were  used  to  raise  water  from  Jacob’s  well,  nineteen  centuries  ago,  is 
evident  from  the  account  of  the  interview,  which  the  Savior  had  with  the 
woman  of  Samaria  at  it.  “  Then  cOmeth  he  to  a  city  of  Samaria,  called 
Sichar ;  now  Jacob’s  well  was  there,  and  Jesus  being  wearied  sat  on  the 
well ;  and  there  cometh  a  woman  of  Samaria  to  draw  water;  Jesus  saith 
unto  her,  give  me  to  drink.”  Had  any  machine  been  attached  to  this  well 
at  that  time,  by  which  a  traveler  or  stranger  could  raise  it,  he  could  have 
procured  it  for  himself ;  and  as  he  was  thirsty,  he  probably  would  have 
done  so,  without  waiting  for  any  one  to  draw  it  for  him  ;  but  the  reason 
why  he  did  not,  is  subsequently  explained  by  the  woman  herself;  who, 
in  replying  to  one  of  his  remarks,  the  meaning  of  which  she  misappre¬ 
hended,  said  “  Sir,  thou  hast  nothing  to  draw  witk,  and  the  well  is  deep.” 
This  well  ,  as  already  remarked,  is  one  hundred  and  five  feet  deep.  Hence 
at  that  period  every  one  carried  the  means  of  raising  the  water  with  him. 
No.  9.  of  the  illustrations,  is  a  representation  of  the  woman  of  Samaria 
drawing  water.  It  is  from  a  Greek  illuminated  manuscript  of  the  12th 
century,  from  D’Agincourt’s  Storia  Dell’Arte. 

It  is  still  the  general  practice  in  the  east,  for  any  one,  who  goes  to 


For.  Top.  193.  b  Pompeii,  i,  277. 


c  Hydraulia,  166. 


54 


Cord  and  Bucket. 


[Book  I 


draw  water,  to  carry  a  vessel  and  cord  with  him,  a  custom  which  without 
doubt,  has  prevailed  there  since  the  patriarchal  ages.  This  was  the 
opinion  of  Mahomet,  whose  testimony  on  ^such  a  subject  is  unexceptiona¬ 
ble.  He  was  an  Arab — a  people  who  pride  themselves  on  the  preserva¬ 
tion  of  the  customs  of  their  celebrated  ancestors,  Abraham,  Ishmael,  and 
Job.  In  his  account  of  Joseph’s  deliverance  from  the  pit,  into  which  his 
brethren  had  cast  him,  (and  which  many  commentators  believe  was  a 
well,  which  at  the  time  contained  little  or  no  water,)  he  says :  “  Certain 
travelers  came,  and  sent  one  to  draw  water,  (who  went  to  the  well  in 
which  Joseph  was,)  and  he  let  down  his  bucket ,”  &c.  Koran,  chap.  xii. 
This  account  is  perfectly  consistent  with  that  of  Moses.  Josephus,  also, 
seems  to  have  believed  it  to  be  a  well  :  “  Reubel  took  the  lad  and  tied 
him  to  a  cord,  and  let  him  down  gently  into  the  pit,  for  it  had  no  water 
in  it.”  Antiq.  B.  ii.  3. 

At  3  o’clock,  (slys  Mr.  Addison  in  his  “  Journey  Southward  from 
Damascus,”)  we  rode  to  a  well  (in  approaching  Cana  of  Galilee)  in  a 
field,  where  an  Arab  was  watering  his  goats.  There  was  a  long  stone 
trough  by  the  side  of  the  well,  and  this  was  filled  with  water  by  means 
of  a  leathern  bucket  attached  to  a  rope,  which  the  Arab  carried  about 
with  him,  for  the  convenience  of  himself  and  his  herds.  It  was  just  such 
a  scene  as  that  described  in  Genesis  :  “  And  behold  a  well  in  the  field,  and 
lo,  there  were  three  flocks  of  sheep  lying  by  it,  for  out  of  that  well  they 
watered  their  flocks,  and  a  great  stone  was  upon  the  well’s  mouth.” 
Among  the  ruins  of  Mizra,  in  the  great  plain  of  Jezreel,  the  same  traveler 
observes  :  “  Surprised  at  the  desolate  aspect  of  the  spot,  I  rode  with  my 
servant  to  a  well  a  few  yards  distant,  where  two  solitary  men  were 
watering  their  goats,  by  means  of  a  leathern  bucket  attached  to  a  rope ; 
and  dismounting,  I  sat  on  the  stone  at  the  well’s  mouth.”  Mr.  Forbes, 
after  a  residence  of  many  years  in  Asia,  said  he  “  did  not  recollect  any 
wells  furnished  with  buckets  and  ropes  for  the  convenience  of  strangers ; 
most  travelers  are  therefore  provided  loitli  them  ;  and  halcarras  and  reli¬ 
gious  pilgrims  frequently  carry  a  small  brass  pot  affixed  to  a  long  string 
for  this  purpose.” 

In  ancient  Alexandria,  where  the  arts  were  cultivated  and  science 
flourished  to  an  extent  perhaps  unequaled  in  any  older  city,  water  was 
drawn  up  from  the  cisterns,  with  which  every  house  was  provided,  with 
the  simple  cord  and  bucket.  This  city  was  supplied  with  water  from  the 
Nile  :  it  was  admitted  into  vaulted  reservoirs  or  cisterns,  which  were 
constructed  at  the  time  the  foundations  of  the  city  were  laid  by  Alexander. 
They  were  sufficiently  capacious  to  contain  water  for  a  whole  year,  being 
filled  only  at  the  annual  inundation  of  the  river,  through  a  canal  made  for 
the  purpose.  Apertures  or  well  openings,  through  which  the  water  was 
raised  from  these  reservoirs,  are  still' to  be  seen.  “  Whole  lines  of  ancient 
streets  are  traceable,”  (says  Lord  Lindsay,  Travels,  Letter  2.)  “  by  the 
wells  recurring  every  six  or  seven  yards :  by  which  the  contiguous  houses, 
long  since  crumbled  away,  drew  water  from  the  vast  cisterns  with  which 
the  whole  city  was  undermined.” 

“  Every  house,”  says  Rollin,  “  had  an  opening  into  its  cistern,  like  the 
mouth  of  a  well,  through  which  the  water  was  taken  up  either  in  buckets 
or  pitchers.”  It  may  be  said,  this  last  quotation  is  not  conclusive,  since 
it  does  not  indicate  the  manner  in  which  the  bucket  was  elevated — by  a 
windlass'?  a  pulley  ?  or  by  the  hand  alone?  We  have  satisfactory  evi¬ 
dence  that  it  was  by  the  latter.  The  pavement  of  the  old  city  is  from  ten 
to  thirty  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  modern  streets,  and  excavations  are 
frequently  made  by  the  Pasha’s  workmen,  for  the  stones  of  the  old  pave- 


Cord  and  Bucket. 


55 


Chapt.  8.] 

ment  and  of  the  buildings.  In  this  manner  the  marble  mouths  of  the 
vaulted  reservoirs  or  cisterns  are  frequently  brought  to  light ;  St.  John’s 
Egypt,  vol.  i.  8  :  and  they  invariably  exhibit  traces  of  the  ropes  used  for 
raising  the  water.  Grooves  are  found  worn  in  them,  (by  the  ropes)  to  the 
depth  of  two  inches,  and  such  grooves  are  often  numerous  in  each  curb  or 
mouth.  Dry  wells  are  built  over  some  of  these,  and  continued  to  the 
level  of  the  present  streets.  Through  them  the  inhabitants  still  draw 
water  from  the  ancient  reservoirs ;  and  in  the  same  manner  as  it  was 
raised  from  them  when  the  Ptolemies  ruled  over  the  land.  A  person  in 
raising  the  bucket,  stands  at  a  short  distance  from  the  curb  or  mouth,  and 
pulls  the  rope  horizontally,  or  nearly  so,  towards  him.  In  this  way,  the 
rope  rubs  against  the  top  and  inside  of  the  curb,  and  in  time  wears  deep 
grooves  in  it,  sucli  as  are  found  in  the  ancient  ones  just  mentioned. 
Sometimes,  in  order  to  avoid  the  friction,  and  consequent  loss  of  power 
and  wear  of  the  ropes,  the  person  drawing  would  stand  on  the  edge  of  the 
curb,  so  as  to  keep  the  cord  clear;  but  the  practice  is  too  perilous  ever  to 
have  been  general.  It  is,  however,  practised  occasionally  by  the 
Hindoos. 

El  Makin,  the  Arabian  historian,  says  that  Moclach,  the  Vizier  of  Rhadi, 
who  was  deprived  of  his  right  hand  and  his  tongue,  and  was  confined  in 
a  lower  room  of  the  palace,  where  was  a  well ;  and  having  no  person  to 
attend  him,  he  drew  water  for  himself,  pulling  the  rope  with  his  left  hand, 
and  stopping  it  with  his  teeth,  till  the  bucket  came  within  his  reach.” 
This  was  in  the  tenth  century.  Martigny’s  History  of  the  Arabians,  vol. 
iv.  7.  The  wells  on  the  road  to  Gaza,  noticed  by  Mr.  Stephens,  had  their 
upper  surfaces  formed  of  marble,  which  he  observes  had  many  grooves 
cut  in  it,  “  apparently  being  worn  by  the  long  continued  use  of  ropes  in 
drawing  water.”  Incidents  of  Travel,  vol.  ii.  102. 

That  the  same  mode  of  raising  it  was  adopted  in  the  public  wells  of  the 
ancient  cities  of  Greece  and  Rome,  is  evident  from  those  of  Herculaneum 
and  Pompeii;  and  from  discoveries  made  in  the  latter  city,  it  is  obvious 
that  it  was  practised  in  obtaining  water  from  the  wells  and  cisterns  of 
private  houses.  This  is  a  very  interesting  fact  in  connection  with  our 
subject,  as  it  shows  conclusively  that  the  pump,  if  used  at  all  by  the  Ro¬ 
mans  in  their  private  houses,  it  was  only  to  a  very  limited  extent.  In 
1834,  besides  theatres,  baths,  temples  and  other  public  buildings,  eighty 
houses  had  been  disintei-red.  These  were  found  to  be  almost  uniformly 
provided  with  cisterns,  built  under  ground  and  cemented,  for  the  collection 
of  rain-water.  Each  of  these  has  an  opening,  enclosed  in  a  curb,  through 
which  the  water  was  drawn  up.  These  are  generally  formed  of  a  white 
calcareous  stone,  on  which  are  to  be  seen  deep  channels,  (Pompeii,  vol.  i. 
88,)  like  those  on  the  mouths  of  the  Alexandrian  cisterns,  and  produced 
from  the  same  cause — the  friction  of  the  ropes  used  in  drawing  the  water. 
The  hypsethrum,  says  Sir  William  Gell,  in  his  description  of  the  house 
of  the  Dioscuri,  in  this  case  served  as  a  compluvium  ;  receiving  the  water 
which  fell  from  the  roof,  and  transmitting  it  to  a  reservoir  below,  to  which 
there  is  a  marble  mouth  or  puteal,  exhibiting  thh  traces  of  long  use,  in  the 
furrows  loom  by  the  ropes,  by  which  the  water  was  drawn  up.  Pompei- 
ana,  vol.  ii,  27. 

The  great  variety  of ‘buildings  to  which  wells  and  cisterns  having  their 
curbs  thus  worn  were  attached,  show  that  this  mode  of  raising  water  was 
nearly  universal  in  Pompeii.  The  simple  cord  and  bucket  was  equally 
used  in  the  palace  of  the  quaestor,  and  the  humble  dwelling  of  the  private 
citizen.  It  was  by  them,  the  priests  drew  water  for  the  uses  of  the 
temples,  and  mechanics  for  various  purposes  in  the  arts.  Bakers  thus 


.66 


Cord  and  Bucket. 


[Book  I. 


raised  water  for  their  kneading-troughs,  from  cisterns  or  wells  under  the 
floor  of  their  shops.  Three  bakers’  shops,  at  least,  have  been  found,  and 
all  of  them  in  a  tolerable  state  of  preservation  :  their  mills,  ovens,  knead¬ 
ing  troughs,  flour,  loaves  of  bread,  (with  their  quality,  or  the  bakers’ 
names  stamped  on  them,)  leaven,  vessels  for  containing  water,  and  their  re¬ 
servoirs  of  the  latter,  Ac.  have  been  discovered,  so  as  to  leave  almost 
nothing  wanting  to  perfect  our  knowledge  of  this  art  among  the  Romans. 
It  is  probable  that  wells  were  not  infrequent  in  the  interior  of  the  houses 
in  Pompeii,  for  another  one  was  discovered  in  the  house  of  a  medical 
man,  as  presumed  from  chirurgical  instruments  found  in  it.a 

The  custom  of  Roman  bakers  having  wells  or  cisterns  within  their 
houses,  continued  to  modern  times.  When  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sci¬ 
ences  of  France,  undertook  in  the  last  century,  the  noble  task  of  pub¬ 
lishing  a  detailed  account  of  all  the  useful  arts,  with  a  view  to  their  uni¬ 
versal  diffusion  and  perpetuity — the  baker  is  represented  drawing  water 
from  a  well,  under  the  floor  of  his  shop,  and  in  a  manner  analagous  to 
that  practised  by  his  predecessors  of  Pompeii.b  London  bakers  also  had 
wells  in  their  cellars,  for  the  same  purpose,  and  probably  still  have  them 
to  some  extent. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Aleppo,  the  metropolis  of  Syria,  drew 
water  from  their  cisterns  or  subterraneous  reservoirs,  and  also  from  their 
wells,  with  which  ‘  almost  every  house’*  was  provided,  with  a  cord  and 
bucket,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Egyptians  of  Alexandria;  and  so  do 
the  inhabitants  of  Soor,  which  occupies  the  site  of  ancient  Tyre,  a  town 
which  contained  in  1816,  according  to  Mr.  Buckingham,  eight  hundred 
stone  built  houses,  most  of  which,  he  observes,  had  wells.  Ancient  Car¬ 
thage  was  built  like  Alexandria,  upon  cisterns — a  common  practice  of 
old.  The  modern  inhabitants  of  Arzew,  the  ancient  Arsenaria,  as  observed 
by  Dr.  Shaw  in  his  Travels,  dwell  in  the  old  cisterns,  as  in  so  many  ho¬ 
vels;  the  water  from  which,  was  doubtless  drawn  in  former  times,  by  the 
simple  cord  and  bucket — the  universal  implements  still  used  throughout 
Egypt,  Palestine,  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Persia,  Hindostan,  and  generally 
through  all  the  east.  This  primeval  device  for  raising  water,  has  been 
used  in  all  ages,  and  will  doubtless  continue  to  be  so  used,  to  the  end  of 
time. 

An  interesting  circumstance  is  recorded,  respecting  an  individual,  who, 
from  his  occupation  in  ancient  Athens,  was  named  the  ‘Well-Drawer,’ 
which  may  here  be  noticed.  This  was  Cleanthes,  a  native  of  Lydia,  who 
went  to  Athens  as  a  wrestler,  about  300  B.  C.  and  acquiring  a  taste  for 
philosophy  there,  determined  to  place  himself  under  the  tuition  of  some 
eminent  philosopher,  although  he  possessed  no  more  than  four  drachmce , 
or  sixty-two  cents  !  He  became  a  disciple  of  Zeno,  and  that  he  might  have 
leisure  to  attend  the  schools  of  philosophy  in  the  day-time,  he  drew  water  by 
night,  as  a  common  laborer  in  the  public  gardens.  For  several  years  he  was 
so  very  poor,  that  he  wrote  the  heads  of  his  master’s  lectures,  on  bones 
and  shells,  for  want  of  money  to  buy  better  materials :  at  last,  some  Athe¬ 
nian  citizens  observing,  that  though  he  appeared  strong  and  healthy,  he 
had  no  visible  means  of  subsistence,  summoned  him  before  the  Areopagus, 
according  to  a  law  borrowed  from  the  Egyptians,  to  give  an  account  of 
his  manner  of  living.  Upon  this,  he  produced  the  gardener  for  whom  he 
drew  water,  and  a  woman  for  whom  he  ground  meal,  as  witnesses  to 
prove  that  he  subsisted  by  the  labor  of  his  hands.  The  judges,  we  are 


a  Lardner’s  Arts,  &.c.  i,  268.  b  Descriptions  des  Arts  et  Metiers.  Paris,  1761.  Art.  du 
Boulanger.  Planche  5.  c  Russel’s  History  of  Aleppo,  p.  7. 


Chap.  8.] 


Cistern  Foie. 


57 


told,  were  so  much  struck  with  admiration  of  his  conduct,  that  they  or¬ 
dered  ten  mince ,  [one  hundred  and  sixty  dollars]  to  be  paid  him  out  of  the 
public  treasury. 

The  conduct  of  Cleanthes  explains  the  secret  of  the  great  celebrity  of 
many  ancient  philosophers,  and  shows  the  only  means  by  which  eminence 
in  any  department  of  human  knowledge  can  be  acquired  :  viz.  by  industry 
and  perseverance.  Besides  his  poverty,  which  of  itself  was  sufficient  to 
paralyze  the  efforts  of  most  men,  he  was  so  singularly  dull  in  apprehen¬ 
sion,  that  his  fellow  disciples  used  to  call  him  the  ass;  but  resolution  and 
application  raised  him  above  them  all,  made  him  a  complete  master  of 
the  stoic  philosophy,  and  qualified  him  as  successor  of  the  illustrious  Zeno. 
Democritus  beautifully  expressed  the  same  sentiment,  by  representing 
Truth  as  hid  in  the  bottom  of  a  well;  to  intimate  the  difficulty  with  which 
she  is  found. 

Analogous  to  the  conduct  of  Cleanthes,  was  that  of  Plautus,  the  poet, 
who  being  reduced  from  competence  to  the  meanest  poverty,  hired  him¬ 
self  to  a  baker  as  a  common  laborer,  and  while  employed  in  grinding 
corn,  exercised  his  mind  in  study.  The  same  may  be  remarked  of  Ascle- 
piades  and  Menedemus,  two  Grecian  philosophers,  who  were  both  so 
poor,  that  at  one  period,  they  hired  themselves  as  bricklayer’s  laborers, 
and  were  employed  in  carrying  mortar  to  the  tops  of  buildings.  Ascle- 
piades,  was  not  ashamed  to  be  seen  thus  engaged,  but  his  companion  “hid 
himself  if  he  saw  any  one  passing  by.”  Athenceus,  says  they  were  at 
one  time  summoned,  like  Cleanthes,  before  the  Areopagites,  to  account 
for  their  manner  of  living — when  they  requested  a  miller  to  be  sent  for, 
who  testified  that  “  they  came  every  night  to  his  mill,  where  they  labored 
and  gained  two  drachma.” 

No.  8,  in  the  last  engraving,  represents  a  modern  Greek  female  drawing 
water.  It  is  from  a  sketch  of  Capo  D’lstrias’  house.  See  the  Westminster 
Review  for  September,  1838. 


CISTERN  POLE. 


This  simple  implement,  may  be  thought  too  in¬ 
significant  to  deserve  a  particular  notice,  but  as  it 
is  extensively  used  in  our  rain-water  cisterns,  and 
is  no  modern  device,  we  are  unwilling  to  pass  it. 
It  was  known  to  the  Romans.  Pliny  expressly 
mentions  it,  when  speaking  of  various  modes  of 
watering  gardens.  He  says  water  is  drawn  from 
a  well  or  tank,  “  by  plain  poles,  hooks  and  buckets,” 
B.  xix,  4  ;  and  that  it  was  a  domestic  implement  in 
old  times  as  at  present,  in  raising  water  from 
cisterhs,  is  proved  by  the  discovery  of  some  of 
the  hooks  at  Pompeii.  Lard.  Arts,  &c.  i,  205. 
Having  mentioned  the  rain  water  cisterns  of  the 
Romans,  it  may  be  observed,  that  they  were  as 
common  in  Pompeii  as  they  are  in  this  city,  every 
house  having  been  furnished  with  one. 

As  Pliny’s  account  of  these  cisterns  may  be 
useful  to  some  mechanics,  especially  masons,  we 
shall  make  no  apology  for  inserting  it.  “  The 
walls  were  lined  with  strong  cement,  formed  of 
five  parts  of  sharp  sand,  and  two  of  quicklime 
mixed  with  flints ;  the  bottom  being  paved  with 
8 


No.  10.  Cistern  Pole. 


58 


The  Pulley. 


[Book  I 


the  same,  and  well  beaten  with  an  iron  rammer.”  B.  xxxvi,  23.  Holland’s 
Trans.  The  composition  of  this  cement,  differs  from  that  which  Dr. 
Shaw  says  has  been  used  in  modern  times  in  the  east;  and  which  he 
thinks  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  ancients.  He  says  the  cisterns  which 
were  built  by  Sultan  hen  Eglih,  in  several  parts  of  the  kingdom  of  Tunis, 
are  equal  in  solidity  with  the  famous  ones  at  Carthage,  continuing  to  this 
day  (unless  where  they  been  designedly  broken,)  as  firm  and  compact, 
as  if  they  were  just  finished.  The  composition  is  made  in  this  manner: 
they  take  two  parts  of  wood  ashes,  three  of  lime,  and  one  of  fine  sand, 
which  after  being  well  sifted  and  mixed  together,  they  beat  for  three 
days  and  nights  incessantly  with  wooden  mallets,  sprinkling  them  alter¬ 
nately  and  at  proper  times,  with  a  little  oil  and  water,  till  they  become 
of  a  due  consistence.  This  composition  is  chiefly  used  in  their  arches, 
cisterns  and  terraces.  But  the  pipes  of  their  aqueducts,  are  joined  by 
beating  tow  and  lime  together,  with  oil  only,  without  any  mixture  of  water. 
Both  these  compositions  quickly  assume  the  hardness  of  stone,  and  suffer  no 
water  to  pervade  them.  Trav.  286. 

If  the  Romans  wished  to  have  water  perfectly  pure,  they  made  two 
and  sometimes  three  cisterns,  at  different  levels  ;  so  that  the  water  suc¬ 
cessively  deposited  the  imparities  with  which  it  might  be  charged. 
From  this,  we  see  that  the  recent  introduction  of  two  cisterns  for  the 
same  purpose,  in  some  of  our  best  houses,  is  a  pretty  old  contrivance. 
It  in  fact  dates  far  beyond  the  Roman  era.  The  famous  cisterns  of  So¬ 
lomon  are  examples  of  it.  Rain-water  was  frequently  boiled  by  the  Ro¬ 
mans  before  they  used  it.  Pliny  xxxi,  3.  This  was  also  an  ancient  prac¬ 
tice  among  older  nations.  Herodotus,  says  the  water  of  the  Choaspes, 
which  was  drunk  by  the  Persian  kings,  was  previously  boiled,  and  kept 
in  vessels  of  silver.  B.  i,  188. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Pulley:  Its  origin  unknown — Used  in  the  erection  of  ancient  buildings  and  in  ships — Ancient  one 
found  in  Egypt — Probably  first  used  to  raise  water — Not  extensively  used  in  ancient  Grecian  wells :  Cause 
of  this — Used  in  Mecca  and  Japan — Led  to  the  employment  of  animals  to  raise  water — Simple  mode  of 
adapting  them  to  this  purpose,  in  the  east.  Pulley  and  two  buckets :  Used  by  the  Anglo  Saxons,  Nor¬ 
mans,  &c. — Italian  mode  of  raising  water  to  upper  floors — Desagulier’s  mode — Self-acting,  or  gaining 
and  losing  buckets— Marquis  of  Worcester — Herou  of  Alexandria — Robert  Fludd — Lever  bucket  engine 
— Bucket  of  Bologna — Materials  of  ancient  buckets. 

PULLEY  AND  SINGLE  BUCKET. 

We  now  come  to  the  period  when  som#  of  the  simple  machines,  or 
mechanical  powers,  as  they  are  improperly  named,  were  applie'd  to  rai&e 
water.  When  this  first  took  place,  is  unknown  :  That  it  was  at  an  early 
stage  in  the  progress  of  the  arts,  few  persons  will  doubt ;  but  the  time  is 
as  uncertain,  as  that  of  the  invention  of  those  admirable  contrivances 
for  transmitting  and  modifying  forces.  It  was  among  the  devices  Ry 
which  the  famous  structures  of  antiquity  were  raised;  and  Egyptian  en¬ 
gineers  under  the  Pharaohs,  were  undoubtedly  acquainted  with  all  the 
combinations  of  it  now  known.  Had  Vitruvius  neither  described  it,  nor 
mentioned  its  applications,  a  circumstance  which  occurred  at  the  close  of 
Cleopatra’s  life,  would  have  sufficiently  proved  its  general  use,  in  the 
erection  of  elevated  buildings  under  the  Ptolemies.  The  Egyptian  queen, 


Pulley  and  Single  Bucket. 


59 


Chap.  9.] 


to  avoid  falling  into  the  hands  of  Octavius,  took  refuge  in  a  very  high 
tower,  accessible  only  from  above.  Into  this,  she  and  her  two  maids, 
drew  up  Antony,  (who  had  given  himself  a  fatal  wound,)  by  means  of 
ropes  and  pullies,  which  happened  to  be  there,  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
stones  to  the  top  of  the  building.  But  the  pulley  was  an  essential  re¬ 
quisite  in  the  sailing  vessels  of  Egypt,  India  and  China,  in  the  remotest 
ages.  Neither  trading  ships,  nor  the  war  fleets  of  Sesostris,  or  previous 
warriors,  could  have  traversed  the  Indian  ocean  without  this  appendage  to 
raise  and  lower  the  sails,  or  quickly  to  regulate  their  movements  by  hal¬ 
liards.  The  ancient  Egyptians,  says  Mr.  Wilkinson,  “were  not  ignorant 
of  the  pulley.”  The  remains  of  one  have  actually  been  disinterred,  and 
are  now  preserved  in  the  museum  of  Leyden.  The  sides  are  of  aihul 
or  tamarisk  wood,  the  roller  of  fir:  part  of  the  rope  made  of  leef  or  fibres 
of  the  date  tree,  was  found  at  the  same  time.  This  relic  of  former  times, 
is  supposed  to  have  been  used  in  drawing  water  from  a  well.  Its  date  is 
uncertain. 

There  are  reasons  which  render  it  probable  that  the  single  pulley,  was 
devised  to  raise  water  and  earth  from  wells,  and  probability  is  all  that  can 
ever  be  attained  with  regard  to  its  origin.  But  may  not  the  pulley  have 
been  known  before  wells?  We  think  not,  and  for  the  following  reasons: 
1.  Most  barbarous  people  have  been  found  in  possession  of  some  of  the 
latter,  but  not  of  the  former ;  and  in  the  infancy  of  the  arts,  man  has  in 
all  ages,  had  recourse  to  the  same  expedients,  and  in  the  same  order.  2. 
Wells  are  not  only  of  the  highest  antiquity,  but  they  are  the  only  known 
works  of  man  in  early  times,  in  which  the  pulley  could  have  been  re¬ 
quired  or  applied.  3.  The  importance  of  water  in  those  parts  of  Asia 
where  the  former  generations  of  men  dwelt,  must  have  urged  them  at  an 
early  period  to  facilitate  by  the  pulley,  the  labor  of  raising  it.  That  it 
preceded  the  invention  of  ships,  and  the  erection  of  lofty  buildings  of  stone, 
is  all  but  certain ;  but  for  what  purpose,  except  for  raising  water,  the  pul¬ 
ley  could  have  previously  been  required,  it  would  be  difficult  to  divine. 
It  seems  to  have  been  the  first  addition  made  to  those  primitive  imple¬ 
ments,  the  cord  and  bucket;  and  when  once  adopted,  it  naturally  led,  as 
we  shall  find  in  the  sequel,  to  the  most  valuable  machine  which  the  an¬ 
cients  employed.  By  it  the  friction  of  the  rope 
in  rubbing  against  the  curb,  and  the  consequent 
loss  of  a  portion  of  the  power  expended  in  raising 
the  water,  were  avoided,  and  by  it  also  a  beneficial 
change  in  the  direction  of  the  power,  was  attained : 
instead  of  being  exerted  in  an  ascending  direction, 
as  in  Nos.  8  and  9,  it  is  applied  more  conveniently 
and  efficiently  in  a  descending  one,  as  in  the  figure. 

Notwithstanding  the  obvious  advantages  of  using 
the  pulley,  it  would  appear  that  it  was  not  exten¬ 
sively  used  in  the  public  wells  of  the  ancients,  ex¬ 
cept  in  those  from  which  the  water  was  raised  by 
oxen.  No  example  of  its  use  has  occurred  in  the 
No.  it.  Pulley  and  Bucket,  wells  of  Herculaneum  or  Pompeii.  Nor  does  it 

appear  to  have  been  employed  to  any  great  extent 
by  the  Greeks ;  for  with  them,  a  vessel  by  which  to  draw  water,  was  as 
necessary  a  utensil  to  their  mendicants,  as  to  the  modern  pilgrims  and  fa¬ 
kirs  of  Asia.  The  poorest  of  beggars,  Aristophanes’  Telepheus,  had  a 
staff,  a  broken  cup,  and  a  bucket,  although  it  leaked.  This  custom  there¬ 
fore  of  carrying  a  vessel,  and  cord  to  draw  water,  shows  that  no  per¬ 
manent  one  was  attached  to  their  public  wells,  which  would  have  been 


60 


Pulley  and  Bucket. 


[Book  I. 


the  case  had  the  pulley  been  used.  If  such  had  been  the  custom,  nei¬ 
ther  the  mendicant  Telepheus,  nor  Diogenes  the  philosopher,  would  have 
carried  about  with  them,  vessels  for  th‘e  purpose. 

It  is  not  easy  to  account  for  the  partial  rejection  of  the  pulley  by  the 
Greeks  in  raising  water,  when  its  introduction  would  have  materially  di 
minished  human  labor.  It  certainly  did  not  arise  from  ignorance  of  its 
advantages,  as  their  constant  application  of  it  to  other  purposes,  attests ; 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe,  they  adopted  it  to  some  extent  in  raising 
water  from  the  holds  of  their  ships,  in  common  with  the  maritime  people 
of  Asia.  It  was  indeed  used  in  some  of  their  wells,3  but  only  to  a  limi¬ 
ted  extent.  The  principal  reason  for  not  employing  it  in  public  wells,  was 
probably  this — With  it,  a  single  persoif  only  could  dra  w  water  at  a  time, 
while  without  it,  numbers  could  lower  and  raise  their  vessels  simulta¬ 
neously,  without  interfering  with  each  other  In  the  former  case,  alter¬ 
cations  would  be  frequent  and  unavoidable ;  and  the  inconvenience  of 
numbers  of  people  waiting  for  water  in  warm  climates  a  serious  evil.  The 
rich,  and  those  who  had  servants  would  always  procure  it,  while  the  poor 
and  such  as  had  no  leisure,  would  obtain  it  with  difficulty.  The  large  di¬ 
ameter  of  their  wells  and  those  of  other  nations,  it  would  seem,  was  solely 
designed  to  accommodate  several  people  at  the  same  time.  These  rea¬ 
sons  it  is  admitted,  do  not  apply  to  the  private  wells  and  cisterns  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  in  which  the  pulley  might  have  been  used  ;  but 
those  people  followed  the  practice  of  older  nations,  and  from  the  great 
number  of  their  slaves,  (who  drew  the  water)  they  had  no  inducement  or 
disposition  to  lessen  their  labor. 

A  bucket  suspended  over  a  pulley,  is  still  extensively  used  in  raising 
water  from  wells  throughout  the  world.  The  Arabians  use  it  at  the  well 
Zemzem  ;  the  mouth  of  which,  is  “  surrounded  by  a  brim  of  fine  white 
marble  five  feet  high,  and  ten  feet  in  diameter ;  upon  this  the  persons 
stand,  who  draw  water  in  leathern  buckets,  attached  to  pulleys,  an  iron 
railing  being  so  placed  as  to  prevent  their  falling  in.”b 

Apparatus  precisely  similar  to  the  figure  in  No.  11,  are  used  by  the  Ja¬ 
panese  and  other  Asiatics.  Montanus’  Japan.  294. 

The  pulley  has  but  recently  given  place  to  pumps,  in  workshops  and 
dwellings,  and  in  these  only  to  a  limited  extent — being  confined  chiefly  to  a 
few  cities  in  the  United  States  and  Europe.  In  France  and  England,  it  was 
a  common  appendage  to  wells  in  the  interior  of  houses,  during  the  last 
century  ;  and  in  such  cases  it  is  still  extensively  used  throughout  Spain, 
Portugal  and  other  parts  of  Europe.  It  is  very  common  in  this  country, 
and  also  in  South  America. 

But  the  grand  advantage  of  the  pulley  in  the  early  ages  was  this  ; — by 
it  the  vertical  direction  in  which  men  exerted  their  strength,  could  be  di¬ 
rectly  changed  into  a  horizontal  one,  by  which  change,  animals  could  be 
employed  in  place  of  men.  The  wells  of  Asia,  frequently  varying  from 
two  to  three,  and  even  four  hundred  feet  in  depth,  obviously  required 
more  than  one  person  to  raise  the  contents  of  an  ordinary  sized  vessel :  and 
where  numbers  of  people  depended  on  such  wells,  not  merely  to  sup¬ 
ply  their  domestic  wants,  but  for  the  purposes  of  irrigation,  the  substi¬ 
tution  of  animals  in  place  of  men,  to  raise  water,  became  a  matter  almost 
of  necessity,  and  was  certainly  adopted  at  a  very  early  period.  In  em¬ 
ploying  an  ox  for  this  purpose,  the  simplest  way,  and  one  which  deviated 
the  least  from  their  accustomed  method,  was  merely  to  attach  the  end  of 
the  rope  to  the  yoke,  after  passing  it  over  a  pulley  fixed  sufficiently 


Lardner’s  Arts,  & c  i,  138. 


b  Crichton’s  Arabia,  ii,  219. 


Application  of  Animals  to  Raise  Water. 


61 


Chap.  9]  ' 


high  above  the  mouth  of  the  well,  and  then  driving  the  animal  in  a  direct 
line  from  it,  and  to  a  distance  equal  to  its  depth,  when  the  bucket  charged 
with  the  liquid  would  be  raised  from  the  bottom.  This,  the  most  direct 
and  efficient,  was,  (it  is  believed,)  the  identical  mode  adopted,  and  like 
other  devices  of  the  ancients,  it  is  still  continued  by  their  descendants  in 
Africa  and  Asia.  Its  value  in  the  estimation  of  the  moderns,  may  be 
learned  from  the  fact,  that  it  is  adopted  in  this  and  other  cities  for  raising 
coals,  &c.  from  the  holds  of  ships  ;  for  which  and  similar  purposes,  it  has 
been  in  use  for  ages  in  Europe.  It  has  also  been  used  to  work  pumps, 
the  further  end  of  the  rope  being  attached  to  a  heavy  piston  working  in 
a  very  long  chamber  or  cylinder. 


This  was  probably  one  of  the  first  operations,  and  certainly  one  of  the 
most  obvious,  where  human  labor  was  superseded  by  that  of  animals,  and 
in  accomplishing  it,  the  pulley  itself  was  perhaps  discovered.  This  mode 
is  common  in  Egypt,  Arabia,  India — through  all  Hindostan,  and  various 
other  parts  of  the  east.  Mr.  Elphinstone  mentions  a  large  well  under  the 
walls  of  the  fort  at  Bikaneer,  from  fifteen  to  twenty-two  feet  in  diameter, 
and  three  hundred  feet  deep.  In  this  well  four  large  buckets  are  used, 
each  thus  drawn  up  by  &  pair  of  oxen,  and  all  worked  at  the  same  time. 
When  any  one  of  them  was  let  down,  “its  striking  the  water,  made  a 
noise  like  a  great  gun.”  But  simple  as  this  mode  of  raising  water  by  animala 
is,  it  is  capable  of  an  improvement  equally  simple,  though  not  perhaps  ob¬ 
vious  to  general  readers.  It  was  not  however  left  to  modern  mechanicians  to 
discover,  but  is  one  among  hundreds  of  ancient  devices,  whose  origin  is 
lost  in  the  remoteness  of  time.  It  is  this — Instead  of  the  animal  receding 
from  the  well  on  level  ground,  it  is  made  to  descend  an  inclined  plane,  so 
that  the  weight  of  its  body  contributes  towards  raising  the  load.  This  is 
characteristic  of  Asiatic  devices.  At  a  very  early  period,  the  principle 
of  combining  the  weight  of  men  and  animals  with  their  muscular  energy, 
in  propelling  machines,  was  adopted.  We  shall  meet  with  other  exam¬ 
ples  of  it. 


PULLEY  AND  TWO  BUCKETS. 

The  addition  of  another  bucket,  so  as  to  have  one  at  each  end  of  the 
rope,  was  the  next  step  in  the  progress  of  improvement;  and  although  so 
simple  a  device  may  appear  too  obvious  to  have  remained  long  unper¬ 
ceived,  and  une  which  required  no  stretch  of  intellect  to  accomplish,  it 
was  one  of  no  small  importance,  since  it  effected  what  is  seldom  witnessed 
in  practical  mechanics — a  saving  both  of  time  and  labor.  Thus,  by  it, 
the  empty  vessel  descended  and  became  filled,  as  the  other  was  elevated, 


62 


Pulley  and  Two  Buckets. 


[Book  I. 


(without  the  expenditure  of  any  additional  time  and  labor  to  lower  it,  as 
with  the  single  bucket,)  while  its  weight  in  descending,  contributed  towards 
raising  the  charged  one. 

These  advantages  were  not  the  only  results  of  the  simple  addition  of 
another  bucket;  though  they  were  probably  all  that  were  anticipated  by 
the  author  at  the  time.  It  really  imparted  a  new  feature  to  the  apparatus, 
and  one  which  naturally  led  to  the  development  of  that  great  machine,  in 
which  terminated  all  the  improvements  of  the  older  mechanics  on  the 
primitive  cord  and  bucket — and  to  which,  modern  ingenuity  has  added — 
nothing — viz:  the  endless  chain  of  pots — indeed  nothing  more  was 
then  wanting,  but  to  unite  the  two  ends  of  the  rope  together,  and  attach 
a  number  of  vessels  to  it,  at  equal  distances  from  each  other,  through  the 
whole  of  its  length,  and  the  machine  just  named  was  all  but  complete. 


w 


No.  13.  Ancient.  No.  14.  Modern. 

[From  sepulchral  monuments.] 

The  Anglo  Saxons  used  two  buckets  hooped  with  iron,  one  at  each 
end  of  a  chain  which  passed  over  a  pulley .a  And  in  the  old  Norman 
castles,  water  was  raised  by  the  same  means.  In  one  of  the  keeps  or  towers, 
still  remaining,  which  was  built  by  Gundulph,  bishop  of  Rochester,  in 
the  reigns  of  the  Conqueror  and  William  Rufus,  the  mode  of  elevating 
the  water  is  obvious.,  “For  water,  there  was  a  well  in  the  very  middle 
of  the  partition  wall:  it  was  also  made  to  go  through  the  whole  wall,  from 
the  bottom  of  the  tower  up  to  the  very  leads,  (i.  e.  the  roof)  and  on  every 
floor  were  small  arches  in  the  wall,  forming  a  communication  between 
the  pipe  of  the  wall,  and  the  several  apartments,  so  that  by  a  pulley, 
water  was  communicated  every  where.”  And  in  Newcastle,  a  similar 
tower  exhibits  the  same  device  for  obtaining  the  water :  “  a  remarkable 
pillar  from  which  arches  branched  out  very  beautifully  on  each  side,  in¬ 
closed  a  pipe,  (that  is,  the  continuation  of  the  well,)  which  conducted 
water  from  the  well.”b  It  appears  to  have  been,  in  the  middle  ages,  the 
uniform  practice  to  enclose  wells  within  the  walls  of  towers,  that  in  case 
of  sieges,  the  water  might  not  be  cut  off.  It  was  the  same  in  early 
Rome :  the  capitol  was  supplied  by  a  deep  well  at  the  foot  of  the  Tar- 
peian  Rock,  into  which  buckets  were  lowered  through  an  artificial  groove 
or  passage  made  in  the  rock.®  The  double  bucket  is  still  used  in  inns  in 
Spain.  See  a  figure  in  Sat.  Mag.  Vol.  vii,  58. 

A  simple  mode  is  practised  in  Italy,  by  which  a  person  in  the  upper  story 
of  a  house,  and  at  some  distance  from  the  well  or  cistern,  (which  is  ge¬ 
nerally  in  the  court  yard,)  raises  water  without  being  obliged  to  descend. 

One  end  of  a  strong  iron  rod  or  wire,  is  fixed  to  the  house  above  the 
window  of  an  upper  landing  or  passage,  and  the  other  end  in  the  ground, 


•Encyc.  Antiq.  524. 


b  Ibid,  82. 


c  Gell’s  Topography  of  Rome,  ii,  203. 


Chap.  9.] 


Raising  Water  to  Upper  Floors. 


63 


on  the  farther  side  of  the  well  and  in  a  line  with  its  centre  as  in  No.  15. 
A  ring  which  slides  easily  over  the  wire  is  secured  to  the  handle  of  the 
bucket,  to  which  a  cord  is  also  attached  and  passes  over  a  pulley  fixed 
above  the  window.  Thus  when  the  cord  is  slackened,  the  bucket  de¬ 
scends  along  the  wire  into  the  water, 
and  when  filled  is  drawn  up  by  a  per¬ 
son  at  the  window.  (Kitchens  in  the 
houses  of  Italy,  like  those  of  London 
and  Paris  are  often  on  the  upper  floors.) 
*’  This  mode  of  raising  water  to  the  up¬ 
per  stories  of  houses  is  practised  in  Ve¬ 
nice  and  some  other  towns  in  Italy.”3 
We  are  not  acquainted  with  the  origin  of 
this  device.  From  the  circumstance  of 
the  ancient,  (as  well^as  the  modern)  in 
habitants  of  Asia,  Greece,  Italy,  &c. 
having  had  jets  d’eau  and  tanks  of  wa¬ 
ter  in  the  centre  of  their  court-yards, 
it  is  possible  that  this  mode  of  raising 
water  to  the  upper  floors  of  dwellings, 
may  be  of  ancient  date.  It  was  in  use 
in  the  16th  century,  and  is  described  in 
Serviere’s  collection,  from  which  the 
figure  is  taken.b  In  the  same  work  are 
devices  for  raising  water  in  buckets  to 
the  tops  of  buildings  by  pulleys,  ropes, 
&c.  moved  by  water  wheels. 

Of  modern  devices  for  raising  water 
with  the  pulley  and  bucket,  the  most  efficient  is  said  to  "be  that  of  Dr. 
Desaguliers.  After  passing  the  rope  over  a  pulley,  he  suspended  to  its 
end  a  frame  of  wood  on  which  a  man  could  stand — the  bucket  at  the  other 
end  was  made  heavier  than  this  frame,  and  therefore  descended  of  itself. 
The  length  of  the  rope  was  such,  that  when  the  bucket  was  at  the  bottom, 
the  frame  was  level  with  the  place  to  which  the  water  was  to  be  raised. 
As  soon  as  the  bucket  was  filled  with  water,  for  the  admission  of  which 
a  hole  was  made  in  its  bottom,  and  covered  by  a  flap  or  valve,  a  man, 
whose  weight  exceeded,  (with  the  frame)  that  of  the  bucket  and  water, 
stepped  upon  the  frame,  and  sunk  down  with  it  to  the  bottom,  and  con¬ 
sequently  raised  the  bucket  of  water  to  the  required  height,  when  a  hook 
catched  in  a  hasp  at  the  side  of  the  bucket,  turned  it  over,  and  discharged 
its  contents  into  the  reservoir.  As  soon  as  the  bucket  was  empty,  the 
man  at  the  bottom  stepped  off  the  frame  and  ran  up  a  flight  of  stairs  made 
for  the  purpose,  to  the  place  whence  he  descended ;  and  in  the  mean  time, 
the  bucket  being  heavier  than  the  frame,  descended  to  the  water,  and  was 
again  raised  by  the  same  process. 

Such  a  device  is  well  enough  for  philosophical  experiment,  but  is  cer¬ 
tainly  not  adapted  for  practical  purposes.  Simple  as  it  may  appear, 
there  are  requisites  necessary  to  its  efficient  application,  which  in  common 
practice  are  unattainable. 


No.  15.  Italian  mode  of  raising  water  to  the 
upper  floors  of  a  house. 


“Cadell’s  Journey  into  Carniola,  Italy,  &c.  Edinburgh,  1820,  i,  481. 
bRecueil  D’Ouvrages  Curieux  de  Mathematique  et  de  Mechanique,  ou  Description 
du  Cabinet  de  M.  Grollier  de  Serviere,  avec  des  figures  en  taille  douce,  par  M.  Grol- 
lier  de  Serviere,  son  petit  fils.  A  Lyon,  1719.  The  elder  Serviere  died  in  the  17th 
century. 


64 


Self-Acting  Buckets. 


[Book  I 


SELF-ACTING,  OR  GAINING  AND  LOSING  BUCKETS. 


In  tlie  latter  part  of  the  16th,  or  beginning  of  the  17th  century,  a  ma¬ 
chine  for  raising  water,  was  in  use  in  Italy,  which  is  entitled  to  particular 
notice,  on  account  of  its  being  alleged  to  be  the  first  one  of  the  kind 
which  was  self-acting ;  and  in  that  respect,  was  the  forerunner  of  the 
motive  ‘  Fire  Engine’  itself.  It  appears  to  have  been  first  described  by 
Schottus  in  his  Technia  Curiosa.  According  to  Moxon,  his  description 
was  taken  from  one  in  actual  operation  “at  a  nobleman’s  house  at  Basil.” 
fMech.  Pow.  107.)  But  Belidor,  says  the  first  one  who  put  such  a  thing  in 
execution,  was  Gironimo  Finugio,  at  Rome  in  1616  ;  although  Schottus  had 
long  before  contrived  an  engine  for  this  purpose.  Moxon  has  given  a  figure 
a  nd  description  of  one,  but  without  naming  the  source  from  whence  he  ob¬ 
tained  it:  he  says  it  was  “made  at  Rome,  in  the  convent  of  St.  Maria  de 
Victoria  :  the  lesser  bucket  did  contain  more  than  a  whole  urn  of  water, 
(at  Rome  they  say  un  barile,)  but  before,  while  they  used  lesser  buckets, 
the  engine  wanted  success.”  It  would  seem  that  it  was  to  one  of  these 

‘Roman  Engines,’  that  the  Marquis  of  Worces¬ 
ter  referred,  in  the  21st  proposition  of  his  Cen¬ 
tury  of  Inventions:  “How  to  raise  water  con¬ 
stantly  with  two  buckets  only,  day  and  night, 
toithout  any  other  force  than  its  own  motion,  using 
not  so  much  as  any  force,  wheel  or  sucker,  nor 
more  pulleys  than  one,  on  which  the  cord  or  chain 
rolleth,  with  a  bucket  fastened  at  each  end. 
This  I  confess  I  have  seen  and  learned  of  the 
great  mathematician  Claudius,  his  studies  at 
Rome,  he  having  made  a  present  thereof  unto  a 
cardinal,  and  I  desire  not  to  own  any  other  men’s 
inventions,  but  if  I  set  down  any,  to  nominate  like¬ 
wise  the  inventor.” 

The  machine  described  by  Moxon,  is  encum¬ 
bered  with  too  many  appendages  for  popular 
illustration — its  essential  parts  will  be  under¬ 
stood  by  the  accompanying  diagram,  from  Ha- 
chette’s  Traite  Elementaire  des  Machines,  Paris, 
1819.  Over  a  pulley  S,  are  suspended  two 
vessels  A  and  B,  of  unequal  dimensions.  The 
smaller  one  B,  is  made  heavier  than  A  when  both 
are  empty,  but  lighter  when  they  are  filled.  It 
is  required  to  raise  by  them,  part  of  the  water 
from  the  spring  or  reservoir  E,  into  the  cistern 
Z.  As  the.  smaller  bucket  B,  by  its  superior 
gravity,  descends  into  E,  (a  flap  or  valve  in  its 
bottom  admitting  the  water,)  it  consequently 
raises  A  into  the  position  represented  in  the 
figure.  A  pipe  F,  then  conveys  water  from  the 
reservoir  into  A,  the  orifice  or  bore  of  which 
pipe,  is  so  proportioned,  that  both  vessels  are 
filled  simultaneously.  The  larger  bucket  then  pre¬ 


ponderates,  descending  to  O,  and  B  at  the  same 


time  rising 


No.  16. 


Gaining  and  Losing 
Buckets. 


to  the  upper  edge  of  Z,  when  the 
projecting  pins  O  O,  catch  against  others  on  the 
lower  sides  of  the  buckets,  and  overturn  them  at 
the  same  moment.  The  bails  or  handles  are  at¬ 
tached  by  swivels  to  the  sides,  a  little  above  the 


Self-Acting  Buckets. 


65 


Chap.  9.] 


centre  of  gravity.  As  soon  as  both  vessels  are  emptied,  B  again  pre¬ 
ponderates,  and  the  operation  is  repeated  without  any  attendance,  as 
long  as  there  is  water  in  E  .and  the  apparatus  continues  in  order. 

In  Moxon’s  machine,  the  vessels  were  filled  by  two  separate  tubes  of 
unequal  bore ;  the  orifices  being  covered  by  valves,  to  prevent  the  es¬ 
cape  of  water  while  the  buckets  were  in  motion ;  these  valves  were 
opened  and  closed  by  means  of  cords  attached  to  the  buckets.  The  efflux 
through  F  in  the  figure,  may  easily  be  stopped  as  soon  as  A  begins. to  de¬ 
scend,  by  the  action  of  either  bucket  on  the  end  of  a  lever  attached  to  a 
valve,  or  by  other  obvious  contrivances.  The  water  discharged  from  A, 
runs  to  waste  through  some  channel  provided  for  the  purpose.  These 
machines  are  of  limited  application,  since  they  require  a  fall  for  the  de¬ 
scent  of  A,  equal  to  the  elevation  to  which  the  liquid  is  raised  in  B.  They 
may  however  be  modified  to  suit  locations  where  a  less  descent  only  can 
be  obtained.  Thus,  by  connecting  the  rope  of  B  to  the  periphery  of  a 
large  wheel,  while  that  of  A  is  united  to  a  smaller  one  on  the  same  axis, 
water  may  be  raised  higher  than  the  larger  bucket  falls,  but  the  quantity 
raised  will  of  course  be  proportionally  diminished. 

In  Serviere’s  Collection,  a  Gaining  and  Losing  Bucket  Machine  is  de¬ 
scribed.  Another  one  was  invented  in  1725,  by  George  Gerves  an  En¬ 
glish  carpenter,  who  probably  was  not  aware  that  he  had  been  anticipated 
by  continental  mechanics  upwards  of  a  century  before.  He  erected  one 
in  Buckinghamshire,  which  was  much  approved  of  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
Beighton,  Desaguliers,  Switzer,  and  others.  Mr.  Beighton  who  drew  up 
a  description  of  it,  observes  that  it  was  so  free  from  friction,  that  “it  is 
likely  to  continue  an  age  without  repair;”  and  Dr.  Desaguliers  on  insert¬ 
ing  an  account  of  it  in  his  Experimental  Philosophy,  vol.  ii,  461,  says, 
“  this  engine  has  not  been  out  of  order  since  it  was  first  set  up,  about  fif¬ 
teen  years  ago.”  Notwithstanding  these  favorable  testimonials,  it  has 
fallen  into  disuse.  It  was  much  too  complex  and  cumbersome,  and  of  too 
limited  application  ever  to  become  popular. 

The  principle  of  self-action  in  all  these  machines  is  no  modern  discovery, 
for  it  was  described  by  Heron  of  Alexandria,  who  applied  it  to  the  ope¬ 
ning  and  closing  the  doors  of  a  temple,  and  to  other  purposes.  The  mo¬ 
tive  bucket  when  filled,  descended  and  communicated  by  a  secret  cord 
the  movement  required,  and  when  its  contents  were  discharged  (by  a  si¬ 
phon  similar  to  the  one  figured  in  the  Clepsydra  of  Ctesibius,  in  our  fifth 
book,)  it  was  again  raised  by  a  weight  at  the  other  end  of  the  cord,  like  the 
bucket,  in  the  last  figure.  See  De  Naturee  Simia  seu  technica  macro- 
cosmi  historia,  by  Robert  Fludd,  (the  English  Rosicrucian.)  Oppenheim, 
1618,  pp.  478  and  489,  where  several  similar  contrivances  are  figured — 
hence  the  device  is  much  older  than  has  been  supposed.  Perhaps  the 
best  modification  of  the  ‘  Gaining  and  Losing  Bucket’,  is  Francini’s,  a  de¬ 
scription  of  which  mav  be  seen  in  our  account  of  the  Endless  Chain  of 
Pots. 

A  /eye/*  machine  described  by  Dr.  Desaguliers  may  here  be  noticed.  “A  A, 
(No.  17,)  are  two  spouts  running  from  a  gutter  or  spring  of  water,  into  the 
two  buckets  D  and  E.  D  containing  about  thirty  gallons  and  being  called 
the  losing  bucket ,  and  E  the  gaining  bucket,  containing  less  than  a  quarter 
part  of  D,  as  for  example  six  gallons.  D  E,  is  a  lever  or  beam  movable 
about  the  axis  or  centre  C,  which  is  supported  by  the  pieces  F  F,  be¬ 
tween  which  the  bucket  D  can  descend  when  the  contrary  bucket  E  is 
raised  up,  D  C,  is  to  C  E,  as  one  is  to  four.  G  L  is  an  upright  piece, 
through  the  top  of  which  the  lever  K  I  moves  about  the  centre  L, 
sometimes  resting  on  the  prop  H,  and  sometimes  raised  from  it  by  the 

9 


66 


Lever  Bucket  Machine. 


[Book  I. 


pressure  of  the  arm  C  E  on  the  end  I.  The  bucket  D  when  empty,  has 
its  mouth  upwards,  being  suspended  as  above  mentioned.  The  end  D 
with  its  bucket  is  also  lighter  than  the  end  with  the  bucket  E,  when  both 
are  empty.  By  reason  of  the  different  bore  of  the  spouts,  D  is  filled  al¬ 
most  as  soon  as  E,  and  immediately  preponderating,  sinks  down  to  D, 
and  thereby  raises  the  contrary  end  of  the  lever  and  its  bucket 
up  to  the  cistern  M,  into  which  it  discharges  its  water;  but  immediately 
the  bucket  D  becoming  full,  pours  out  its  water,  and  the  end  of  the  lever 
E  comes  down  again  into  its  horizontal  situation,  and  striking  upon  the 
end  I  of  the  loaded  lever  I  K,  raises  the  weight  K,  by  which  means  the 
force  of  its  blow  is  broken.  If  the  distance  A  B  or  fall  of  the  water  be 
fibout  six  feet,  this  machine  will  raise  the  water  into  the  cistern  M  twenty- 
four  feet  high.  Such  a  machine  is  very  simple  and  may  be  made  in  any 
proportion  according  to  the  fall  of  the  water,  the  quantity  allowed  to  be 
wasted,  and  the  height  to  which  the  water  must  be  raised.” 


No.  17.  Gaining  and  Losing  Buckets. 


“Some  years  ago,”  Dr.  Desaguliers  continues,  “a  gentleman  showed  me 
a  model  of  such  an  engine  varying  something  from  this,  but  so  con¬ 
trived  as  to  stop  the  running  of  the  water  at  A  A,  when  the  lever  D  E 
began  to  move.  ,  He  told  me  he  had  set  up  an  engine  in  Ireland,  which 
raised  about  half  a  hogshead  of  water  in  a  minute,  forty  feet  high,  and 
did  not  cost  forty  shillings  a  year  to  keep  it  in  repair,  and  that  it  was  not 
very  expensive  to  set  up  at  first.”  Experimental  Philosophy,  vol.  i,  78. 

There  is  a  singular  historical  fact  connected  with  the  use  of  buckets  to 
raise  water  from  wells,  which  will  serve  to  conclude  this  part  of  the  sub¬ 
ject.  Every  person  knows,  that  war  between  nations  has  often  arisen 
from  the  most  trifling  causes ;  when  thousands  of  human  beings,  alike 
ignorant  and  innocent  of  its  origin,  hired  by  its  authors,  armed  with 
murderous  weapons  and  incessantly  exercised  in  the  use  of  them,  are 
marshaled  into  the  presence  of  a  similar  host;  when  both  being  stimu¬ 
lated  by  inflaming  addresses,  and  often  excited  by  ardent  spirits,  destroy 
each  other  like  infuriated  tigers!  Then  after  one  party  is  overcome,  the 
other  glorying  in  the  slaughter,  hail  their  leader  a  hero,  and  not  infre¬ 
quently  do  that,  which  fiends  would  shudder  to  think  of — viz.  return 
thanks  to  the  benign  Savior  of  men,  for  having  enabled  them  thus  to  de- 


Buckets. 


67 


Chap.  9.] 

stroy  their  species ;  and  to  produce  an  amount  of  misery,  as  evinced  in  the 
shrieks  of  the  wounded — the  agonies  of  the  dying — the  unutterable 
pangs  of  widows,  and  the  untold  sufferings  of  orphans — that  would  suffice 
to  draw  tears  from  demons !  And  all  this  for  what?  Why,  atone  time,  accord- 
mg  to  Tasso,  and  it  is  degrading  to  our  nature  to  repeat  it,  because  some 
thieves  of  Modena  stole  a  bucket  belonging  to  a  public  well  of  Bologna  !  This 
fatal  bucket  is  still  preserved  in  the  cathedral  of  Modena — a  memorial 
of  a  sanguinary  war,  and  of  the  evils  attending  the  most  horrible  of  all 
human  delusions,  military  glory. 

“In  the  year  1005,  some  soldiers  of  the  commonwealth  of  Modena  ran 
away  with  a  bucket  from  a  public  well,  belonging  to  the  State  of  Bologna. 
This  implement  might  be  worth  a  shilling;  but  it  produced  a  bloody 
quarrel  which  was  worked  up  into  a  bloody  war.  Henry,  the  king  of 
Sardinia,  for  the  Emperor  Henry  the  second,  assisted  the  Modenese  to 
keep  possession  of  the  bucket ;  and  in  one  of  the  battles  he  was  made 
prisoner.  His  father,  the  Emperor,  offered  a  chain  of  gold  that  would 
encircle  Bologna,  which  is  seven  miles  in  compass,  for  his  son’s  ransom, 
but  in  vain.  After  twenty-two  years  imprisonment,  and  his  father  being 
dead,  he  pined  away  and  died.  His  monument  is  still  extant  in  the 
church  of  the  Dominicans.  This  fatal  bucket  is  still  exhibited  in  the 
tower  of  the  cathedral  of  Modena,  enclosed  in  an  iron  cage.” 

Materials  of  Buckets. — Neptune  and  Andromache  watered  horses 
with  metallic  ones.  Both  Greeks  and  Romans  had  them  of  wood,  metal 
and  leather.  Sometimes  wooden  ones  were  hooped  with  brass.  One  of 
these  was  found  in  a  Roman  barrow  in  England.  The  ancient  British 
had  them  without  hoops  and  cut  out  of  solid  timber.  The  Anglo  Saxons 
made  them  of  staves  as  at  present.  Those  of  the  old  Egyptians  were 
of  metal,  wood,  skins  or  leather,  and  probably  of  earthenware.  See 
figures  in  11th  and  13th  chapters.  We  have  given  figures  of  some  metallic 
ones  discovered  in  Pompeii,  in  Book  II.  The  bucket  of  Bologna  is 
formed  of  staves  and  bound  with  iron  hoops.a 

The  old  error  that  *  water  has  no  weight  in  water,’  arose  from  not  per¬ 
ceiving  the  weight  of  a  bucket,  until  it  was  raised  out  of  the  liquid  in 
which  it  was  plunged. 

Although  poetry  is  foreign  to  the  design  of  this  work,  and  cold  water 
is  not  remarkably  inspiring,  nor  a  bucket  a  very  poetical  object,  yet  the 
following  beautiful  lines  of  S.  Woodworth,  on  *  The  Bucket,’  are  as  re¬ 
freshing  in  the  midst  of  a  dry  discussion,  as  a  draught  of  the  sparkling  li¬ 
quid  to  a  weary  traveller  of  the  desert.b 

That  moss-covered  vessel  I  hail  as  a  treasure ; 

For  often  at  noon,  when  returned  from  the  field, 

I  found  it  the  source  of  an  exquisite  pleasure, 

The  purest  and  sweetest  that  nature  can  yield. 

How  ardent  I  seized  it,  with  hands  that  were  glowing, 

And  quick  to  the  white-pebbled  bottom  it  fell : 

Then  soon,  with  the  emblem  of  truth  overflowing, 

And  dripping  with  coolness,  it  rose  from  the  well. 

How  sweet  from  the  green  mossy  brimto  receive  it, 

As  poised  on  the  curb  it  inclined  to  my  lips ! 

Not  a  full  blushing  goblet  could  tempt  me  to  leave  it, 

Though  filled  with  the  nectar  that  Jupiter  sips. 


*  Misson’s  Travels,  iii,  327,  and  Keysler’s  Travels,  iii,  138. 

bThey  have  been  erroneously  attributed  to  the  British  Poet  Wordsworth. 


68 


The  Windlass. 


[Book  t 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Windlass :  Its  origin  unknown — Employed  in  raising  water  from  wells,  and  ore  from  mines— 
Chinese  windlass — Other  inventions  of  that  people,  as  table  forks,  winnowing  machines,  &c.  &c.  Fu¬ 
see:  Its  application  to  raise  water  from  wells— Its  inventor  not  known.  Wheel  and  pinion — Anglo- 
Saxon  crane — Drum  attached  to  the  windlass  roller,  and  turned  by  a  rope  :  Used  in  Birmah,  England, 
&c.  Tread  wheels:  Used  by  the  Ancients — Moved  by  men  and  various  animals — Jacks — Horizontal 
tread  wheels — Common  wheel  or  capstan.  Observations  on  the  introduction  of  table  forks  into  Europe. 


THE  WINDLASS. 

Although  it  may  never  be  known  to  whom  the  world  is  indebted  for 
the  windlass,  there  are  circumstances  which  point  to  the  construction  of 
wells  and  raising  of  water  from  them,  as  among  the  first  uses  to  which  it, 
as  well  as  the  pulley,  was  applied.  The  windlass  possesses  an  important 
advantage  over  the  single  pulley  in  lifting  weights,  or  overcoming  any 
resistance;  since  the  intensity  of  the  force  transmitted  through  it,  can 
be  modified,  either  by  varying  the  length  of  the  crank,  or  the  circum¬ 
ference  of  the  roller  on  which  the  rope  is  coiled.  Sometimes  a  single 
vessel  and  rope,  but  more  frequently  two,  are  employed,  as  in  the  figure, 
No.  18. 


No.  18.  Windlass.  From  Kircher’s  Muudus  Subterraneus. 

The  buckets  are  suspended  from  opposite  sides  of  the  roller,  the  rope 
winding  round  it  in  different  directions,  so  that,  as  one  ascends,  the  other 
descends.  Pliny,  in  his  Natural  History,  xix,  4,  mentions  this  machine  as 
used  by  the  Romans  for  raising  water ;  and  in  the  36th  book,  cap.  xv, 
when  speaking  of  a  canal  for  draining  the  marsh  Fucinus ,  part  of  which 
passed  through  a  mountain,  he  says  the  water  which  flowed  in  upon  the 
workmen  was  raised  up  “with  device  of  engines  and  windlcs.”  As  there  * 
was  not  any  apparatus  attached  to  the  public  wells  in  Greek  and  Roman 
cities,  or  if  so,  to  a  very  limited  extent,  it  is  probable  the  windlass  was 
chiefly  used  in  the  country,  where  its  application  to  deep  wells  was  per¬ 
haps  as  common  as  it  is  in  other  parts  of  the  world  at  the  present  time. 

It  has  always  been  used  in  raising  ore  and  water  from  mines.  Agricola 
has  given  several  figures  of  it  as  employed  in  those  of  Hungary,  where 


Chinese  Windlass. 


Chaj).  10.] 


GO 


it  has  probably  been  in  uninterrupted  use  since  the  Roman  era.a  Some 
times  it  was  placed  on  one  side  of  the  well,  and  at  a  short  distance  from 
it,  the  ropes  passing  through  pulleys  that  were  suspended  over  its  mouth. 
By  this  arrangement  water  may  be  raised  to  any  required  height  above 
the  windlass  ;  an  advantage  in  some  cases  very  desirable.  Belidor  has 
given  a  similar  figure,  and  observes  that  such  machines  were  extensively 
used  in  the  Low  Countries.1*  Sometimes  a  series  of  pulleys  were  com¬ 
bined  with  it.  In  an  old  work,  we  have  seen  the  windlass  attached  to  a 
large  tub  in  which  water  or  coal  was  raised,  so  that  one  or  more  persons 
might  ascend  and  descend,  without  the  aid  of  others  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground;  the  ropes  being  passed  through  a  block  above  the  mouth  of  the 
pit.c  It  is  very  probable  that  these  applications  of  it  were  known  to  the 
Greeks  and  Romans.  Switzer,  in  his  ‘Hydrostatics,’  says,  the  ancients 
used  the  windlass  for  raising  water,  and  that  all  their  machines  of  a  similar 
construction  were  classed  under  the  general  name  of  Budromia. 

There  is  a  very  peculiar  and  exceedingly  ingenious  modification  of 
the  windlass,  which  may  here  be  noticed,  and  for  which  we  are  indebted 
to  the  Chinese.  It  furnishes  the  means  of  increasing  mechanical  energy 
to  almost  any  extent,  and  as  it  is  used  by  them  to  raise  water  from  some 
of  those  prodigiously  deep  wells  already  noticed,  (p.  30,)  a  figure  of  it, 
(No.  19.)  is  inserted.  The  roller  consists  of  two  parts  of  unequal  di¬ 
ameters,  to  the  extremities  of  which,  the  ends  of  the  rope  are  fastened  on 
opposite  sides,  so  as  to  wind  round  both  parts  in  different  directions.  As 
the  load  to  be  raised  is  suspended  to  a  pulley,  (See  fig.)  every  turn  of  the 
roller  raises  a  portion  of  the  rope  equal  to  the  circumference  of  the  thicker 
part,  but  at  the  same  time  lets  down  a  portion  equal  to  that  of  the  smaller; 
consequently  the  weight  is  raised  at  each  turn,  through  a  space  equal  only 
to  half  the  difference  between  the  circumferences  of  the  two  parts  of  the 
roller.  The  action  of  this  machine  is  therefore  slow,  but  the  mechanical 
advantages  are  proportionably  great.d 


No.  19.  Chinese  Windlass.  No.  20.  Fusee  Windlass. 


This  is  the  neatest  and  most  simple  modification  of  the  wheel  and  axle, 
that  human  ingenuity  has  devised,  and  is  a  proof  that  the  principles  of 
mechanical  science  were  well  understood  in  remote  ages ;  for  every  me- 


“De  Re  Metallica.  Basil.  1657.  p.  118,  119,  160. 
b  Architecture  Hydraulique,  tom.  2,  p.  333. 

c  Besson's  Theatre  des  Instrvmens  Mathematiques  et  Meclianiques.  A  Lyon,  1579. 
d‘  The  Chinese,’  by  J.  F-  Davis,  vol.  ii,  286. 


70 


The  Fusee. 


[Book  1. 

chanician,  we  think  will  admit,  that  mechanical  tact  and  ingenuity,  unaided 
by  scientific  knowledge,  could  never  have  devised  it.  It  exhibits  a  species 
ot’  originality  so  unique,  so  simple  and  efficient,  that  evidently  shows  it  to 
have  been  the  conception  of  no  common  mind.  At  what  time  it  was  first 
taken  to  Europe,  we  have  not  the  means  of  ascertaining.  It  has  but  re¬ 
cently,  i.  e.  comparatively  so,  been  described  in  books.  We  are  not 
aware  of  its  having  been  noticed  in  any,  previous  to  the  last  half  century. 
It  appears  to  have  been  introduced  like  several  other  standard  machines 
from  the  same  source,  so  gradually,  that  the  precise  period  of  its  first  ar¬ 
rival  cannot  easily  be  determined.  Considering  the  long  period,  during 
which  European  nations  have  maintained  an  intercourse  with  the  Chinese, 
the  recent  introduction  of  this  machine  may  appear  singular;  but  very 
little  is  yet  known  of  that  people,  although  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
their  arts,  would  probably  enrich  us  with  treasures,  more  valuable  than 
their  teas  and  their  porcelain. 

There  is  a  large  debt  of  gratitude  due  to  the  Chinese,  which  has  never 
been  sufficiently  acknowledged.  It  is  to  them,  we  are  indebted  for  some 
of  the  most  important  discoveries  connected  with  the  present  state  of  the 
arts  and  sciences.  From  them  was  derived  the  chief  of  all  arts,  printing, 
and  even  movable  types,  and  that  invaluable  acquisition,  the  mariner’s 
compass;  peculiar  stoves, a  chain-bridges,  spectacles,  silver  forks, b  India 
ink,0  chain-pump,  winnowing  machine, d  besides  many  others;  and  to  cor¬ 
rect  a  popular  error,  which  attributes  to  our  fellow  citizens  of  Connec 
ticut,  the  invention  of  ‘  wooden  hams,’  it  may  as  well  be  remarked,  that 
these  are  also  of  Chinese  origin.  Le  Comte,  says  they  are  so  adroitly 
constructed,  that  numerous  buyers  are  constantly  deceived ;  and  fre¬ 
quently  it  is  not  till  one  is  boiled  and  ready  to  be  eaten,  that  it  is  dico'vered 
to  be  “  nothing  but  a  large  piece  of  wood  under  a  hog’s  skin.”  But  if 
China  has  produced  specimens  of  dishonest  ingenuity,  she  has,  in  the 
tread-mill,  furnished  one  of  the  greatest  terrors  to  evil  doers. 

A  large  Fusee  is  sometimes  used  in  place  of  the  cylindrical  roller  of  a 
windlass,  especially  in  wells  of  great  depth.  When  a  bucket  is  at  the  bot¬ 
tom,  and  the  weight  of  a  long  rope  or  chain  has  to  be  overcome  in  ad¬ 
dition  to  that  of  the  water,  it  is  accomplished  more  easily  by  winding  up 


a  “These  stoves  are  extremely  convenient,  and  deserve  to  be  made  known  universally 
in  onr  country.  Some  of  our  company  took  such  stoves  with  them  to  Goltenburgh,  as 
models  for  those  who  might  want  to  know  their  construction.”  Osbeck’s  Voyage  to 
China,  vol.  i,  322. 

b“Thc  use  of  silver  forks  with  us,  by  some  of  our  spruce  gallants  taken  up  of  late, 
came  from  China  to  Italy,  and  from  thence  to  England.”  Heylin’s  Cosmography,  I.on. 
1670.  p.  865. 

cThe  secret  of  making  it,  was  brought  by  a  Dutch  supercargo  to  Gbttingen  in  1756, 
and  there  divulged.  Lon.  Mag.  for  1756.. p.  403. 

dThis  was  also  brought  first  to  Holland  in  the  beginning  of  the  18th  century,  whence 
it  soon  spread  over  Europe.  It  was  carried  to  Scotland  in  1710.  Walter  Scott,  has 
incorporated  in  one  of  his  novels,  an  historical  fact  relating  to  the  superstition  of  his 
countrymen  respecting  it.  When  first  introduced,  the  religious  feelings  of  some  were 
greatly  shocked  at  an  invention,  by  which  artificial  whirlwinds  were  produced  in  calm 
weather,  when,  as  they  supposed,  it  was  the  will  of  God  for  the  air  to  remain  still.  As 
they  considered  it  a  moral  duty  to  wait  patiently  for  a  natural  wind,  to  separate  the 
chaff  from  their  wheat,  they  looked  upon  the  use  of  this  machine,  as  rebellion  against 
heaven,  and  an  attempt  to  take  the  government  of  the  world  out  of  the  Creator’s 
hands!  Constant  readers  of  the  Bible,  the  more  superstitious  of  the  Covenanters  ima¬ 
gined  it  was  a  cunning  device  of  the  Wicked  One,  the  ‘  Prince  of  the  power  of  the 
Air,’  and  therefore  one  of  those  works,  which  Christians  are  called  to  guard  against  and 
renounce  !  It  was  introduced  into  America  in  1761,  as  a  “Dutch  machine  for  winnow¬ 
ing  grain.”  The  first  one,  was  made  in  Massachusetts,  “by  the  directions  of  a  gende- 
man  in  the  Jersies,”  during  the  same  year.  Lon.  Mag.  for  1761.  p.  273.  Davis’  Chi¬ 
nese.  vol.  ii,  361. 


Wheel  and  Pinion. 


71 


Chap.  10.] 

the  rope  on  the  small  end  of  the  fusee ;  and  as  the  length  diminishes,  it 
coils  round  the  larger  part.  (See  No.  20,  which  is  however  inaccurately 
drawn — as  the  bucket  is  at  the  top  of  the  well,  it  should  have  been  repre¬ 
sented  as  suspended  from  the  large  end  of  the  fusee.)  The  value  of  a  de¬ 
vice  like  this,  will  be  appreciated  when  the  great  depth  of  some  wells 
is  considered,  and  the  consequent  additional  weight  of  the  chains.  In 
the  fortress  of  Dresden  is  a  well,  eighteen  hundred  feet  deep ;  at  Span- 
genburgh  one  of  sixty  toises ;  at  Homberg,  one  of  eighty  ;  at  August- 
burgh,  is  a  well  at  which  half  an  hour  is  required  to  raise  the  bucket ; 
and  at  Nuremburgh  another,  sixteen  hundred  feet  deep.  In  all  these,  the 
water  is  raised  by  chains,  and  the  weight  of  the  last  one  is  stated  to  be 
upwards  of  a  ton:  Misson,  (vol.  i,  116,)  says  three  thousand  pounds. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  name  of  the  inventor  of  the  fusee,  and  the 
date  of  its  origin,  are  alike  unknown.  It  forms  an  essential  part  in  the  me¬ 
chanism  of  ordinary  watches ;  for  without  it  they  would  not  be  correct 
measurers  of  time.  Every  person  knows  that  the  moving  power  in  a 
clock  is  a  weight,  and  that  the  various  movements  are  regulated  by  a 
pendulum  ;  but  neither  weights  nor  pendulums  are  suited  to  portable 
clocks,  or  watches  ;  hence  a  spiral  spring  is  adopted  as  the  first  mover  in 
the  latter,  and  when  coiled  up,  as  it  is  by  the  act  of  ‘winding  up’  a  watch, 
the  force  which  it  exerts,  imparts  motion  to  the  train  of  wheels ;  but  as 
this  force  gradually  diminishes  as  the  spring  unwinds,  the  velocity  of  the 
train  would  diminish  also,  if  some  mode  of  equalizing  the  effect  of  this 
varying  force  was  not  adopted  :  It  is  the  fusee  which  does  this,  by 
receiving  the  energy  of  the  spring  when  at  its  maximum,  on  its  smaller 
end ;  and  as  this  energy  diminishes,  it  acts  on  the  larger  parts,  as  on  the 
ends  of  levers,  which  lengthen  in  the  same  ratio  as  the  force  that  moves 
them  is  diminished. 


No.  21.  Windlass  with  cog  wheel  and  pinion. 


In  another  modification  of  the  windlass,  a  cog-wheel  is  fixed  to  one  end 
of  the  roller,  and  moved  by  a  pinion  that  is  secured  on  a  separate  shaft,  and 
turned  by  a  crank,  as  in  the  figure.  By  proportioning  the  diameter  of  the 
wheel  and  that  of  the  pinion,  (or  the  number  of  teeth  on  each)  according 
to  the  power  employed  ;  a  bucket  and  its  contents  may  be  raised  from 


72 


Anglo  Saxon  Crane. 


[Book  I. 


any  depth,  since  a  diminution  in  the  velocity  of  the  wheel  from  a  smaller 
pinion,  is  accompanied  with  an  increase  of  the  energy  transmitted  to  the 
roller  and  vice  versa. 

The  Greeks  and  Romans  employed  the  wheel  and  pinion  in  several  of 
their  war  engines,  and  in  various  other  machinery.  Part  of  a  cog-wheel 
wasdiscovered  in  Pompeii.  They  probably  were  also  employed,  as  in 
No.  21,  to  raise  water  from  deep  wells,  a  purpose  for  which  they  have 
been  long  used  in  Europe.  See  Belidor,  tom.  ii,  liv.  4.  From  some  ex 
periments  made  by  Mr.  Robertson  Buchanan,  it  was  ascertained  that  the 
labor  of  a  man  in  working  a  pump,  turning  a  winch,  ringing  a  bell,  and 
rowing  a  boat,  might  be  represented  respectively  by  the  numbers,  100, 
167,  227,  and  248  ;  hence  it  appears  that  the  effect  of  a  man’s  labor  in 
turning  a  windlass,  is  fifty  per  cent,  more  than  in  working  a  pump  in  the 
ordinary  way  by  a  lever. 

As  a  man  cannot,  with  effect,  apply  his 
strength  conveniently  to  a  crank  that  de¬ 
scribes  a  circle  exceeding  three  or  four  feet 
in  diameter,  another  ancient  contrivance 
enabled  him  to  transmit  it  through  a  series  of 
revolving  levers,  inserted  into  one  or  both 
ends  of  the  roller;  and  which  extended  to  a 
greater  distance  from  thb  centre  than  the 
crank,  as  in  the  copper-plate  printing  press, 
the  steering  wheel  of  ships  and  steam  ves¬ 
sels,  and  numerous  other  apparatus  employed 
in  the  arts.  It  was  formerly  used  to  raise 
water  in  buckets  from  mines  and  wells, 
No.  22.  Anglo  Saxon  Crane.  and  even  to  work  pumps  :  (cams  being  se¬ 
cured  to  the  roller,  raised  the  piston  rods  in  a 
manner  similar  to  the  common  stamping  mills.)  Agricola  has  figured  it 
as  applied  to  both  purposes.  De  Re  Metallica,  118,  129,  141.  No.  22, 
is  ai)  example  of  its  application  by  the  Anglo  Saxons,  from  Strutt’s  An¬ 
tiquities 


No.  23.  Drum  attached  to  a  Windlass. 

“There  cannot  be  a  more  expeditious  way  to  raise  water  from  a  deep 
well,  than  to  make  a  large  wheel,  [drum]  at  flu;  end  of  the  winlace , 
that  may  be  two  or  three  times  the  diameter  of  the  winlace,  on 
which  a  smaller  and  longer  rope  may  be  wound,  than  that  which  raises 


Tread  Wheel. 


73 


Chap.  10.J 

the  backet,  so  that  when  the  bucket  is  in  the  well,  the  same  rope  is  all 
wound  on  the  greater  wheel,  [drum]  the  end  whereof  may  be  taken  on 
the  shoulder,  and  the  man  may  walk  or  run  forwards,  till  the  bucket  be 
drawn  up.  The  bucket  may  have  a  round  hole  in  the  midst  of  the  bot¬ 
tom  with  a  cover  fitted  to  it,  like  the  sucker  of  a  pump,  that  when  the 
bucket  rests  on  the  water,  the  hole  may  open  and  the  bucket  fill.”  Dic- 
tionarium  Ilusticum,  Lon.  1704.  See  No.  23. 

This  is  one  of  the  modes  of  raising  heavy  weights,  described  by  Vitru¬ 
vius,  in  Book  X  of  his  Architecture,  and  is  so  figured  in  some  of  the  old 
editions,  that  of  Barbaro  for  example.  Venice  1567.  It  appears  to  have  been 
adopted  to  raise  water  from  the  deep  wells  of  Asia  in  ancient  times,  and 
is  still  continued  in  use  there.  In  Sym’s  Embassy  to  Ava,  there  is  a  notice 
of  the  Petroleum  Wells,  the  oil  from  which  is  universally  employed 
throughout  the  Birman  empire.  One  which  he  examined  was  four  feet 
square,  and  thirty-seven  fathoms,  [222  feet]  deep.  The  water  and  oil 
“  were  drawn  up  in  an  iron  pot,  fastened  to  a  rope  passed  over  a  wooden 
cylinder,  which  revolves  on  an  axis  supported  by  two  upright  posts. 
When  the  pot  is  filled,  two  men  take  the  rope  by  the  end,  and  run  down 
a  declivity,  which  is  cut  in  the  ground  to  a  distance  equivalent  to  the  depth 
of  the  well ;  thus  when  they  reach  the  end  of  their  track,  the  pot  is 
raised  to  its  proper  elevation.”3  The  contents,  water  and  oil,  are  then  dis¬ 
charged  into  a  cistern,  and  the  water  is  afterwards  drawn  off  through  a 
hole  in  the  bottom.  A  ratchet  wheel  and  click  to  detain  the  bucket  when 
elevated,  would  enable  a  single  person  to  work  this  machine,  or  the 
bucket  might  be  suspended  to  its  bail  by  swivels,  and  overturned  at  the 
top  by  a  catch,  as  in  No.  16. 


No.  24.  Tread  Wheel. 


Another  mode  of  communicating  motion  to  the  roller,  is  by  means  of  a 
tread  w keel,  attached  like  the  drum  in  figure  23,  to  one  end  of  it.  In 
this,  a  man  or  an  animal  walks  or  rather  climbs  up  one  side,  somewhat 
like  a  squirrel  in  its  cage,  and  by  his  weight  turns  the  wheel,  and  raises 
the  water,  as  represented  in  No.  24. 

1  his  appears  to  have  been  a  common  mode  of  applying  human  effort 
among  the  ancients.  Some  of  their  cranes  for  raising  columns  and  other 

‘Embassy  to  Ava,  Lon.  1800,  vol.  iii,  236.  See  also  an  account  of  these  wells,  and 
modes  of  raising  their  contents,  in  vol.  ix,  of  Tilloch’s  Phil.  Mag.  p.  226 

10 


74 


Tread  Wheels  Propelled,  by  Animals 


[Book  I. 


heavy  weights,  were  moved  by  tread  wheels,  (Vitruvius,  x,  4.)  A  figure 
of  one  is  preserved  in  a  bas-relief,  in  the  wall  of  the  market  place  at  Ca¬ 
pua.1  Like  other  ancient  devices  for  raising  water  it  has  been  continued 
in  use  in  Europe  since  Roman  times,  and  is  described  by  most  of  the  old 
writers  on  Hydraulics.  Agricola  figures  it  as  used  in  the  mines  of  Ger¬ 
many.  “To  raise  water  from  a  deepe  well,”  says  an  old  English  writer, 
“some  use  a  large  wheele  for  man  or  beast  to  walk  in.”  At  Nice,  two 
men  raise  the  water  from  a  deep  well,  by  walking  in  one  of  these  wheels. 
It  is  the  ‘Kentish  fashion’  according  to  Fosbroke,  the  wheels  being  pro¬ 
pelled  both  by  men  and  asses.  The  Anglo  Saxons  and  Normans  also  used 
them  for  drawing  water. 

Whether  the  Greeks  and  Romans  employed  animals  in  tread  wheels, 
we  know  not,  but  the  practice  is  very  old,  and  from  the  obvious  advan¬ 
tage  of  quadrupeds  over  biped  man  in  climbing  ascents,  it  is  probable 
that  they  were  so  employed  by  the  ancients.  Oxen,  horses,  mules,  asses, 
dogs,  goats  and  bears,  have  all  been  used  to  propel  these  wheels,  and  to 
raise  water  by  them.  At  Spangenburgh,  water  was  raised  from  the 
well  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  by  an  ass.  In  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
Eng.  one  was  thus  engaged  for  the  extraordinary  period  of  forty  years, 
in  raising  water  from  a  well  two  hundred  feet  deep,  which  was  supposed 
to  have  been  dug  by  the  Romans.  Long  practice  had  taught  the  animal 
to  know  exactly  how  many  revolutions  were  required  to  raise  the 
bucket;  when  by  a  backward  movement  he  would  instantly  stop  the 
wheel.  Goats  are  remarkable  for  scaling  precipices,  and  therefore  seem 
well  adapted  for  this  kind  of  labor.  In  Europe,  they  are  employed  to 
raise  both  water  and  ore  from  mines,  by  tread  wheels.  In  the  Chapter 
on  the  Chain-Pump,  we  have  inserted  a  cut  from  Agricola,  representing 
them  thus  engaged,  But  of  the  larger  animals,  if  there  is  one  better 
adapted  than  another,  from  its  conformation  and  habits,  it  is  the  Bear ;  and 
it  is  not  a  little  singular,  that  the  Goths  actually  employed  that  animal  in 
such  wheels  to  raise  water.b 

It  is  probable  that  the  Chinese  have  from  remote  times  employed  va¬ 
rious  animals  in  them  ;  this  we  infer  from  a  remark  of  one  of  their  wri¬ 
ters,  quoted  by  Dr.  Milne.  In  exhorting  husbands  to  instruct  their 
wives,  he  encourages  them  in  the  arduous  task  by  reminding  them,  that 
“even  monkeys  may  be  taught  to  play  antics — dogs  may  be  taught  to  tread 
in  a  mill — cats  may  be  taught  to  run  round  a  cylinder ,  and  parrots  may 
be  taught  to  recite  verses;”  and  hence  he  concludes  it  possible  to  teach 
women  something! c  Many  ancient  customs  relating  to  the  taming  and 
using  of  animals  are  still  practised  in  China.  The  old  Egyptians,  had  ba¬ 
boons  and  monkeys  trained  to  gather  fruit  from  trees  and  precipices  inac¬ 
cessible  to  men.d  The  Chinese'  employ  them  for  the  same  purpose.e 
Mark  Antony,  Nero,  and  others,  in  imitation  of  more  ancient  warriors, 
were  sometimes  drawn  in  chariots  by  lions — Chinese  charlatans,  both  ride 
on,  and  are  drawn  by  them,  and  by  tigers  also.  (Nieuhoff’s  Embassy.) 


Before  smohe  jacks  were  invented,  joints  of  meat  while  roasting,  were 
often  turned  by  dogs  running  in  tread-wheels.  They  were  of  a  pecu¬ 
liar  breed,  (now  nearly  extinct)  long  backed,  having  short  legs,  and  from 


“Fosbroke  Antiq.  257,  and  Winkleman’s  Arts  of  the  Ancients.  Paris,  Ed.  tom.  ii, 
planche  13. 

b01aus  Magnus,  quoted  by  Fosbroke.  Encyc.  Antiq.  71.  c  Downing’s  Stranger  in 
China,  vol.  ii,  172.  d  Wilkinson,  vol.  ii,  150.  e  Breton’s  China. 


Tread  Wheels. 


76 


Chap.  10.] 

their  occupation,  were  named  turnspits.  The  mode  of  teaching  them, 
was  more  summary  than  humane.  The  animal  was  put  into  a  wheel,  the 
sides  of  which  were  closed,  and  a  burning  coal  thrown  in  behind  him ; 
hence  he  could  not  stop  climbing  without  having  his  legs  burned.  As 
might  be  supposed,  they  were  by  no  means  attached  to  their  profession ; 
of  which  the  following  incident  has  been  adduced  as  a  proof:  In  a  cer¬ 
tain  city,  having  agreeably  to  custom,  attended  their  owners  to  church, 
the  lesson  for  the  day,  happened  to  be  that  chapter  of  Ezekiel  wherein 
the  self-moving  chariots  are  described.  When  the  minister  first  pro¬ 
nounced  the  word  ‘wheel,’  they  all  pricked  up  their  ears  in  alarm — at  the 
second  mention  of  it,  they  set  up  a  doleful  howl;  and  when  the  awful 
word  was  uttered  a  third  time,  every  one  it  is  said,  made  the  best  of  his 
way  out  of  the  church. 

But  the  most  singular  animal  formerly  used  in  thus  turning  the  spit, 
was  a  bird ,  and  of  a  species  too  which  furnished  more  victims  for  the 
roast  than  any  other,  viz.  the  goose!  Moxon,  observes  that  although  dogs 
were  commonly  used,  “  geese  are  better,  for  they  will  bear  their  labor 
longer,  so  that  if  there  be  need,  they  will  continue  their  labor  twelve 
hours. ”a  A  singular  illustration  of  man’s  power  over  the  lower  animals, 
in  thus  compelling  one  to  cook  another  of  its  own  species  for  his  use. 

The  old  jack,  consisting  of  three  toothed  wheels  and  a  weight,  was 
used  as  early  as  1444.  The  smoke  jack  was  known  in  the  following  cen¬ 
tury,  if  not  before,  for  it  was  described  by  Cardan,  and  afterwards  (in 
1571)  by  Bartolomeo  Scappi,  cook  to  Pope  Pius  V.  in  a  book  on  culinary 
operations.  In  1601,  a  ‘jack  maker’  was  a  regular  trade  in  Europe,  and 
the  ingenuity  of  the  manufacturers  was  then  often  displayed  in  decorating 
them  with  moving  puppets,  as  in  some  ancient  clocks,  and  in  the  organs, 
&c.  of  street  musicians.  Bishop  Wilkins,  (Mathematical  Magic,  B.  ii, 
cap.  3)  speaks  of  “  jacks  no  bigger  than  a  walnut  to  turn  any  joint  of  meat.” 

The  name  of  these  machines,  and  a  certain  vulgar  phrase,  not  yet 
quite  obsolete,  are  all  that  is  left  to  recal  to  mind,  a  class  of  domestics, 
whose  occupation,  like  Othello’s,  is  gone.  These  were  men  whose  duty 
it  was  to  turn  the  spit,  and  who  answered  to  the  familiar  cognomen  of 
‘Jack,’  formerly  a  common  name  for  a  man-servant,  and  now  applied  to 
designate  numerous  instruments  that  supply  his  place.  Seated  at  one 
side  of  a  huge  fire,  his  duty  was  to  turn  the  roast  by  a  crank  attached  to 
one  end  of  the  spit.  See  a  figure  of  a  French  tourne-broche  in  the  exer¬ 
cise  ofhis  vocation,  in  ‘Hone’s  Every  Day  Book.’  vol.  ii,  1057.  The  office 
was  far  from  being  a  sinecure,  since  no  slight  labor  was  required  to  move 
the  large  joints  of  olden  times,  the  whole  of  a  sheep  or  an  ox  being  fre¬ 
quently  roasted  at  once;  hence  in  some  kitchens  built  in  the  13th  century, 
it  was  particularly  directed,  that  each  should  be  provided  with  furnaces 
sufficiently  large  to  roast  two  or  even  three  oxen.  It  was  from  the  cus¬ 
tom  of  these  artists,  of  surreptitiously  helping  themselves  to  small  pieces 
of  the  roast,  while  in  the  performance  of  their  duty,  the  unclassical  ex¬ 
pression  ‘licking  the  fingers,’  came,  and  verifying  a  Turkish  proverb,  ‘he 
that  watches  the  kettle,  is  sure  to  have  some  of  the  soup.’  The  phrase 
however,  was  not  then  so  obnoxious  to  good  taste,  nor  the  act  to  good 
manners,  as  now ;  for  table-forks  were  generally  unknown,  and  moderate 
sized  joints  were  handed  round  on  the  spit,  so  that  every  one  at  table, 
separated  by  a  knife  a  slice  to  his  taste,  and  conveyed  it  by  his  fingers 


Mechanick  Powers,  Lon.  1696.  p.  72. 


Horizontal  Tread  Wheel. 


76 


[Book  1. 


to  his  plate,  and  thence  to  his  mouth.  Hence  the  advice  of  Ovid,  for 
neither  Greeks  nor  Romans  used  table-forks: 

“Your  meat  genteelly  with  your  .fingers  raise  ; 

And — as  in  eating  there’s  a  certain  grace, 

Beware,  with  greasy  hands,  lest  you  besmear  your  face. 

A  German  writer  in  the  middle  of  the  16th  century,  in  suggesting  the 
whirling  Eolipile  as  a  turnspit,  remarks,  “it  eats  nothing,  and  gives  withal 
an  assurance  to  those  partaking  of  the  feast,  whose  suspicious  natures 
nurse  queasy  appetites,  that  the  haunch  has  not  been  pawed  by  the  turn¬ 
spit,  in  the  absence  of  the  housewife’s  eyes,  for  the  pleasure  of  licking 
his  unclean  fingers.”  This  evil  propensity  of  human  turnspits,  however, 
eventually  led  to  their  dismissal,  and  to  the  employment  of  another  spe¬ 
cies,  which,  if  not  better  disposed  to  resist  the  same,  temptations,  had 
less  opportunities  afforded  of  falling  into  them.  These  were  the  canine 
laborers  already  noticed. 


No.  25.  Horizontal  Tread-Wheel,  from  Agricola. 

Horizontal  tread-wheels  for  raising  water  are  described  by  Agricola, 
from  whose  work,  De  Re  Metallica,  we  have  copied  the  figure.  Two 
men  on  opposite  sides  of  a  horizontal  bar,  against  which  they  lean, 
push  with  their  feet  the  bars  of  the  wheel  on  which  they  tread,  behind 
them.  Similar  wheels,  inclined  to  the  horizon  were  also  used.  For  an 
other  kind  of  tread-wheel,  see  chapters  14,  and  17.  On  the  Noria  and 
Chain-pump. 

In  all  the  preceding  machines  the  roller  is  used  in  a  horizontal  position; 
but  at  some  unknown  period  of  past  ages,  another  modification  was  de¬ 
vised,  one,  by  which  the  power  could  be  applied  at  any  distance  from 
the  centre.  Instead  of  placing  the  roller  as  before,  over  the  well’s  mouth, 
it  was  removed  a  short  distance  from  it,  and  secured  in  a  vertical  position, 
by  which  it  was  converted  into  the  wheel  or  capstan.  One  or  more  hori¬ 
zontal  bars  were  attached  to  it,  of  a  length  adapted  to  the  power  em¬ 
ployed,  whether  of  men  or  animals ;  and  an  alternating  rotary  movement 
imparted  to  it,  as  in  the  common  wheel  or  capstan,  represented  in  the  next 
figure,  No.  26.  It  appears  from  Belidor,  (Tom.  ii,  333)  that  machines  of  this 
kind,  and  worked  by  men  were  common  in  Europe  previous  to,  and  at  the 


Chap.  10.] 


Common  Wheel. 


77 


time  he  wrote.  Sometimes  the  shaft  was  placed  in  the  edge  of  the  well, 
so  that  the  person  that  moved  it  walked  round  the  latter,  and  thus  occu 
pied  less  space. 


No.  26,  Common  Wheel  or  Capstan. 


Circumstances,  highly  illustrative  of  European  manners  during  the 
early  part  of  the  17th  and  preceding  centuries,  are  associated  with  the  in¬ 
troduction  of  table-forks.  They  were  partially  known  in  Italy  in  the  11th 
century,  for  in  a  letter  of  Peter  Damiani,  who  died  in  1073,  mention  is 
made  of  a  lady  from  Constantinople,  who  was  married  to  the  Doge  of 
Venice,  and  who  among  other  strange  customs,  required  rain-water  to 
wash  herself,  and  was  so  fastidious  respecting  her  food,  as  to  use  a  fork, 
and  a  golden  one  too,  to  take  her  meat,  which  was  previously  cut  into 
small  pieces  by  her  servant.  Lon.  Quart.  Review,  vol.  58.  (April,  1837.) 
They  are  mentioned,  (probably  as  curiosities)  in  a  charter  of  Ferdinand 
I.  of  Spain,  1101,  and  in  the  wardrobe  accounts  of  Edward  I.  of  England, 
‘a  pair  of  knives  with  sheathes  of  silver  enameled,  and  aforke  of  chrystal,’ 
are  specified.  Fosbroke,  Ency.  Ant.  Forks  were  common  in  Italy  in 
the  15th  century,  although  nearly  unknown  in  France  and  England  in  the 
following  one.  At  the  close  of  the  16th,  they  are  noticed  as  a  luxury  in 
France,  and  lately  introduced.  Henry  the  Fourth’s  fork  is  still  preserved 
— it  has  two  prongs,  and  is  of  steel.  So  late  as  1641,  they  were  not  uni¬ 
versal  in  Paris.  In  a  representation  of  a  great  feast  held  by  the  cobblers 
in  that  year,  and  attended  by  musicians,  &c. — no  forks  are  on  the 
table — the  carver  holds  what  appears  to  be  a  leg  of  mutton  with  one  hand, 
while  with  the  other  he  cuts  a  slice  off,  for  a  lady  seated  next  to  him. 
Hone’s  Every  Day  Book,  vol.  ii,  1055. 

They  were  not  used  in  England  till  about  the  same  time,  a  period  much 
later  than  might  have  been  supposed.  In  1611,  an  Englishman  was  ridi¬ 
culed  for  using  one.  This  was  Coryat.t  the  eccentric  traveler.  “  I  ob¬ 
served,”  he  says,  “a  custom  in  all  those  Italian  cities  and  townes  through 
the  which  I  passed,  that  is  not  used  in  any  other  country  that  I  saw  in  my 
travels;  neither  do  I  think  that  any  other  nation  of  Christendome  doth  use 
it,  but  only  Italy.  The  Italian  and  most  strangers  that  are  commorant, 
[dwelling]  in  Italy  do  alwaies  at  their  meajes  use  a  little  forke ,  when  they 
cut  their  meate.  For  while  with  their  knife,  which  they  hold  in  one 
hand,  they  cut  the  meate  out  of  the  dish,  they  fasten  their  forke  which 


78 


Table-Forks. 


[Book  I. 


they  hold  in  the  other  hand,  upon  the  same  dish.  So  that  whatsoever  he 
he,  that  sitting  in  the  company  of  any  others  at  meale,  should  unadvisedly 
touch  the  dish  of  meate  with  his  fingers,  from  which  all  at  the  table  doe 
cut,  he  will  give  occasion  of  offense  unto  the  company,  as  having  trans¬ 
gressed  the  lawes  of  good  manners ;  insomuch  that  for  his  error,  he  shall 
be  at  least  brow-beaten,  if  not  reprehended  in  words.  This  forme  of 
feeding,  I  understand,  is  generally  used  in  all  places  in  Italy,  their  forkes 
being  for  the  most  part  made  of  yron  or  Steele,  and  some  of  silver ;  but 
these  are  used  only  by  gentlemen.  The  reason  of  this  their  curiosity  is, 
because  the  Italian  cannot  by  any  means  have  his  dish  touched  with  fin¬ 
gers,  seeing  all  men’s  fingers  are  not  alike  cleane — hereupon  I  myself 
thought  good  to  imitate  the  Italian  fashion,  by  this  forked  cutting  of  meate, 
not  only  while  I  was  in  Italy,  but  also  in  Germany,  and  oftentimes  in  Eng¬ 
land  since  I  came  home  :  being  once  quipped  for  that  frequent  using  of 
my  forke,  by  a  certain  learned  gentleman,  a  familiar  friend  of  mine,  one 
Master  Laurence  Whitaker,  who  in  his  merry  humour  doubted  not  to 
call  me  Furcifer,  only  for  using  a  forke  at  feeding.” 

In  this  extract,  we  have  a  view  of  Italian  gentlemen  ‘feeding’  in  the 
beginning  of  the  17th  century,  and  in  the  following  one,  we  obtain  an  in¬ 
sight  into  British  manners  during  the  middle  of  it.  Forty  years  after  the 
publication  of  Coryatt’s  Travels,  a  Manual  of  Cookery  appeared,  con¬ 
taining  the  following  instructions  to  British  ladies,  when  at  table.  “  A 
gentlewoman  being  at  table,  abroad  or  at  home,  must  observe  to  keep  her 
body  straighte,  and  lean  not  by  any  means  upon  her  elbowes — nor  by  ra¬ 
venous  gesture  discover  a  voracious  appetite.  Talke  not  when  you  have 
meate  in  your  mouthe ;  and  do  not  smacke  like  a  pig — nor  eat  spoone- 
meat  so  hot  that  the  tears  stand  in  your  eyes.  It  is  very  uncourtly 
to  drinke  so  large  a  draught  that  your  breath  is  almost  gone,  and  you  are 
forced  to  blow  strongly  to  recover  yourselfe.  Throwing  down  your  li¬ 
quor  as  into  a  funnel,  is  an  action  fitter  for  a  juggler  than  a  gentlewoman. 
In  carving  at  your  own  table,  distribute  the  best  pieces  first,  and  it  will 
appeare  very  decent  and  comely  to  use  a  forke  ;  so  touch  no  piece  of  meat 
without  it.”  This  elegant  extract  is  from  ‘  The  Accomplished  Lady's  Rich 
Closet  of  Rarities'  London,  1653.  Neither  knives  nor  forks  were  used  at 
the  tables  of  the  Egyptians.  A  representation  of  a  feasting  party  is  sculp¬ 
tured  on  a  tomb  near  the  pyramids,  a  copy  of  which  is  inserted  in  Yol.  II, 
of  Wilkinson’s  interesting  work.  One  gentleman  holds  a  small  joint  of 
meat  in  his  hand,  two  are  eating  fish  which  they  retain  in  their  fingers, 
while  another  is  separating  the  wing  of  a  goose  with  the  same  implements 


Chap.  11.] 


Machines  for  the  Irrigation  of  Land. 


79 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Agriculture  gave  rise  to  numerous  devices  for  raising  water — Curious  definition  of  Egyptian  hus 
bandry — Irrigation  always  practised  in  the  east — Great  fertility  of  watered  land — The  construction  of 
the  lakes  and  canals  of  Egypt  and  China,  subsequent  to  the  use  of  hydraulic  machines — Phenomenon 
in  ancient  Thebes — Similarity  of  the  early  histories  of  the  Egyptians  and  Chinese — Mythology  based 
on  agriculture  and  irrigation:  Both  inculcated  as  a  part  of  religion — Asiatic  tanks — Watering  land  with 
the  yoke  and  pots — An  employment  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt — Hindoo  Water  Bearer — Curious  shaped 
vessels — Aquarius,  ‘  the  Water  Pourer,’  an  emblem  of  irrigation — Connection  of  astronomy  with  agri¬ 
culture — Swinging  baskets  of  Egypt,  China  and  Hindostan.  Arts  and  customs  of  the  ancient  Egyptians. 

The  last  three  chapters  include  most  of  the  methods  adopted  by  the  an¬ 
cients  to  raise  water  for  domestic  purposes.  There  is,  however,  another 
class  of  machines  of  equal  merit  and  importance,  which  probably  had 
their  origin  in  agriculture,  i.  e.  in  the  irrigation  of  land.  Persons  who 
live  in  temperate  climates,  where  water  generally  abounds,  can  scarcely 
realize  the  importance  of  artificial  irrigation  to  the  people  of  Asia  and 
other  parts  of  the  earth.  It  was  this,  which  chiefly  contributed  to  sup¬ 
port  those  swarms  of  human  beings,  who  anciently  dwelt  on  the  plains  of 
the  Euphrates,  the  Ganges,  the  Nile,  and  other  large  rivers?  In  Egypt 
alone,  the  existence  of  millions  of  our  species  has  in  all  times  depended 
wholly  upon  it,  and  hence  the  antiquity  of  machines  to  raise  water  among 
that  people.  The  definition  of  oriental  agriculture  is  all  but  incompre¬ 
hensible  to  an  uninformed  American  or  European — it  is  said  to  consist 
chiefly,  “in  having  suitable  machines  for  raising  water,”  a  definition  suffi¬ 
ciently  descriptive  of  the  profession  of  our  firemen,  but  few  people  would 
ever  suppose  it  explanatory  of  that  of  a  farmer.  It  is  however  literally 
true.  Irrigation  is  everything — the  whole  system  of  husbandry  is  inclu¬ 
ded  in  it;  and  no  greater  proof  of  its  value  need  be  given,  than  the  fact 
of  machines  employed  to  raise  water  for  that  purpose  in  Egypt,  being 
taxed. 

The  agricultural  pursuits  of  man,  must  at  a  very  early  period  have  con¬ 
vinced  him  of  the  value  of  water  in  increasing  the  fruitfulness  of  the  soil : 
he  could  not  but  observe  the  fertilizing  effects  of  rain,  and  the  rich  vege¬ 
tation  consequent  on  the  periodical  inundations  of  rivers;  nor  on  the  other 
hand,  could  he  possibly  have  remained  ignorant  of  the  sterility  conse¬ 
quent  on  long  continued  droughts  :  hence  nature  taught  man  the  art  of  ir¬ 
rigating  land,  and  confirmed  him  in  the  practice  of  it,  by  the  benefits  it 
invariably  produced.  In  some  countries  the  soil  was  thus  rendered  so 
exceedingly  fruitful.as  to  exceed  credibility.  Herodotus,  when  speak¬ 
ing  of  Babylonia,  which  was  chiefly  watered  by  artificial  irrigation,  (for 
the  Assyrians  he  observes, ‘had  but  little  rain,’)  says,  it  was  the  most 
fruitful  of  all  the  countries  he  had  visited.  Corn,  he  said  never  produced 
less  than  two  hundred-fold,  and  sometimes  three  hundred ;  and  after  re¬ 
citing  some  other  examples,  he  remarks,  that  those  persons  who  had 
not  seen  the  country,  would  deem  his  account  of  it  a  violation  of  proba¬ 
bility — in  other  words,  a  traveler’s  tale.  Clio,  193.  Five  hundred  years 
afterwards,  the  elder  Pliny  speaking  of  the  same  country,  observes, 
“there  is  not  a  territory  in  all  the  east  comparable  to  it  in  fertility;” 
while  in  another  part  of  his  work,  he  refers  to  the  cause  of  its  fruitful¬ 
ness — he  says,  the  principal  care  required,  was,  “  to  keep  the  ground  well 
watered.”  Nat.  Hist,  vi,  26,  and  xviii,  17. 


/ 


80 


Hydraulic  Works  of 


[Book  I. 


Mr.  St.  John,  mentions  a  species  of  Indian  corn  growing  in  the  fields 
of  Egypt,  prodigiously  prolific.  On  one  ear,  three  thousand  grains  were 
reckoned!  and  a  lady,  who  frequently  made  the  experiment  in  the  The- 
baid,  constantly  found  between  eighteen  hundred  and  two  thousand. 
Egypt  and  Mahommed  Ali,  vol.  i,  143.  Another  proof  of  the  value  of 
irrigation  is  given  by  Herodotus.  When  speaking  of  that  part  of  Egypt 
near  Memphis,  he  observes,  that  the  people  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  the  earth 
with  the  smallest  labor.  “They  have  no  occasion  for  the  process  nor  the 
instruments  of  agriculture,  usual  and  necessary  in  other  countries.”  This 
remark  of  the  historian,  has  been  ridiculed  by  some  authors ;  but  its  truth 
has  been  verified  by  recent  travelers.® 

The  advantages  of  artificial  irrigation  have  not  only  been  known  from 
the  earliest  ages,  but  some  of  the  most  stupendous  works  which  the  intel¬ 
lect  of  man  ever  called  into  existence,  were  designed  for  that  purpose  : 
works  so  ancient  as  to  perplex  our  chronologists,  and  so  vast  as  to  incline 
some  historians  to  class  them  among  natural  formations.  Ancient  writers 
unite  in  asserting  that  Lake  Mceris  was  ‘  the  work  of  men’s  hands,’  and 
constructed  by  a  king  of  that  name  ;  its  prodigious  extent,  however,  has 
led  some  modern  authors  to  question  its  alleged  origin,  although  artificial 
works  still  extant,  equal  it  in  the  amount  of  labor  required  ;  as  the  Wall 
of  China,  the  Pyramids,  and  other  works  of  ancient  Egypt.  Sir  William 
Chambers,  when  comparing  the  works  of  the  remote  ancients  with  those 
of  Greece,  observes  that  the  city  of  Babylon  would  have  covered  all 
Attica ;  that  a  greater  number  of  men  were  employed  in  building  it,  than 
there  were  inhabitants  of  Greece  ;  that  more  materials  were  consumed  in 
a  single  Egyptian  Pyramid,  than  in  all  the  public  structures  of  Athens ; 
and  that  Lake  Mareotis  could  have  deluged  the  Peloponnesus,  and  ruined 
all  Greece.  But  incredible  as  the  accounts  of  Lakes  Moeris  and  Mareotis 
may  appear,  these  works  did  not  surpass,  if  they  equaled,  another  example 
of  Egyptian  engineering,  which  ha  &  previously  been  executed.  This  was 
the  removal  of  the  Nile  itself!  In  the  reign  of  Menes,  (the  first,  or  one 
of  the  first  sovereigns)  it  swept  along  the  Libyan  chain  of  mountains,  that 
is,  on  one  side  of  the  valley  that  constitutes  Egypt ;  and  in  order  to  render 
it  equally  beneficial  to  both  sides,  a  new  channel  was  formed  through  the 
centre  of  the  valley,  into  which  it  was  directed  :  an  undertaking  which 
indicates  a  high  degree  of  scientific  knowledge  at  that  early  period. 

Before  the  lakes  and  canals  of  Egypt  or  China  could  have  been  under¬ 
taken,  the  inhabitants  must  have  been  long  under  a  regular  government, 
and  one  which  could  command  the  resources  of  a  settled  people,  and  of  a 
people  too,  who  from  experience  could  appreciate  the  value  of  such  works 
for  the  purpose  of  irrigation,  as  well  as  the  inefficiency  of  previous  devices 
for  the  same  object ;  that  is,  of  machines  for  raising  the  water  :  for  if  it 
be  supposed  the  construction  of  canals  to  convey,  of  reservoirs  to  contain, 
and  of  locks  and  sluices  to  distribute  water,  preceded  the  use  of  machines 
for  raising  it — it  would  be  admitting  that  men  in  ignorant  times  had  the 
ability  to  conceive,  and  the  skill  to  execute  the  most  extensive  and  perfect 
works  that  civil  engineering  ever  produced — to  have  formed  lakes  like 
oceans,  and  conveyed  rivers  through  deserts,  ere  they  well  knew  how  to 
raise  water  in  a  bucket,  or  transmit  it  through  a  pipe  or  a  gutter.  The 
fact  is,  ages  must  necessarily  have  elapsed  before  such  works  could  have 
been  dreamt  of,  and  more  before  they  could  have  been  accomplished. 
Individuals  would  naturally  have  recourse  to  rivers  in  their  immediate 
vicinity,  from  which  (the  Nile  for  example)  they  must  long  have  toiled  in 


St.  John,  vol.  i,  181.  Lindsay,  Let.  5. 


Ancient  Egypt. 


81 


Chap.  11.] 


raising  water,  before  they  would  ever  think  of  procuring  it  from  other 
parts  of  the  same  stream,  at  distances  varying  from  ten  to  a  hundred  miles, 
or  consent  to  labor  for  its  conveyance  over  such  extensive  spaces. 

How  extremely  ancient,  then,  must  hydraulic  machinery  be  in  Egypt, 
when  such  works  as  we  have  named,  were  executed  in  times  that  trans¬ 
pired  long  before  the  commencement  of  history — times  that  have  been 
considered  as  extending  back  to  the  infancy  of  the  world  !  But  if,  as  is 
generally  supposed,  civilization  and  the  arts  descended  the  Nile,  then 
machines  for  raising  water  must  have  been  employed  on  the  upper  borders 
of  that  river  before  Lower  Egypt  was  peopled  at  all.  In  Nubia  and 
Abyssinia  they  have  at  all  times  been  indispensable,  in  consequence  of  the 
elevation  of  the  banks  and  the  absence  of  rain  ;  while  in  Middle  and 
Lower  Egypt,  during  the  intervals  of  the  annual  overflow,  they  were  also 
the  only  resource  ;  and  at  no  time  even  there,  could  those  grounds  which 
lay  beyond  the  reach,  or  above  the  inundation,  be  irrigated  without  them. 
The  surface  of  the  river  during  ‘low  Nile’  is,  in  parts  of  Nubia,  30  feet 
below  the  banks,  in  Middle  Egypt  20  feet,  and  diminishes  to  the  Delta.* 
In  other  countries,  ram-water  was  (and  still  is)  collected  into  reservoirs 
on  the  highest  places,  and  distributed  as  required  ;  but  nothing  of  this  kind 
could  ever  have  taken  place  in  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs.  We  are  informed 
the  inhabitants  of  ancient  Thebes  were  once  thrown  into  great  consterna¬ 
tion  by  a  phenomenon  which  they  looked  upon  as  an  omen  of  fearful 
import — it  was  simply  a  shower  of  rain  !  This  circumstance  explains  the 
opinion  of  the  old  Egyptians,  in  supposing  the  Greeks  subject  to  famines, 
as  their  harvests  depended  on  rain.  Herod,  ii,  13. 

A  striking  result  derived  from  an  examination  of  Egyptian  history, 
observes  Mr.  Wilkinson,  is  the  conviction,  that  the  earliest  times  into  which 
we  are  able  to  penetrate,  civilized  communities  already  existed,  and  society 
possessed  all  the  features  of  later  ages.  The  most  remote  period  to  which 
we  can  see,  opens  with  a  nation  possessing  all  the  arts  of  civilized  life 
already  matured.  The  pyramids  of  Memphis  were  erected  within  three 
hundred  years  of  the  Deluge  ;  and  the  Tombs  of  Beni-Hassan,  hewn  and 
painted  with  subjects  describing  the  arts  and  manners  of  a  refined  people, 
about  six  hundred  years  after  that  event.  From  these  paintings,  &c.  we 
learn  that  the  manufacture  of  linen,  of  cabinet  work,  of  glass,  of  elaborate 
works  in  gold  and  silver,  bronze,  &c.  and  numerous  games, b  &c.  were 
then,  as  now,  in  vogue.  The  style  of  architecture  was  grand  and  chaste, 
for  the  fluted  columns  of  Beni-Hassan  “  are  of  a  character  calling  to  mind 
the  purity  of  the  Doric.”  Indeed,  modern  science  and  the  researches  of 
travelers  are  daily  adducing  facts  which  set  at  defiance  our  ordinary  chro¬ 
nological  theories,  but  which  appear  to  strengthen  the  opinion  of  those 
commentators  of  the  scriptures,  who  consider  the  Deluge  of  Noah  to  have 
been,  like  that  of  Deucalion,  local,  not  universal :  a  doctrine  inconsistent 
with  the  postdiluvian  origin  of  the  mechanic  arts  generally,  and  of  simple 
machines  for  raising  water  in  particular. 

There  is  a  striking  resemblance  between  the  early  history  of  Egypt  and 
that  of  China,  with  regard  to  the  origin  of,  and  esteem  for  agriculture,  re¬ 
ligious  ceremonies  connected  with  it,  artificial  irrigation,  modes  of  working 
the  soil,  and  implements  used.  This  art  among  both  people  was  coeval 
with  their  existence  as  nations,  and  doubtless  extends  back,  as  ancient  wri¬ 
ters  assert,  to  periods  anterior  to  Noah’s  flood.®  Shinnung,  the  *  divine 

a  Wilk.  An.  Egypt,  i,  9. 

bLifting  weights,  wrestling,  single  stick,  and  bull-fights,  games  of  ball,  throwing  knives 
odd  and  even,  draughts,  dice,  and  thiinble-rig,  are  all  represented  on  the  monuments. 

cLe  Comte’s,  China,  118,  Lon.  1738. 


11 


82 


Resemblance  between  the  Chinese  and  Egyptians. 


[Book  I 


husbandman’  resembled  Osiris.  He  began  to  reign  2832,  B.  C.  or  nearly 
five  hundred  years  before  the  deluge  ;  and  it  is  in  imitation  of  this  antedi¬ 
luvian  monarch,  that  the  emperors  at  the  present  day,  plough  a  portion  of 
land  with  their  own  hands,  and  sow  different  kinds  of  grain,  once  a  year. 
Such  it  appears  was  also  the  practice  of  Egyptian  monarchs,  for  emblema¬ 
tical  representations  of  them  breaking  up  the  soil  with  a  hoe,  are  found 
among  the  sculptures.  Osiris  instructed  them  in  agriculture,  and  taught 
them  the  value  and  practice  of  irrigation.  He  confined  the  Nile  within 
banks,  and  formed  sluices  to  water  the  land.  On  t  hese  accounts  was  he 
idolized  after  death,  and  worshipped  as  a  god  ;  and  the  ox,  which  he  taught 
them  to  employ  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  was  selected  to  personate 
him.  In  accordance  with  this  custom,  the  Israelites  made  and  worshipped 
the  calf  (or  ox)  in  the  wilderness ;  and  Jereboam  to  gratify  the  ignorance 
or  superstition  of  his  countrymen,  placed  golden  statues  of  them  in  Han 
and  Bethel ;  or,  perhaps  from  policy,  introducing  the  worship  of  Apis,  as 
a  compliment  to  Shishak,  with  whom  he  had  found  a  refuge  from  the 
wrath  of  Solomon.  Similar  to  the  worship  of  Apis,  is  the  great  festival 
of  the  Chinese  when  the  sun  reaches  the  15°  of  Aquarius,  during  which 
a  figure  of  a  coio  is  carried  in  the  processions.  The  feast  of  Lanterns  of 
this  people,  is  also  like  that  o\'  lamps  anciently  held  over  all  Egypt.  Herod, 
li,  62.  The  celebrated  Yu  was,  like  some  of  his  predecessors,  raised  to 
the  throne  of  China,  on  account  of  his  agricultural  labors.  We  are  in¬ 
formed  that  he  drained  a  great  portion  of  the  land  ;  and  that  he  wrote  se¬ 
veral  books  on  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  on  irrigation.  He  flourish¬ 
ed  2205,  B.  C.  or  about  140  years  after  the  flood.  Seventeen  years  after 
his  death,  it  is  admitted  that  husbandry  became  systematically  organized , 
which  necessarily  included  a  settled  plan  of  artificial  irrigation.  A  writer 
in  the  Chinese  Repository  observes,  “  in  these  early  ages,  the  fundamental 
maxims  of  the  science  of  husbandry  were  established,  which  so  far  as  we 
can  learn,  have  been  practised  to  the  present  day.”  Yol.  iii,  121.  Egypt¬ 
ian  husbandry  we  are  told  consisted  chiefly  in  having'  proper  machines  for 
raising  water,  and  small  canals  judiciously  disposed  to  distribute  it  over 
their  fields.  In  both  these  respects  it  resembled  that  of  China  at  the  pre 
sent  day  ;  a  portable  machine  to  raise  water,  being  as  necessary  an  imple¬ 
ment  to  a  Chinese  peasant  as  a  spade  is  to  one  of  ours. 

The  mythology  of  the  whole  ancient  world  seems  not  only  to  have  been 
intimately  associated  with  agriculture,  but  appears  to  have  been  based  up¬ 
on  it.  To  the  invention  of  the  plough,  and  the  irrigation  of  land,  all  the 
mysteries  of  Ceres  may  be  referred.  The  great  importance  of  agricul¬ 
ture  in  furnishing  food  to  man,  induced  legislators  at  an  early  period  to 
devise  means  to  promote  it.  This  they  accomplished  by  connecting  it 
with  the  worship  of  the  gods;  and  by  classing  the  labors  of  husbandry 
among  the  most  essential  of  religious  duties.  This  system  seems  to  have 
been  universal.  It  was  incorporated  by  the  Roman  lawgivers  with  the 
institutions  of  that  people.  Plutarch,  in  his  life  of  Numa,  expressly  states 
that  some  of  the  laws  were  designed  to  recommend  agriculture  “  as  a  part 
of  religion.”  See  also  Pliny,  xvii.  2.  The  sacred  books  of  almost  all  the 
ancient  nations  placed  irrigation,  digging  of  tanks  and  wells,  among  those 
acts  most  acceptable  to  the  gods  ;  and  hence  the  Zendavesta  of  the  Per¬ 
sians,  and  the  Shaster  of  the  Hindoos,  distinctly  inculcate  the  conveying 
of  water  to  barren  land,  as  one  of  the  precepts  of  religion. 

As  no  country  depended  more  upon  agriculture  for  the  physical  and  poli¬ 
tical  existence  of  its  inhabitants,  than  Egypt;  so  nowhere  was  religious  ve¬ 
neration  for  it  carried  to  a  greater  extent.  We  are  informed  their  priests 
and  statesmen  used  “  all  their  influence  in  advancing  the  prosperity  and 


Watering  land  with  Pots. 


83 


Chap.  11.] 


splendor  of  agriculture  ;”  and  as  Osiris  made  his  own  plough,  both  kings 
and  priests  wore  sceptres  of  the  form  of  that  implement.  So  sensible 
were  they  of  the  blessings  derived  from  agriculture,  that  they  not  only  en¬ 
forced  the  worship  of  Osiris  and  Isis  for  its  discovery  and  introduction, 
but  caused  even  the  animals  (oxen)  that  assisted  in  the  cultivation  of 
their  lands  to  be  honored  with  religious  rites.  It  cannot  therefore  be  sup¬ 
posed,  that  a  people,  who  thus  consecrated  almost  every  thing  connec¬ 
ted  with  husbandry,  should  neglect  that  in  which  it  chiefly  consisted,  viz  : 
Irrigation  ;  for  this  was  the  real  cause  of  the  amazing  fruitfulness  of 
their  soil,  and  of  their  individual  and  national  prosperity.  Thus  Isis  is 
often  found  represented  with  a  bucket,  as  an  emblem  of  irrigation,  and  of 
the  fecundity  of  the  Nile.a 

From  the  foregoing  remarks  the  great  antiquity  of  machines  for  raising 
water  may  be  inferred  ;  for  artificial  irrigation  certainly  gave  birth  to  the 
most  valuable  of  our  hydraulic  engines,  if  it  be  not  indeed  the  great  pa¬ 
rent  of  them  all. 

The  ancient  practice  of  constructing  large  tanks,  to  collect  water  for  ir¬ 
rigation,  is  still  followed  in  various  parts  of  the  east,  and  their  dimensions 
render  our  reservoirs  comparatively  insignificant.  In  the  Carnatic,  some 
are  eight  miles  in  length ,  and  three  in  breadth.  In  Bengal,  they  frequently 
cover  a  hundred  acres,  and  are  lined  with  stone.  Knox,  in  his  Historical 
Relation  of  Ceylon,  (Lon.  1681,)  says,  the  natives  formed  them  of  two 
and  three  fathoms  deep,  some  of  which  were  in  length  ‘above  a  mile.’  (p. 
9.)  To  these  reservoirs,  and  the  difficulty  of  making  them  sufficiently 
tight  to  hold  the  water,  there  is  an  allusion  in  Jeremiah  ii,  13.  Le  Comte, 
mentions  them.  When  limited  quantities  of  water  were  required  at  a 
distance,  at  places  situated  higher  than  its  source,  it  was  often  carried  in 
vessels  suspended  from  a  yoke,  and  borne  across  the  shoulders.  This 
mode  is  still  practised.  In  the  plains  of  Damar  in  Arabia,  water  is  drawn 
from  deep  wells,  and  thus  carried  to  the  fields.  Dr.  Shaw  observes  of 
the  country  of  the  Benni  Mezzah,  (in  ancient  Mauritania)  it  has  no  rivu¬ 
lets,  “but  is  supplied  altogether  with  well  water.”  “Persia,”  says 
Fryer,  “is  chiefly  beholden  to  wholesome  springs  of  living  water  to 
quench  the  thirst  of  plants  as  well  as  living  creatures.”  This  method  is 
pursued  by  the  Hindoos,  Japanese,  Chinese,  Javanese,  Tartars,  &c.  in 
watering  those  terraces  which  they  construct  and  cultivate  on  the  sides  of 
mountains. 


“  The  Chinese,”  says  Le 
Comte,  “  have  everywhere  in 
Xensi  and  Xansi,  for  want  of 
rain,  certain  pits  from  twenty 
to  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
deep,  from  which  they  draw 
water  by  an  incredible  toil  to 
irrigate  their  land.”  That  the 
mode  of  carrying  water  to  the 
fields  by  the  yoke,  was  prac¬ 
tised  in  Egypt  in  ancient  times, 
appears  from  the  figures,  No. 
„  ..  „  ,  27,  copied  from  sculptures  at 

±>em  Hassan,  the  oldest  monu- 
ments  extant  in  that  country.  One  of  these  wooden  yokes,  was  found  at 


a  See  Shaw’s  Trav.  403,412;  Univer.  Hist.  Vol.  i,  205;  and  our  remarks  on  the 
Noria,  in  Chap.  XIV. 


Hindoo  Water  Carrier. 


[Book  1. 


P4 


Thebes,  with  leather  straps  and  bronze  huckles,  and  is  now  preserved  in 
England.  The  yoke  is  about  three  feet  seven  inches  long,  and  the  straps, 
which  are  double,  about  sixteen  inches.  Some  yokes  had  from  four  to 
eight  straps,  according  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  intended. 
Wilk.  An.  Egypt,  vol.  ii,  138. 

As  watering  the  land  has  always  been  the  staple  employment  in  Egypt, 
there  can  be  little  doubt,  that  the  Israelites  were  employed  in  this  service. 
We  are  informed,  “their  lives  were  made  bitter  unto  them  by  hard  bon¬ 
dage,  in  mortar  and  in  brick,  and  in  all  manner  of  service  in  the  field.” 
And  in  Deuteronomy,  xi,  10,  irrigating  the  land,  is  expressly  mentioned 
as  one  of  their  labors.  In  Leviticus,  they  are  reminded  that  it  was  God 
who  brought  them  out  of  Egypt,  and  delivered  them  from  slavery,  who 
broke  the  bands  of  their  yoke  and  made  them  go  upright;  alluding  to 
the  stooping  posture  consequent  on  the  long  continued  use  of  the  yoke ; 
and  in  case  of  disobedience,  they  were  threatened  with  subsequent  thral¬ 
dom,  to  “serve  their  enemies  in  hunger  and  nakedness,  and  with  a  yoke 
on  their  necks a  literal  description  of  them  when  thus  employed  in 
watering  the  lands  of  their  oppressors.  A  passage  in  the  81st  Psalm,  ap¬ 
pears  to  refer  expressly  to  their  deliverance  from  this,  and  another  labo¬ 
rious  method  of  watering  the  soil.  “J  removed  his  shoulder  from  the 
burden,  his  hands  were  delivered  from  the  pots.”  The  severity  of  this 
labor,  may  be  inferred  from  that  of  Chinese  peasants,  who  carrying  bur¬ 
dens  like  the  Egyptians,  have  deep  impressions  worn  on  their  shoulders 
by  the  yoke.  Osbeck’s  Voy.  i,  252. 

It  was  a  common  custom  of  old  to  employ  slaves  and  prisoners  of  war, 
in  watering  and  working  the  land.  Herodotus,  i,  66,  observes  of  the 
Lacedemonians,  that  after  the  death  of  Lycurgus,  they  invaded  the  Te- 
geans,  and  carried  with  them  a  quantity  of  fetters  to  bind  their  enemies; 
but  they  were  themselves  defeated,  and  loaded  with  their  own  fetters, 
were  employed  in  the  fields  of  the  Tegeans:  and  Joshua,  in  accordance 
with  this  custom,  made  the  captive  Gribeonites  ‘hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water.’  Isaiah  alludes  to  the  same,  lx,  5 :  strangers  shall 
stand  and  feed  your  flocks,  and  the  sons  of  the  alien  shall  be  your  plough¬ 
men  and  your  vine  dressers. 


This  figure  represents  a  modern  la¬ 
borer  of  fiindostan,  and  it  will  serve 
also  to  represent  those  of  China  and 
other  Asiatics,  who  carry  water  to  their 
gardens  and  fields  in  precisely  the  same 
way.  It  will  be  perceived  that  the 
form  of  the  vessels  is  similar  to  that 
of  the  old  Egyptian  Pots  in  the  pre¬ 
ceding  figure,  and  that  both  of  them 
serve  to  corroborate  our  views  respect¬ 
ing  the  origin  of  the  forms  t>f  these, 
and  other  domestic  vessels  of  capacity. 

There  is  another  mode  of  carrying 
water,  which  was  anciently  practised, 
but  of  which  we  do  not  remember  to 
have  seen  any  particular  notice.  It  is  represented  in  Plates  50,  and  75. 
Pitt.  Storia  Dell’ Arte.  A  conical  vessel  bent  like  the  horn  of  an  ox,  is 
borne  on  the  shoulder,  the  large  and  open  end  projecting  in  front,  so  that 
the  bearer  could  discharge  any  part  of  its  contents,  by  inclining  it,  which, 
in  one  figure  is  effected  hy  means  of  a  cord  going  round  it,  and  one  end 
held  in  the  hand.  These  vessels  are  figured  as  large  as  the  bodies  of 


No.  23.  Hindoo  Water  Carrier. 


85 


Chap.  11.]  Egyptian  Mental. 

those  who  carry  them,  and  appear  to  have  been  formed  of  staves,  and 

As  an  evidence  of  the  antiquity  of  watering  land  with  pots,  we  may  re¬ 
fer  to  one  of  the  constellations,  to  “  Aquarius”  or  the  “  Water  Pourer,”  a 
figure  which  was  adopted  as  an  expressive  emblem  of  that  season,  when 
rains  descended,  and  the  lands  were  irrigated  by  nature  alone.  Although 
it  may  possibly  be  true,  as  some  authors  suppose,  that  some  of  the  present 
signs  of'  the  Zodiac  were  substituted  for  more  ancient  ones  at  some  period 
of  time,  posterior  to  the  Argonautic  expedition — (see  Goguet’s  Disserta¬ 
tion  on  the  names  and  figures  of  the  constellations — Origine  des  Loix, 
Tom.  ii.)  there  are  others,  and  among  them  the  “Water  Pourer,”  which 
are  for  any  thing  known  to  the  contrary,  original  figures,  adopted  by  the 
first  cultivators  of  astronomical  knowledge,  i.  e.  by  the  antediluvian  sons 
of  Seth,  who,  according  to  Josephus,  were  the  “  inventors  of  that  pecu¬ 
liar  sort  of  wisdom  which  is  concerned  with  the  heavenly  bodies  and  their 
order (Ant.  B.  i,  chap.  2.)  and  which  signs  were  continued  by  their 
successors,  the  Chaldeans,  in  the  first  ages  after  the  flood,  and  have  re¬ 
mained  unaltered  to  our  days.  The  extreme  antiquity  of  astronomy,  and 
its  connection  with  agriculture ,  are  undoubted,  of  which  we  shall  meet  with 
other  examples  besides  the  one  ju£t  given.  This  connection  was  the 
source  of  the  great  mass  of  symbolical  imagery  which  pervades  the  his¬ 
tory,  mythology,  and  almost  every  thing  connected  with  the  remote  an¬ 
cients  ;  most  of  which  is  so  perplexing  to  decipher,  and  the  greater  part 
of  which  has  defeated  all  attempts  of  the  moderns  satisfactorily  to  explain. 
In  the  time  of  Job,  who  is  supposed  to  have  lived  before  Moses,  the 
constellations  were  well  known.  “  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influences 
of  Pleiades,  or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion,”  xxxviii,  31.  “  Which  maketh 

Arcturus,  Orion  and  Pleiades,  and  the  chambers  of  the  south.”  ix,  9,  In¬ 
deed,  M.  Bailey  and  others  have  admitted  that  the  astronomy  of  Chaldea, 
India,  and  Egypt,  is  but  the  wreck  of  a  great  system  of  astronomical  sci¬ 
ence,  which  was  carried  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection  in  the  early  ages 
of  the  world. 

When  water  is  only  required  to  be  raised  two  or  three  feet  from  a 
tank  or  river,  a  vessel  suspended  by  four  cords,  and  worked  by  two  men, 
is  very  extensively  used  in  the  east.  In  Egypt  it  is  named  the  “  Mental,” 
the  figure  of  which  is  copied  from  Grande  Description. 


No.  29.  Egyptian  Mental. 

A  small  trench  is  dug  on  the  edge  of  the  river,  on  the  borders  of  which 
two  men  stand  opposite  each  other.  They  hold  in  each  hand  a  cord,  the 
ends  of  which  are  attached  to  a  bashet  of  palm  leaves  covered  with  leather. 
After  launching  it  into  the  water,  they  lean  backwards  so  as  to  be  half 


S6 


Various  Arts  of 


[Book  1 


seated  on  small  mounds  of  earth  raised  for  the  purpose,  by  which  the 
weight  of  the  body  assists  in  raising  the  load,  as  it  is  swung  towards  the 
gutter  or  basin  formed  on  the  bank  to  receive  it.  The  movements  tf  the 
men  are  regulated  by  chanting,  a  custom  of  great  antiquity,  and  adopted 
in  all  kinds  of  manual  labor  where  more  than  one  person  were  engaged. 

Sonnerat  has  figured  and  described  (Vol.  ii,  132,)  a  similar  contrivance 
of  the  Hindoos.  “  They  use  a  basket  for  watering,  which  is  made 
impenetrable  with  cow  dung  and  clay ;  it  is  suspended  by  four  cords  ;  two 
men  hold  a  cord  in  each  hand,  draw  up  the  water,  and  empty  it  in  balan¬ 
cing  the  basket.”  Mr.  Ward  says  this  machine  is  commonly  used  in  the 
south  of  Bengal  to  water  the  land.  Hist.  Hindoos,  92.  Travelers  in 
China  have  noticed  it  in  use  there.  “  Where  the  elevation  of  the  bank 
over  which  water  is  to  be  lifted  is  trifling,  they  sometimes  adopt  the  fol¬ 
lowing  simple  method.  A  light  water-tight  basket  or  bucket  is  held  sus¬ 
pended  on  ropes  between  two  men,  who,  by  alternately  tightening  and  re¬ 
laxing  the  ropes  by  which  they  hold  it  between  them,  give  a  certain 
swinging  motion  to  the  bucket,  which  first  fills  it  with  water,  and  then 
empties  it  by  a  jerk  on  the  higher  level ;  the  elastic  spring  which  is  in  the 
bend  of  the  ropes,  serving  to  diminish  the  labor.”  Davis’  China,  Vol.  ii, 
358.  Chinese  Repos.  Vol.  iii,  125.  Sir  George  Staunton  also  described  it, 
with  an  engraving ;  by  which  it  appears  the  Chinese  do  not  use  a  bank  of 
earth  or  any  other  prop,  like  the  Egyptians,  to  support  them  in  their  la¬ 
bor.  Osbeck  has  noticed  a  peculiar  feature  in  working  these  baskets.  He 
says  Chinese  laborers  twist  the  cords  as  they  lower  the  vessel,  and  when 
it  is  raised,  the  untwisting  of  them,  overturns  it  and  discharges  the  contents. 
This  mode  of  raising  water  in  China,  was  noticed  by  Gamelli,  in  1695, 
although  not  particularly  described  by  him  :  he  says  “  the  Chinese  draw 
up  water  in  a  basket,  two  men  working  at  the  rope.” 

Of  all  employments  in  ancient  and  modern  Egypt,  this  may  be  consi¬ 
dered  the  most  laborious  and  degrading.  The  wretched  peasants,  naked 
or  nearly  so,  may  be  seen  daily,  from  one  end  of  Egypt  to  the  other,  in 
the  exercise  of  this  severe  labor.  “  I  have  seen  them,”  says  Volney, 
“  pass  whole  days  thus  drawing  water  from  the  Nile,  exposed  naked  to 
the  sun,  which  would  kill  us.”  To  this  mode  of  raising  water  there  is 
probably  an  allusion  in  the  latter  clause  of  the  passage  already  quoted 
from  the  81st  Psalm  :  “  His  hands  were  delivered  from  the  pots,”  or 
“  baskets ,”  as  the  word  is  sometimes  translated,  and  is  so  in  this  instance 
in  the  margin  of  the  common  English  version.  Indeed,  it  was  peculiarly 
appropriate  that  a  Psalm,  written  as  this  was,  to  celebrate  the  deliverance 
of  the  Israelites  from  Egyptian  bondage,  should  Allude  to  some  of  the 
severest  tasks  imposed  upon  them  while  under  it.  Raising  of  water  to 
irrigate  the  land  was  emphatically'  “  the  labor  of  Egypt,”  from  which 
they  were  freed. 

Some  additional  remarks  to  those  on  page  81,  respecting  other  arts  and 
customs  delineated  on  Egyptian  monuments,  may  interest  some  readers. 

Salting fisli  seems  to  have  been  a  regular  profession  in  ancient  Egypt, 
and  by  processes  similar  to  those  now  in  use  ;  although  it  was  not  till  the 
15th  century  that  the  art  was  known  in  modern  Europe,  when  William 
Bukkum,  a  Dutchman,  who  died  in  1447,  “  found  out  the  art  of  salting, 
smoking,  and  preserving  herrings.”  It  is  also  not  a  little  singular  that  the 
Egyptians  had  a  religious  rite,  in  which,  as  in  modern  Lent,  every  person 
ate  fish.  They  used  the  spear,  hook  and  line ;  drag,  seine  and  other  nets. 
Part  of  a  net,  with  leads  to  sink  it,  has  been  found  at  Thebes.  Wealthy 
individuals  had  private  fish-ponds,  in  which  they  angled.  They  hunted 


the  Egyptians. 


8? 


Chap.  11.] 


with  dogs ;  and  also  with  the  lion,  which  was  tamed  for  that  purpose. 
The  noose  or  lasso,  and  various  traps,  were  common.  Cattle  were 
branded  with  the  names  of  their  owners.  In  taking  birds,  they  had  decoys 
and  nets,  like  modern  fowlers.  Beer  was  an  Egyptian  beverage,  and 
onions  a  favorite  esculent — these  were  as  superior  in  taste  to  ours,  as  in 
the  elegance  of  the  bunches  in  which  they  were  tied.  At  feasts  they  had 
music  and  dancing,  castanets,  and  even  xhe  pirouette  of  Italian  and  French 
artistes.  They  had  ‘ grace'  at  meals  ;  and  wore  wreaths  of  flowers  and 
nosegays.  Essences  in  bottles  and  ointments,  the  odor  of  some  of  which 
remains.  The  ladies  wore  necklaces  formed  of  beads  of  gold,  glass, 
and  of  precious  stones,  and  even  of  imitation  stones.  In  dress  they  had 
cotton  and  linen  cloths  :  some  of  the  latter  were  so  fine  as  to  be  compared 
to  woven  air,  through  which  the  person  was  distinctly  seen  ;  and  the  former 
of  patterns  similar  to  those  of  modern  calicos.  Ezekiel  speaks  of  “  fine 
linen  with  broidered  work  from  Egypt and  in  Exodus  it  is  often  men¬ 
tioned.  They  had  tissues  of  silver  and  gold,  and  cloth  formed  wholly  of 
the  latter.  In  furniture,  carpets  and  rugs  :  one  of  the  latter  was  found  at 
Thebes,  having  figures  of  a  boy  and  a  goose  wrought  on  it.  Toilet  boxes 
inlaid  with  various  colored  woods,  and  ornamented  with  ivory  and  golden 
studs.  Sofas,  chairs,  stools  and  ottomans,  all  imitated  in  modern  articles. 
Bedsteads  enclosed  in  mosqueto  nets;  and  pillows,  the  latter  of  wood,  the 
material  of  which  they  were  formerly  made  in  Europe.  Inlaid  works  of 
gold,  silver,  and  bronze.  Vases  of  elegant  forms  and  elaborate  workman¬ 
ship  :  great  numbers  of  these  are  represented  among  the  varieties  of  tribute 
carried  by  foreigners  to  Thothmes  III,  in  whose  reign  the  Israelites  left 
Egypt.  Door-hinges  and  bolts  of  bronze,  similar  to  the  modern  ;  scale- 
beams,  enameling.  Gold-beating  and  gilding.  Gold  and  silver  wire;  some 
specimens  are  flattened  with  the  hammer,  others  are  believed  to  have  been 
drawn.  Vessels  with  spouts  like  those  of  our  tea-kettles  :  one  of  the  best 
proofs  of  skill  in  working  sheet  metal. 

Glass  blowers  are  represented  at  work,  and  vessels  identical  with  our 
demijohns  and  Florence  flasks  have  been  found,  and  both  protected  with 
reed  or  wicker  work — besides,  pocket  bottles  covered  with  leather,  and 
other  vessels  of  glass,  cut,  cast  and  blown.  Goldsmiths  in  their  shops 
are  shown,  with  bellows,  blow-pipes,  crucibles  and  furnaces;  golden  bas¬ 
kets  of  open  work;  solder,  hard  and  soft,  the  latter  an  alloy  of  tin  and 
lead.  Stone  cutting;  the  form  of  the  mallet  the  same  as  ours.  Chisels  of 
bronze;  one  found,  is  nine  and  a  quarter  inches  long,  and  weighs  one 
pound  twelve  ounces — its  form  resembles  those  now  in  use.  Wheel¬ 
wrights  and  carriage  makers  at  work ;  from  which  it  is  ascertained  that 
the  bent  or  improved  carriage  pole  of  modern  days,  was  in  use  upwards 
of  three  thousand  years  ago.  Carpenters’  and  cabinet  makers’  shops,  are 
represented;  from  which  and  from  specimens  of  work  extant,  we  learn 
that  dovetailing  and  doweling,  glue  and  veneering  were  common.  Adzes, 
saws,  hatchets,  drills  and  bows,  were  all  of  bronze.  Models  of  boats. 
The  leather  cutter’s  knife  had  a  semicircular  blade,  and  was  identical  with 
the  modern  one.  Shoe  and  sandal  makers  had  straight  and  bent  awls; 
the  latter  was  supposed  to  have  been  a  modern  invention — the  bristle  at 
the  end  of  a  thread  does  not  seem  to  have  been  used,  as  one  person  is 
seen  drawing  the  thread  through  a  hole  with  his  teeth.  Lastly,  Egyptian 
ladies  wore  their  hair  plaited  and  curled;  they  had  mirrors,  needles,  pins, 
and  jewelry  in  great  abundance;  they  had  fans  and  combs;  one  of  the 
latter  has  teeth  larger  oaone  side  than  on  the  other,  and  the  centre  is  carved 
and  was  probably  inlaid.  Their  children  had  dolls  and  other  toys;  and 
the  gentlemen  used  walking  canes  and  wore  wigs,  which  were  common. 


88 


Single  and  Double  Gutters. 


[Book  I 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Gutters:  Single  do. — Double  do. — Jantu  of  Hindustan:  Ingenious  mode  of  working  it — Referred  to 
n  Deuteronomy — Other  Asiatic  machines  moved  in  a  similar  raannner — Its  Antiquity.  Combination  of 
levers  and  gutters — Swinging  or  Pendulum  Machine — Rocking  gutters — Dutch  Scoop— Flash  Wheel. 

Most  of  the  machines  hitherto  noticed,  raise  water  by  means  of  flexi¬ 
ble  cords  or  chains,  and  are  generally  applicable  to  wells  of  great  depth. 
We  now  enter  upon  the  examination  of  another  variety,  which,  with  one 
exception,  (the  chain  of  pots)  are  composed  of  inflexible  materials,  and 
raise  water  to  limited  heights  only.  Another  important  distinction  be¬ 
tween  them  is  this — In  preceding  machines,  the  ‘mechanical  powers’  are 
distinct  from  the  hydraulic  apparatus,  i.  e.  the  wheels,  pulleys,  windlass, 
capstan,  &c.  form  no  essential  part  of  the  machines  proper  for  raising  the 
water,  but  are  merely  employed  to  transmit  motion  to  them  ;  whereas 
those  we  are  now  about  to  describe,  are  made  in  the  form  of  levers, 
wheels,  &c.  and  are  propelled  as  such.  The  following  figure,  represents 
one  of  the  earliest  specimens. 


No.  30.  Single  Gutter. 


It  is  simply  a  trough  or  gutter,  the  open  end  of  which  rests  on  the 
bank,  over  which  the  water  is  to  be  elevated ;  the  other  end  being 
closed  is  plunged  into  the  liquid,  and  then  raised  till  its  contents  are  dis¬ 
charged.  It  forms  what  is  called  a  lever  of  the  second  order,  the  load 
being  between  the  fulcrum  and  the  power. 


No.  31.  Double  Gutter. 


1  his  figure  represents  an  improvement,  being  a  double  gutter,  or  two 
of  the  former  united  and  placed  across  a  trough  or  reservoir  designed  to 
receive  the  water.  A  partition  is  formed  in  the  centre,  and  two  openings 
made  through  the  bottom  on  each  of  its  sides,  through  which  the  water 
that  is  raised  escapes.  The  machine  is  worked  by  one  or  more  men, 
who  alternately  plunge  the  ends  into  tho  water,  and  consequently  pro- 


The  Jantu. 


89 


Chap.  12.] 

duce  a  continuous  discharge.  Sometimes,  openings  are  made  in  the  bot¬ 
tom  next  the  laborers,  and  covered  by  flaps,  to  admit  the  water  without 
the  necessity  of  wholly  immersing  those  ends.  Machines  of  this  kind  are 
described  by  Belidor,  but  he  has  not  indicated  their  origin.  From  their 
simplicity,  they  probably  date  from  remote  antiquity.  They  are  obviously, 
modifications  of  the  Jantu  of  Hindostan  and  other  parts  of  Asia,  and 
were  perhaps  carried  to  Europe,  (if  not  known  there  before)  among  other 
oriental  devices,  soon  after  a  communication  with  that  country  was  opened 
by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 


THE  JANTU. 

The  jantu  is  a  machine  extensively  used  in  Bengal  and  other  parts 
of  India,  to  raise  water  for  the  irrigation  of  land,  and  is  thus  described  by 
by  Mr.  Ward,  in  his  History  of  the  Hindoos.  “It  consists  of  a  hollow 
trough  of  wood,  about  fifteen  feet  long,  six  inches  wide,  and  ten  inches 
deep,  and  is  placed  on  a  horizontal  beam  lying  on  bamboos  fixed  in  the 
bank  of  a  pond  or  river.  One  end  of  the  trough  rests  upon  the  bank, 
where  a  gutter  is  prepared  to  carry  off  the  water,  and  the  other  end  is 
dipped  in  the  water,  by  a  man  standing  on  a  stage,  'plunging  it  in  with  his 
foot.  A  long  bamboo  with  a  large  weight  of  earth  at  the  farther  end  of 
it,  is  fastened  to  the  end  of  the  jantu  near  the  river,  and  passing  over 
the  gallows  before  mentioned,  poises  up  the  jantu  full  of  water,  and 
causes  it  to  empty  itself  into  the  gutter.  This  machine  raises  water  three 
feet ,  but  by  placing  a  series  of  them  one  above  another,  it  may  be  raised 
to  any  height ,  the  water  being  discharged  into  small  reservoirs,  suf¬ 
ficiently  deep  to  admit  the  jantu  above,  to  be  plunged  low  enough  to  fill 
it.”  Mr.  Ward  observes,  that  water  is  thus  conveyed  over  rising  ground 
to  the  distance  of  a  mile  and  more.  In  some  parts  of  Bengal,  they  have 
different  methods  of  raising  water,  “  hut  the  principle  is  the  same  ” 

There  is  in  this  apparently  rude  machine,  a  more  perfect  application  of 
mechanical  science,  than  would  appear  to  a  general  observer.  As  the  ob¬ 
ject  of  the  long  bamboo  lever  is  to  overcome  the  weight  of  the  water,  it 
might  be  asked,  why  not  load  the  end  of  the  jantu  itself,  which  is  next 
the  bank  sufficiently  for  that  purpose,  and  thereby  avoid  the  use  of  this 
additional  lever,  which  renders  the  apparatus  more  complex,  and  appa¬ 
rently  unnecessarily  so  1  A  little  reflection  will  develope  the  reasons  that 
led  to  its  introduction,  and  will  at  the  same  time  furnish  another  proof  of 
oriental  ingenuity.  As  the  position  of  the  jantu  is  nearly  horizontal 
when  it  discharges  the  water,  if  the  end  were  loaded  as  proposed,  it  would 
descend  on  the  bank  with  an  increasing  velocity ;  for  the  weight  would 
be  at  the  end  of  a  lever  which  virtually  lengthened  as  it  approached  the 
horizontal  position ;  and  this  effect  would  be  still  further  augmented  by 
the  resistance  of  the  water  diminishing  as  the  jantu  rose,  that  is,  by  its 
flowing  towards  the  centre — the  consequence  would  be,  that  the  violent 
concussions,  when  thus  brought  in  contact  with  the  bank,  would  speedily 
shake  it  to  pieces.  Now  this  result  is  ingeniously  avoided  by  the  lever 
and  its  weight.  Thus,  when  the  laborer  has  plunged  the  end  of  the  jan¬ 
tu  next  him  into  the  water,  this  lever  (as  we  suppose,  for  we  have  not 
seen  a  figure  of  it)  is  placed,  so  as  to  be  nearly  in  a  horizontal  position ,  by 
which  its  maximum  force  is  exerted  at  the  precise  time  when  it  is  re¬ 
quired,  i.  e.  when  the  jantu  is  at  its  lowest  position  and  full  of  water; 
and  as  the  latter  ascends,  the  loaded  end  of  the  lever  descends,  and  its 
force  diminishing,  brings  the  end  of  the  jantu  gradually  to  rest.  A 
somewhat  similar  effect  might  be  produced,  by  making  the  load  on  the  le- 

12 


90 


The  Jantu. 


[Book  I. 


ver  descend  into  the  water,  especially  if  its  specific  gravity  varied  but 
little  from  that  fluid.  Traits  like  this,  which  are  often  found  in  ancient 
devices,  are  no  mean  proofs  of  skill  in  the  older  mechanicians ;  and  as 
professors  of  the  fine  arts,  discover  the  works  of  masters  by  certain  char¬ 
acteristic  touches,  and  by  the  general  effect  of  a  painting  or  sculpture — so 
professors  of  the  useful  arts  may  point  to  features  like  the  above,  as  proofs 
that  they  bear  the  impress  of  the  master  mechanics  of  old. 

At  what  period  in  the  early  history  of  our  species  this  class  of  ma¬ 
chines  was  first  devised,  can  only  be  conjectured  ;  they  are  evidently  of 
very  high  antiquity  ;  this  is  inferable  not  only  from  their  simplicity,  ex¬ 
tensive  use  over  all  Asia — where  it  may  be  said,  machines  for  raising  wa¬ 
ter  have  never  changed — but  also  from  the  mode  of  working  them,  by  the 
feet.  Every  one  acquainted  with  the  bible,  knows  that  numerous  opera¬ 
tions  were  thus  performed.  The  juice  of  grapes  was  expressed  by  men 
treading  them ;  and  the  tombs  of  Egypt  contain  sculptures  representing 
this  and  other  operations.  Mortar  was  mixed  and  clay  prepared  for  the 
potter  by  the  feet.  The  Chinese  work  their  mangles  by  the  feet ;  and 
both*  they  and  modern  Egyptians,  and  Hindoos,  move  a  variety  of  other 
machines  by  the  same  means  :  among  these  are  several  for  raising  water, 
as  the  Picotah  of  Hindostan,  (described  in  the  next  chapter,)  the  chain 
pump  of  China,  and  we  may  here  remark,  that  all  the  machines  for  raising 
water  described  by  Vitruvius,  with  one  exception,  were  propelled  by  the 
feet,  or  as  expressed  in  the  English  translation,  by  the  “  treading  of  men  ” 
It  is  not  at  all  improbable,  that  to  the  Jantu,  Moses  alluded  when  descri¬ 
bing  to  his  countrymen  the  land  to  which  he  was  leading  them  :  “  A  land 
of  hills  and  valleys,”  that  “  drinketh  water  of  the  rain  of  heaven,”  where 
they  should  not  be  employed,  as  in  Egypt,  where  rain  was  generally  un¬ 
known,  in  the  perpetual  labor  of  raising  it  to  irrigate  the  soil :  “For  the 
land  whither  thou  goest  in  to  possess  it,  is  not  as  the  land  of  Egypt- from 
whence  ye  came  out,  where  thou  sowedst  thy  seed,  and  wateredst  it  with 
thy  foot.”  Deut.  xi,  10.  Some  authors  suppose  this  passage  refers  to  the 
oriental  custom  of  opening  and  closing  the  small  channels  for  water,  that 
intersect  the  fields  ;  but  this  trifling  labor  would  scarcely  have  been  men¬ 
tioned  by  Moses,  as  constituting  an  important  distinction  between  the  two 
countries.  It  was  in  fact  common  to  both.  It  is  much  more  probable 
that  he  referred  to  the  severe  and  incessant  toil  of  raising  water,  to  which 
they  had  been  subject  in  Egypt,  and  which  would  be  in  a  great  degree 
superseded  in  Canaan  by  the  “  rain  of  heaven.”  He  could  not  possibly 
have  pointed  out  to  them,  a  more  encouraging  feature  of  the  country  to 
which  they  were  migrating. 

A  very  interesting  proof  that  the  Egyptians  in  the  time  of  Moses  did 
propel  machines  by  the  feet,  has  recently  been  brought  to  light.  In  one 
of  the  tombs  at  Thebes,  which  bears  the  name  of  THohriMEs  III.  there 
is  a  sculptured  representation  of  some  Egyptian  bellows  which  were  thus 
worked.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  them  when  we  come  to  in¬ 
quire  into  the  history  of  the  pump,  in  the  third  book.  This  -mode  of 
transmitting  humar  energy  appears  to  have  been  quite  a  favorite  one  in 
ancient  times ;  for  the  purpose  of  illustration  we  will  describe  one  which 
is  identical  with  the  Jantu  ;  and  is  moreover  one  of  the  most  common  im¬ 
plements  connected  with  ancient  and  modern  agriculture  in  the  east:  “  The 
Pedau,”  says  Mr.  Ward,  “  is  a  rough  piece  of  wood,  generally  the  trunk 
of  a  tree,  balanced  on  a  pivot,  with  a  head  something  like  a  mallet ;  it  is 
used  to  separate  rice  from  the  husk,  to  pound  brick  dust  for  buildings,  &c. 
A  person  stands  at  the  further  end,  and  with  his  feet  presses  it  down, 
which  raises  up  the  head,  after  which  he  lets  it  fall  on  the  rice  or  brick. 


Combination  of  Gutters  and  Levers. 


91 


Chap.  12.] 


“One  of  these  pedals  is  set  up  at  almost  every  house  in  country  places.” 
This  primitive  implement  is  also  in  general  use  in  the  agricultural  districts 
of  China.  “  The  next  thing,”  says  a  writer  in  the  Chinese  Repository, 
Vol.  iii,  233,  “is  to  divest  the  grain  of  the  husk;  this  is  done  by  pounding 
it  in  stone  mortars  ;  two  of  these  are  placed  in  the  ground  together,  and 
have  corresponding  pestles  of  wood  or  stone  attached  to  long  levers.  A 
laborer  by  alternately  stepping  upon  each  lever  pounds  the  grain,  &c.” 
Paper  mills  of  the  Chinese,  by  which  the  shreds  of  bamboo  and  the  fa¬ 
rina  of  rice  are  reduced  to  a  pulp,  are  precisely  the  same,  and  worked  by 
men  treading  on  levers  as  in  the  jantu.a  And  we  may  add,  that  the  paste 
of  which  Macaroni  is  made,  is  kneaded  by  a  similar  implement,  and  which 
the  Romans  probably  received  from  the  east. 

Hence  it  appears  that  the  jantu  is  merely  one  of  a  class  of  machines 
of  similar  construction  and  moved  in  the  same  manner  ;  and  as  the  pedal 
of  the  Hindoos  is  supposed  to  be  as  old  as  their  agriculture,  the  jantu 
may  certainly  be  considered  equally  ancient,  for  it  is  the  more  important 
machine  of  the  two.  They  both,  however,  appear  to  have  had  a  com¬ 
mon  origin;  and  to  have  come  down  together  through  the  long  vista  of 
past  ages,  without  the  slightest  alteration.  The  fact  of  the  jantu  being 
still  used  in  India  proves  its  antiquity,  for  it  is  well  known  that  the  Hin¬ 
doos  retain  the  same  customs  and  peculiarities  that  distinguished  their  an¬ 
cestors  thousands  of  years  ago.  “A  country,”  says  Dr.  Robertson,  “  where 
the  customs,  manners,  and  even  dress  of  the  people,  are  almost  as  perma¬ 
nent  and  invariable  as  the  face  of  nature  itself.”  This  attachment  to  an¬ 
cient  customs  exists  with  singular  force  in  regard  to  every  thing  con¬ 
nected  with  their  agriculture.  Like  the  Chinese  and  some  other  people  of 
the  east,  nothing  can  induce  them  to  deviate  from  the  practice  of  their 
forefathers,  either  as  it  regards  their  implements  or  modes  of  cultivation. 
And  when  we  bear  in  mind,  that  the  Hindoos  were  among  the  earliest  of 
civilized  people  ;  that  it  was  their  arts  and  their  science  which  enlightened 
the  people,  who,  in  the  early  ages  dwelt  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile  ;  we 
can  readily  admit  that  the  jantu  was  used,  in  the  time  of  Moses,  and 
that  to  it  he  alluded  in  the  passage  already  quoted ;  but,  be  this  as  it  may, 
it  may  safely  be  considered  as  a  fair  specimen  of  primeval  ingenuity  in 
applying  human  effort,  as  well  as  in  raising  water ;  and  in  both  respects  is 
entitled  to  the  lengthened  notice  we  have  given  it. 

These  machines  when  worked  by  the  feet  raise  water  only  about  three 
feet,  but  where  the  elevation  is  greater,  they  have  been  moved  by  the 
hands,  by  means  of  ropes  and  a  double  lever,  as  in  the  next  figure  ;  the  open 
ends  being  attached  by  pins  to  the  edge  of  the  reservoir.  In  this  manner 
water  may  be  raised  five  or  six  feet  at  a  single  lift,  according  to  the  length 
of  the  gutter. 

Contrivances  of  the  kind  were  formerly  used  in  Europe  ;  and,  as  m  the 
eastern  world,  series  of  them  were  sometimes  employed  to  raise  wa¬ 
ter  to  great  elevations,  to  the  top  of  buildings,  &c.  They  are  figured 
and  described  in  Serviere’s  collection.  A  number  of  cisterns  are  placed  at 
equal  distances  above  each  other  from  the  ground  to  the  roof.  In  these, 
gutters  are  arranged  as  in  the  figure  ;  the  lowermost  raises  water  into  the 
first,  into  which  others  dip  and  convey  it  to  the  next  one,  and  so  to  the 
highest.  In  some,  the  gutters  are  worked  by  a  combination  of  levers  ;  in 
others,  by  ropes  passing  over  pulleys  at  the  highest  part  of  the  building  and 
united  to  a  crank  that  is  attached  to  a  water  wheel  or  other  first  mover 


Breton’s  China,  Vol.  ii,  39,  and  Vol.  iv,  27. 


92 


Pendulum  Machine. 


No.  33.  Pendulum  or  Swinging  Gutters. 

In  the  bottom  of  each,  an  opening  is  made  and  covered  by  a  flap  or 
valve  to  prevent  the  water,  when  once  past  through,  from  returning.  AH 


[Book  I. 

Various  forms  of  the  gutters  are  figured,  (the  heads  ct  some  like  large 
bowls,)  as  well  as  modes  of  working  them.  See  figure  No.  32. 


No.  32.  Combination  of  Levers  and  Gutters. 


There  is  another  modification  of  the  jantu,  by  which  water  may  be 
raised  to  great  elevations.  A  number  of  gutters,  open  at  both  ends,  are 
permanently  connected  to,  and  over  each  other,  in  a  zigzag  direction,  so 
that  while  one  end  of  the  lowest  dips  in  the  water,  its  other  end  inclines 
upwards  at  an  angle  proportioned  to  the  length  of  the  gutter  and  the 
motion  to  be  given  to  it,  and  is  united  to  the  lower  end  of  the  next  one, 
which  also  inclines  upwards,  but  in  an  opposite  direction,  and  is  united  to 
the  next,  and  so  on,  the  length  of  each  diminishing  as  it  approaches  the 
too,  as  in  the  following  figure. 


Dutcl  Scoop. 


93 


Chap.  12.] 


the  gutters  are  secured  to  a  frame  of  wood  which  is  suspended  on  a  pir. 
secured  to  a  beam,  so  that  by  pulling  the  cords  alternately  the  whole  may 
be  made  to  oscillate  like  a  pendulum.  Thus,  when  pulled  to  one  side, 
one  of  the  lowest  gutters  dips  into  water,  and  scoops  up  a  portion  of  it, 
to  facilitate  which  the  end  is  curved  ;  and  as  it  rises,  the  liquid  runs  along 
to  the  farther  end,  and  passing  through  the  valve  is  retained  till  the  mo¬ 
tion  is  reversed,  when  it  flows  down  to  the  next  gutter, and  passing  through 
its  valve,  is  again  continued  in  the  same  manner  to  the  next ;  entering  at 
every  oscillation  the  gutter  above,  till  it  reaches  the  highest ;  and  from 
which  it  is  discharged  into  a  reservoir,  over  which  the  last  one  is  made  to 
project.  A  double  set  of  gutters,  as  shown  in  the  figure,  was  sometimes 
attached  to  the  same  frame,  so  that  a  continuous  stream  could  be  discharg¬ 
ed  into  the  reservoir.  Machines  like  the  above  are  more  ingenious  than 
useful.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  ever  been  extensively  used,  although 
they  are  to  be  found  in  the  works  of  several  old  writers  on  hydraulics. 
The  one  represented  by  the  figure  is  described  by  Belidor  as  the  inven¬ 
tion  of  M.  Morel,  who  raised  water  by  it  15  or  16  feet.  Similar  machines 
were  known  in  the  preceding  century.  A  pendulum  for  raising  water  is 
described  at  page  95,  of  the  first  volume  of  machines  approved  by  the 
French  Academy,  and  at  page  205,  is  a  “  hydraulic  machine”  by  A.  De 
Courdemoy,  similar  to  the  one  we  have  copied ;  except  that  square  tubes 
were  used  instead  of  open  gutters  ;  they  were  also  of  equal  length,  and 
attached  to  a  rectangular  frame,  but  were  suspended  and  worked  in  the 
same  manner  as  No.  33. 

A  different  mode  of  working  these  machines,  was  devised  by  an  Eng¬ 
lish  engineer.  Instead  of  suspending  the  frame  like  a  pendulum,  he 
made  the  lower  part  terminate  in  rockers  like  those  of  a  cradle;  these 
resting  on  a  smooth  horizontal  plane,  a  slight  impulse  put  the  whole  in 
motion.  The  lowest  gutters  at  each  oscillation  dipped  into  the  water,  and 
raised  a  portion,  as  in  the  preceding  figure. 


No.  34.  Dutch  Scoop. 

Among  other  simple  devices,  is  the  Dutch  scoop,  frequently  used  by 
that  people  in  raising  water  over  low  dykes.  It  is  a  kind  of  box-shovel 


94 


The  Swape. 


[Book  1. 


suspended  by  cords  from  a  triangular  frame,  and  worked  as  represented 
in  the  figure.  By  a  sweeping  movement,  an  expert  laborer  will  throw 
up  at  each  stroke,  a  quantity  of  water  equal  to  the  capacity  of  the  shovel, 
although  from  its  form,  such  a  quantity  could  not  be  retained  in  it. 

The  Flash  Wheel,  is  another  contrivance  to  raise  large  quantities  of  wa¬ 
ter  over  moderate  heights,  being  extensively  used  in  draining  wet  lands, 
particularly  the  fens  of  England.  It  is  made  just  like  the  wheel  of  a  steam¬ 
boat,  and  when  put  in  rapid  motion,  generally  by  a  windmill,  it  pushes 
the  water  up  an  inclined  shute,  which  is  so  curved,  that  the  paddles  may 
sweep  close  to  it,  and  consequently  drive  the  liquid  before  them.  The 
‘back  water’  thrown  up  by  the  paddle  wheels  of  steam  vessels  is  raised 
in  e.  somewhat  similar  manner. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Swape  :  Used  in  modern  and  ancient  Egypt — Represented  in  sculptures  at  Thebes — Alluded  to 
by  Herodotus  and  Marcellus — Described  by  Pliny — Picotali  of  India ;  agility  of  the  Hindoos  in  working 
it.  Chinese  Swape — Similar  to  the  machines  employed  in  erecting  the  pyramids — The  Swape,  seen  in 
Paradise  by  Mahomet — Figure  of  one  near  the  city  of  Magnesia — Anglo  Saxon  Swape — Formerly  used 
in  English  manufactories — Figures  from  the  Nuremburgh  Chronicle,  Munster’s  Cosmography,  and  Bes¬ 
son’s  Theatre  des  Instrumens.  The  Swape  common  in  North  and  South  America — Examples  of  its  use 
in  watering  gardens — Figures  of  it,  the  oldest  representations  of  any  hydraulic  machine — Mechanical 
speculations  of  Ecclesiastics:  Wilkins’ projects  for  aerial  navigation — Mechanical  and  theological  pur¬ 
suits  combined  in  the  middle  ages — Gerbert — Dunstan — Bishops  famous  as  Castle  architects — Androides — 
Roode  of  grace — Shrine  of  Becket — Speaking  images — Chemical  deceptions — Illuminated  manuscripts. 

Of  machines  for  raising  water,  the  Swape  has  been  more  extensively 
used  in  all  ages,  and  by  all  nations,  than  any  other.  Like  most  im¬ 
plements  for  the  same  purpose,  its  application  is  confined  within  certain 
limits ;  but  these  are  such  as  to  render  it  of  general  utility.  The  mental 
or  swinging  basket,  and  the  jantu,  raise  the  liquid  from  two  to  three 
feet  only  at  a  lift,  while  the  swape  elevates  it  from  five  to  fifteen,  and  in 
some  cases  still  higher.  It  is  not,  however,  well  adapted  for  greater  eleva¬ 
tions;  a  circumstance  which  accounts  for  its  not  having  been  much  used 
in  the  toe/ls  of  ancient  cities — their  depth  rendered  it  inapplicable,  as  the 
generality  of  ours  do  at  this  day.  In  Egypt,  this  machine  is  named  the 
Shadoof,  and  in  no  country  has  it  been  more  extensively  employed.  In 
modern  days,  more  persons  are  there  engaged  in  raising  water  by  it  and 
the  mental,  than  are  to  be  found  in  any  other  class  of  Egyptian  laborers. 
They  raise  the  liquid  at  each  lift  about  seven  feet,  and  where  it  is  re¬ 
quired  higher,  series  of  swapes  are  placed  at  proper  distances  above 
each  other,  in  a  similar  manner  as  the  Hindoos  arrange  the  jantu,  and 
as  shown  in  the  figure,  (No.  35.)  The  lowermost  laborer  empties  his 
vessel  into  a  cavity  or  basin  formed  in  the  rock,  or  in  soil  rendered  imper¬ 
vious  to  water,  three  or  four  feet  above  him,  and  into  which  the  next  one 
plunges  his  bucket,  who  raises  it  into  another,  and  so  on  till  it  reaches  the 
required  elevation.  M.  Jomard,*  says  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  from 
thirty  to  fifty  shadoofs  at  one  place,  raising  water  one  above  another.  At 
Esne,  he  saw  twenty-seven  Arabs  on  one  tier  of  stages,  working  fourteen 


“Grande  Description.  E.  M.  Tom.  ii.  Memoirs,  Part  2,  p.  780. 


Ancient  Egyptian  Swape. 


95 


Chap.  13.] 


double  swapes,  i.  e.  two  on  each  frame,  the  bucket  of  one  descending  as 
the  other  rises.  They  were  relieved  every  hour,  so  that  fifty-four  men  were 
required  to  keep  the  machines  constantly  in  motion.  The  overseer  or 
task-master  measured  the  time  by  the  sun,  and  sometimes  by  a  simple 
clepsydra  or  water-clock. 


No.  35.  Modern  Egyptians  using  the  Swape. 


It  is  impossible  to  pass  up  the  Nile  in  certain  states  of  the  river,  without 
being  surprised  at  the  myriads  of  these  levers,  and  at  their  unceasing  move¬ 
ments;  for  by  relays  of  men,  they  are  often  worked  without  intermission, 
both  night  and  day.  In  Upper  Egypt  especially,  where  from  the  elevation 
of  the  banks  they  are  more  necessary,  and  of  course  more  numerous,  the 
spectacle  is  animating  in  a  high  degree,  and  cannot  but  recall  to  reflecting 
minds  similar  scenes  in  the  very  same  places  in  past  ages,  when  the  popu¬ 
lation  was  greatly  more  dense  than  at  present,  and  the  country  furnished 
grain  for  surrounding  nations.  In  some  parts,  the  banks  appear  alive  with 
men  raising  water  by  swapes  and  the  effect  is  rendered  still  more  impress¬ 
ive  by  the  songs  and  measured  chandngs  of  the  laborers,  and  the  incessant 
groans  and  creakings  of  the  machines  themselves.  To  the  ancient  custom 
of  singing  while  raising  water ,  there  is  an  evident  allusion  in  Isaiah,  xii,  3 : 
Therefore  with  joy  shall  ye  draw  water  out  of  the  wells  of  salvation. 

The  Arabs  have  a  tradition 
that  the  shadoof  was  used  in 
the  times  of  the  Pharaohs,  and 
a  proof  that  such  was  the  fact, 
has  recently  been  furnished  by 
Mr.  Wilkinson,  (Yol.  ii,  5,)  who 
found  the  remains  of  one  in  an 
ancient  tomb  at  Thebes ;  in  ad¬ 
dition  to  which  they  are  repre¬ 
sented  in  sculptures  which  date 
from  1532  to  1550  B.  C.  a  peri¬ 
od  extending  beyond  the  Exo¬ 
dus.  No.  36  represents  it  as 
used  at  that  remote  period  for 
the  irrigation  of  land. 

No.  36.  An  Egyptian  in  the  time  of  Moses  raising  water  by  the  swape.  From  sculptures  at  Thebes. 


Swape  used  by  the  Romans. 


% 


[Book  I. 


It  appears  to  have  formed  one  of  a  series,  designed  to  raise  water  over 
the  elevation  feebly  portrayed  in  the  back  ground,  in  precisely  the  same 
wav  that  is  now  common  in  Egypt  and  in  the  east,  and  as  shown  in  No.  35. 
The  remark  of  a  traveler  that  a  Chinese  seemed  to  him  “  an  antediluvian 
renewed,”  might  with  equal  propriety,  be  applied  to  a  modern  Arab 
raising  water  by  this  implement  from  the  Nile  ;  and  the  figure,  No.  36, 
might  be  taken  as  a  probably  correct  representation  of  an  antediluvian 
laborer  engaged  in  the  same  employment.  On  comparing  the  last  two 
cuts,  the  former  having  been  sketched  by  Mr.  Wilkinson,  from  life,  but 
three  years  ago ;  and  the  latter  copied  from  sculptures  that  have  been 
executed  upwards  of  three  thousand  years,  we  see  at  once,  that  the  swape 
has  undergone  as  little  change  in  Egypt,  since  the  times  of  the  Pharaohs, 
as  the  costume,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  of  the  laborers  themselves;  in  oth¬ 
er  words  both  remain  the  same.  The  discovery  of  this  implement  among 
the  sculptures  of  ancient  Egypt  tends  to  corroborate  our  views  respecting 
the  antiquity  of  other  machines  for  the  same  purpose,  and  which  like  it  are 
still  in  common  use  in  the  east.  It  also  admonishes  us  not  to  reject  as  im¬ 
probable  or  fabulous,  current  oriental  traditions ;  since  they  are,  as  in  the 
case  of  this  machine,  often,  if  not  generally,  founded  in  truth. 

The  swape  seems  to  be  alluded  to  by  Herodotus,  vi,  119,  as  used  in 
Persia  in  his  time.  He  observes  that  Darius,  the  father  of  Xerxes,  sent 
some  captives  to  a  certain  distance  from  Susa,  and  forty  furlongs  from  a 
well,  the  contents  of  which  were  “  drawn  up  with  an  engine,  to  which  a 
kind  of  bucket  is  suspended,  made  of  half  a  skin  ;  it  is  then  poured  into 
one  cistern  and  afterwards  removed  into  a  second.”  This  appears  to 
have  been  the  shadoof  of  the  Egyptians,  as  figured  in  No.  35,  to  which 
there  is  probably  a  reference  also  in  Clio,  193,  where  he  says  the  Assyri¬ 
ans  irrigated  their  lands  from  the  Euphrates  “  by  manual  labor  and  by 
hydraulic  engines .”  Aristotle  mentions  the  swape  as  in  common  use  among 
the  Greeks.*  Dr.  Clarke  says  some  of  the  wells  of  Greece  were  not 
deep,  and  pulleys  were  not  used,  only  buckets  with  ropes  of  twisted  herbs, 
and  sometimes  the  water  was  raised  by  a  ‘  huge  lever,  great  stones  being 
a  counterpoise  to  the  other  end.’  A  circumstance  connected  with  the 
overthrow  of  the  Syracusans,  and  the  death  of  Archimedes,  in  which  the 
swape  is  referred  to,  may  here  be  noticed.  When  the  Roman  vessels,  at 
the  siege  of  Syracuse  were  grappled  by  hooks  and  elevated  in  the  air, 
by  levers  that  projected  over  the  walls  of  the  city,  their  resemblance 
to  vessels  of  water  raised  by  the  swape,  was  so  striking,  that  Marcellus 
was  wont  to  say,  “  Archimedes  used  his  ships  to  draw  water  with .”b  This 
remark  of  the  Roman  general  clearly  shows  that  the  swape  was  very  fa¬ 
miliar  to  him  and  to  his  countrymen.  But  we  are  not  left  to  circumstan¬ 
ces  like  this  to  infer  its  use  among-  the  Romans.  Pliny  expressly  men¬ 
tions  it  among  machines  for  raising  water.  As  the  passage  is  highly 
interesting,  and  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  it  hereafter,  it  may 
as  well  be  inserted  here.  It  is  in  the  fourth  Chapter  of  the  Nineteenth 
Book, On  Gardens “  above  all  things  there  should  be  water  at  command, 
(if  possible  a  river  or  brook  running  through  it,  but  if  neither  can  be  ob¬ 
tained,)  then  they  are  to  be  watered  with  pit  water,  fed  with  springs; 
either  draicn  up  by  plain  poles,  hooks,  and  buckets  ;  or  forced,  by  pumps 
and  such  like,  going  with  the  strength  of  wind  enclosed,  or  else  weighed 
up  with  swipes  and  cranes .”  Holland’s  Trans. 

The  Swape  is  extensively  used  over  all  Hindostan.  “  The  peasants, 
morning  and  evening  draw  water  out  of  wells  by  buffaloes  or  oxen,  or 


*  Bishop  Wilkins  on  the  lever.  b  Plutarch’s  life  of  Marcellus,  Wrangham’s  notes. 


Chap.  13.] 


The  Picotah. 


97 


else  by  a  thwart  post,  poised  with  a  sufficient  weight  at  the  extremity  laid 
over  one  fixed  in  the  earth;  the  water  is  drawn  by  a  bucket  of  goat’s 
skin.”a  In  some  districts,  the  Hindoos  have  a  mode  of  working  the 
Swape,  which,  so  far  as  we  know,  is  peculiar  to  themselves.  In  Patna 
it  is  common,  and  the  machine  when  thus  propelled,  is  named  the  Picotah. 

“  Near  the  well  or  tank,  a  piece 
of  wood  is  fixed,  forked  at  the 
top ;  in  this  fork  another  piece  of 
wood  is  fixed  to  form  a  swape, 
which  is  formed  by  a  peg,  and 
steps  cut  out  at  the  bottom,  that 
the  person  who  works  the  ma¬ 
chine  may  easily  get  up  and  down. 
Commonly,  the  lower  part  of  the 
swape  is  the  trunk  of  a  tree;  to 
the  upper  end  is  fixed  a  pole,  at 
the  end  of  which  hangs  a  leather 
bucket.  A  man  gets  up  the  steps 
to  the  top  of  the  swape,  and  sup¬ 
ports  himself  by  a  bamboo  screen 
erected  by  the  sides  of  the  ma¬ 
chine.”  He  plunges  the  bucket 
into  the  water,  and  draws  it  up  by 
his  weight ;  while  another  person 
stands  ready  to  empty  it.  In  the 
volume  of  plates  to  the  Paris  edi¬ 
tion,  1806,  of  Sonnerat’s  Voyages, 
the  machine  is  represented  rather 
different  from  the  above.  The  la- 
No.  37.  Picotah  of  Hmdostan.  borer  alternately  steps  on  and  off 

the  swape,  from  a  ladder  or  stage  of  bamboos  erected  on  one  side  of  it 
See  plate  23,  Sonnerat. 

The  apparatus  and  mode  of  working  it,  is  more  fully  described  in  the 
following  extract  from  ‘  Shoberl’s  Hindostan  in  Miniature.’  “  By  the  side 
of  the  well  a  forked  piece  of  wood,  or  even  a  stone,  eight  or  ten  feet 
high  is  fixed  upright.  In  the  fork,  is  fastened  by  means  of  a  peg,  a  beam 
three  times  as  long,  which  gradually  tapers,  and  is  furnished  with  steps 
like  those  of  a  ladder.  To  the  extremity  of  this  long  beam,  which  is  ca¬ 
pable  of  moving  up  and  down,  is  attached  a  pole,  to  the  end  of  which  is 
suspended  a  large  leather  bucket.  The  other  end  being  the  heaviest, 
when  the  machine  is  left  to  itself,  the  bucket  hangs  in  the  air  at  the  height 
of  twenty  feet ;  but  to  make  it  descend,  one  man,  and  sometimes  two, 
mount  to  the  middle  of  the  beam,  and  as  they  approach  the  bucket,  it 
sinks  to  the  bottom  of  the  well,  and  fills  itself  with  water.  The  men  then 
move  back  to  the  opposite  end,  the  bucket  is  raised,  and  another  man 
empties  it  into  a  basin.  This  operation  is  performed  with  such  celerity 
that  the  water  never  ceases  running ,  and  you  can  scarcely  see  the  man 
moving  along  his  beam ;  yet  he  is  sometimes  at  the  height  of  twenty 
feet,  at  others,  touching  the  ground;  and  such  is  his  confidence,  that  he 
laughs,  sings,  smokes,  and  eats  in  this  apparently  ticklish  situation.”  Vol. 
v,  p.  22,  24.  This  mode  of  applying  human  effort,  was  eurly  adopted  in 
the  working  of  pumps — a  piston  rod  being  attached  to  each  end  of  the 
vibrating  beam.  Dr.  Lardner,  has  inserted  a  figure  of  it  in  his  popular 


a  Fryer’s  Travels  in  India,  187. 

13 


98 


The  Swape  in  Arabia. 


[Book  L 


treatise  on  Pneumatics.  It  is  figured  in  most  of  the  old  authors,  and  was 
most  likely,  copied  from  the  Picotah,  and  other  oriental  machines,  which 
have  been  propelled  in  a  similar  manner  from  very  remote  times.  See 
Gregory’s  Meehan.  Vol.  ii,  312.  Ed.  1815. 

The  Swape  is  one  of  the  ancient  and  modern  implements  of  China, 
where  it  is  used,  as  in  Egypt  and  India,  for  the  irrigation  of  land.  It  is 
frequently  made  to  turn  in  a  socket,  (or  the  post  itself  moves  round,)  in 
addition  to  the  ordinary  vibratory  motion.  In  several  situations,  this  is  a 
decided  improvement,  as  the  vessel  of  water  when  raised  above  the  edge 
of  a  tank  or  river,  can,  if  desirable,  be  swung  round  to  any  part  of  the 
circle  which  it  describes.  Sir  George  Staunton,  has  given  a  figure  of  it, 
which  Mr.  Davis  has  copied  into  his  popular  work  on  the  Chinese.  When 
thus  constructed,  it  is  according  to  Goguet,  (Tom.  iii,  Origine  des  Loix,) 
identical  with  the  engines  mentioned  by  Herodotus,  B.  ii,  125,  as  em¬ 
ployed  in  the  erection  of  the  Egyptian  pyramids;  these,  he  supposes  were 
portable  swapes,  or  levers  of  the  first  order,  with  a  rotary  movement  like 
those  of  the  Chinese.  A  number  of  these  being  placed  on  the  lowest 
tier  of  stones  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  pyramids,  were  used  to  raise 
those  which  form  the  second  tier ;  after  which,  other  swapes  were  placed 
on  the  latter  and  materials  raised  by  them  for  the  third  range,  and  in  like 
manner  to  the  top.  This  was  the  process  which  Herodotus  says  was 
adopted.  M.  Goguet,  supposes  that  two  swapes  were  employed  in 
raising  every  stone,  one  at  each  end,  and  that  the  levers  were  depressed 
by  a  number  of  men  laying  hold  of  short  ropes  attached  to  them  for  that 
purpose.  This  mode  appears  to  accord  with  the  meagre  description  of  the 
machines  used  in  the  erection  of  the  pyramids,  which  the  father  of  history 
has  given. 

It  has  already  been  observed,  that  the  engines  employed  by  Archimedes 
to  destroy  the  Roman  ships  in  the  harbor  of  Syracuse,  were  so  analagous  to 
the  swape,  as  to  elicit  from  Marcellus,  an  observation  to  that  effect.  In  fact, 
machines  similar  to  it,  were  used  by  ancient  engineers  both  for  attacking  and 
defending  cities.  Yegetius,  says  they  were  used  to  raise  soldiers  to  the  tops 
of  walls,  &c.  In  the  oldest  translation  of  his  work,  (Erffurt,  1511,)  there 
is  a  fi'gure  of  it,  which  is  identical  with  the  Chinese  swape,  and  with  that 
which  Goguet  supposes  was  used  by  the  old  engineers  of  Egypt.  Bar¬ 
bara,  in  his  edition  of  Vitruvius,  also  figures  it.  In  Rollin’s  ‘Arts  and 
Sciences  of  the  Ancients,’  are  several  examples  and  figures  of  it,  applied 
to  the  purposes  of  war ;  and  among  others  to  the  destruction  of  the  Ro¬ 
man  vessels  before  Syracuse. 

A  story  in  the  ‘  Hegiat  al  Megiales’  shews  how  common  it  was  in  Arabia 
in  the  seventh  and  preceding  centuries.  Mahomet  in  one  of  his  visions 
of  paradise,  “saw  a  machine  much  used  in  the  Levant  for  drawing 
water  out  of  wells,  called  by  the  Latins  Tollens,  and  consisting  of  a  long 
lever  fixed  on  a  post,  [i.e.the  swape.]  Enquiring  to  whom  it  belonged,  he 
was  told  it  was  Abougehel’s,  (the  bitterest  enemy  to  him  and  his  religion.) 
Surprised  at  this,  he  exclaimed,  *  what  has  Abougehel  to  do  with  paradise,* 
he  is  never  to  enter  there  !’  Shortly  after,  he  understood  the  drift  of  the 
vision,  for  the  son  of  his  enemy  became  a  Mussulman,  upon  which  he  ex¬ 
claimed  ‘  Abougehel  was  the  swape ,  by  which  God  drew  up  his  son  from 
the  bottom  of  the  pit  of  infidelity.’  ”  It  is  used  by  the  Japanese  ;  and  as  fi¬ 
gured  by  Montanus,  the  bucket  is  raised  by  pulling  down  the  opposite  end 
of  the  lever  by  means  of  cords  attached  to  it. 

In  Fisher's  “  Constantinople,  and  the  Scenery  of  the  Seven  Churches  of 
Asia.”  Lon.  1839,  is  a  beautiful  view  of  the  city  of  Magnesia  near  Mount 
Sipylus,  in  Asia  Minor,  a  city  founded  by  Tantalus,  whose  fabled  punish- 


Chap.  13.] 


Anglo  Saxon  Swape. 


99 


ment  has  rendered  his  name  notorious.  In  the  foreground  is  represented 
the  following  figure  of  the  swape,  a  machine  which  the  writer  observes, 

“  forms  a  conspicuous  object 
y  v.  in  every  landscape  in  the  east. 

One  is  seen  erected  in  every 
garden,  and  as  irrigation  is 
constantly  required  in  an 
arid  soil,  it  is  always  in  mo¬ 
tion,  and  its  dull  and  drowsy 
creaking  is  the  sound  inces¬ 
santly  heard  by  all  travelers.” 

In  this  figure  we  behold 
not  merely  a  sketch  of  mo¬ 
dern  Asiatic  manners ;  but 
one,  which  as  regards  rais¬ 
ing  of  water ;  the  machine 
by  which  it  is  effected ; 
animals  around  it;  costume 
of  the  individuals  ;  and  por¬ 
traiture  of  rural  life, — has 
remained  unchanged  from 
times  that  reach  back  to  the 
■AH-  infancy  of  our  race,  and  of 
which  history  has  preserved 
no  records. 

[For  this  interesting  cut, 
and  for  No.  35  also,  I  am  in¬ 
debted  to  my  friend  William 
Everdell,  Esq.  who,  be¬ 
sides  other  contributions  to  this  work,  undertook  the  task,  to  him  a  novel 
one,  of  engraving  them.] 

The  swape  has  probably  been  in  continual  use  in  Great  Britain,  from 
the  period  of  its  subjugation  by  the  Romans,  if  not  before.  It  is^  there 
known  under  the  various  names  of  ‘  Swape,'  ‘  Sweep,'  and  in  old  authors, 

‘  Swipe'  A  figure  of  it,  as  used  by  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  is  here  inserted,  from 
Vol.  i,  of  the  ‘  Pictorial  History  of 
England,’  copied  from  an  ancient  ma¬ 
nuscript  in  the  British  Museum.  The 
costume  of  the  female,  her  masculine 
figure,  the  shingled  well,  and  form  of 
the  vase  or  pitcher,  are  interesting,  as 
indicative  of  manners  and  customs,  &c. 
of  former  ages.  The  arm  of  the  lever  to 
which  the  bucket  is  suspended,  appears 
extremely  short,  but  this  is  to  be  attri¬ 
buted  to  its  defective  representation. 

The  following  summary  of  ancient  Brit¬ 
ish  devices  is  from  Fosbroke’s  Encyclo¬ 
pedia  of  Antiquities.  “  The  Anglo- 
Saxons  had  a  wheel  for  drawing  water 
from  wells.  They  were  common  annexations  to  houses, 
fixed  to  the  chains  of  wells.  We  find  a  beam  on  a  pivot,  with  a 
weight  at  one  end  for  raising  water.  Wheels  and  coverings.  A  lever, 
the  fulcrum  of  which  was  a  kind  of  gallows  over  the  well.  Two 


No.  33.  Swape  in  Asia  Minor. 


No.  39.  Anglo  Saxon  Swape. 


Rings  were 
with 


100 


Old  German  Swapes. 


No.  41.  Swape  from  S.  Munster’s  Cosmography.  1550. 

The  Swape  was  very  common  in  France  and  the  neighboring  nations 
on  the  European  continent,  in  the  last  and  preceding  centuries.  It  is 
named  bascule  in  France.  The  old  Dictionnaire  de  Trcvoux,  says  : 

Les  bascules  les  plus  simple,  sont  celles  qui  ne  consistent  qu’en  une 
piece  de  bois  soutenue  d’une  autre  par  le  milieu  ou  autrement,  comme 
d’un  essieu,  pour  etre  plus  au  moins  en  equilibre.  Lorsqu’on  pese  sur 


[Book  I. 


buckets  one  at  each  end  of  a  chain  adapted  to  a  versatile  engine  called 
volgolus.  Buckets  with  iron  hoops,  and  drawing  water  from  deep  wells 
as  a  punishment.”  The  swape  appears  to  have  been  the  principal  ma¬ 
chine  in  England  for  raising  water  till  quite  recent  times.  In  the  17th 
century  it  was  used  in  manufactories,  and  is  not  yet,  perhaps,  wholly  su¬ 
perseded  by  the  pump.  Bishop  Wilkins,  in  speaking  of  the  lever  and  its 
application  by  Archimedes  in  destroying  the  Roman  fleet,  says,  “  it  was  of 
the  same  form  with  that  which  is  commonly  used  by  brewers  and  dyers  for 
the  drawing  of  water.  It  consists  of  two  posts,  the  one  fastened  perpen¬ 
dicularly  in  the  ground,  the  other  being  jointed  on  cross  to  the  top  of  it.” 
Mathemat.  Magic.  B.  i,  Chaps.  4  and  12.  This  was  published  in  1638.  In 
1736,  Mr.  Ainsworth  published  his  celebrated  Latin  Dictionary,  and  un¬ 
der  the  word  Rachdmus ,  ‘  a  truckle  or  pulley  used  in  drawing  up  water 
he  adds,  “  perhaps  not  unlike  the  sweep  our  brewers  use hence  at  that 
time,  it  continued  to  be  used  for  raising  water  and  transferring  liquids  in 
English  breweries  and  similar  establishments,  as  remarked  by  Wilkins  one 
hundred  years  before. 

In  Germany  it  was  frequently, 
and  still  is,  a  prominent  object  in 
country  towns  and  villages,  as  well 
as  in  farm  yards.  In  the  former  it 
was  frequently  erected  on,  or  at  the 
end  of  bridges  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  water  from  rivers  and  brooks. 
In  the  famous  Nuremburgh  Chronicle 
it  is  frequently  figured.  From  a  va¬ 
riety  of  different  forms,  we  have 
selected  No.  40,  as  a  specimen. 

In  the  Cosmography  of  Sebastian 
Munster,  1550,  it  is  represented  at 
page  729,  as  employed  for  raising 
water  to  supply,  by  means  of  pipes,  a  neighboring  town.  Agricola,  in 
his  De  Re  Metallica,  has  also  figured  it.  pp.  443  and  458. 


No.  40.  Swape.  From  the  Nuremburgh 
Chronicle.  A.  D.  1493. 


101 


Chap.  13.] 


Old  French  Swape. 


No.  42.  Swape  from  Besson.  1568. 


un  des  bouts  l’autre  hausse.  Ces  sortes  de  bascules  sont  les  plus  com¬ 
munes;  on  s’en  sert  pour  elever  des  eaux.  The  last  sentence  is  believed 
to  be  applicable  to  every  part  of  Europe  at  the  present  time,  perhaps 
equally  so  as  at  any  former  period. 

We  subjoin  a  description  of  one 
proposed  by  James  Besson,  a  French 
mechanician,  270  years  ago,  by 
which  two  buckets,  one  at  each  end, 
may  be  used.  As  the  vibration  of 
the  beam  is  ingeniously  effected  by 
a  continuous  rotary  movement,  a 
figure  of  it  will  be  acceptable  to  the 
intelligent  mechanic. 

The  lever  is  suspended  at  the 
centre  of  its  length,  on  a  pin  which 
passes  through  the  lower  part  of  the 
perpendicular  post,  the  upper  end 
of  which  is  firmly  secured  to  the 
frame  and  cross  piece.  A  perpen¬ 
dicular  shaft  is  placed  immediately 
under  the  lower  end  of  the  post  and 
in  the  same  vertical  line  with  it.  The 
upper  journal  of  the  shaft  enters  and 
turns  in  the  end  of  the  post,  while 
its  lower  one  is  received  into  a  cavity 
in  the  block  upon  which  it  rests.  This  shaft  forms  the  axis  of  an  inverted 
cone  of  frame-work — a  section  of  which,  resembling  an  hyperbolic  curve, 
acts  as  it  revolves  on  the  under  side  of  the  swape,  and  imparts  to  it  the 
required  movement.  To  lessen  the  friction,  two  long  rollers  are  fixed  to 
its  under  side,  and  upon  these  only  does  the  curved  edge  of  the  cone  act. 
The  shaft  may  of  course  be  turned  by  any  motive  power.  In  the  figure, 
a  horizontal  water  wheel  is  attached  to  the  shaft,  with  oblique  paddles 
which  receive  the  impulse  of  the  stream  in  which  they  are  placed.  This 
device  may  serve  as  an  example  of  mechanical  tact  and  resource  in  the 
early  part  of  the  16th  century,  when  practical  mechanics  began  to  be  cul¬ 
tivated  as  a  science. 

The  swape  is  commonly  used  by  the  farmers  on  this  continent,  in 
vicinity  of  whose  dwellings  it  may  be  seen,  more  or  less,  from  the 
Lawrence  to  the  Mississippi.  In  some  of  the  states,  it  still  bears  the 
English  name  of  the  ‘  sweep’  as  in  Virginia — in  others  it  is  named 
‘balance  pole.’  It  prevails  in  Mexico,  Central  America,  Peru,  Chili,  and 
generally  throughout  the  southern  continent.  There  is  some  uncertainty 
respecting  its  having  been  known  here  before  the  arrival  of  Europeans  in 
the  16th  century.  See  remarks  on  Ancient  American  Machines  in  the 
last  chapter  of  this  book. 

The  swape  appears  to  have  been  used  in  all  times,  for  watering  gardens 
in  the  east,  as  already  observed  of  Asia  Minor,  it  is  there  seen  erected  in 
almost  every  one.  No.  43  represents  it  employed  in  the  gardens  of 
Egypt  during  the  sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  that  country.  The  tree  and 
plant  are  uniform  hieroglyphical  representations  of  gardens. 

The  labourer  discharges  the  contents  of  his  bucket  into  a  wood¬ 
en  trough  or  gutter,  by  which  the  water  is  conveyed  to  the  plants  ; 
a  mode  still  followed  through  all  the  east.  To  this  application  of  the 
swape  there  is  probably  a  reference  in  the  prediction  of  Balaam,  deliver¬ 
ed  one  hundred  years  after  these  figures  were  sculptured,  ‘  he  shall  pour 


the 

St. 

old 

the 


102 


Ancient  Garden  Swape. 


[Book  1. 


water  out  of  his  buckets,  and  his  seed  shall  be  in  many  waters,  (Numb, 
xxiv,  7,)  an  intimation  that  the  Israelites  should  possess  a  country,  where 
this  great  desideratum  should  be  in  comparative  abundance,  a  land  “  wa¬ 
tered  as  a  garden  of  herbs.”  The  figure  may  serve  also  to  illustrate  the 
‘  gutters  and  watering  troughs’  in  which  Jacob  watered  the  flocks  of  La¬ 
ban,  his  father  in  law.  Gen.  xxx,  38. 


No.  43.  Egyptian  Shadoof  employed  in  watering  a  garden.  1550,  B.  C. 

The  luxuriance  of  vegetation  in  an  eastern  garden,  (when  properly  water¬ 
ed,)  the  richness  of  its  scenery,  the  beauty  of  its  foliage  and  flowers,  form 
one  of  the  most  enchanting  prospects  in  nature  ;  hence  it  became  the  most 
favorite,  as  it  was  the  most  natural,  metaphor  of  human  felicity.  When 
the  prophets  promised  prosperity,  it  was  in  such  language  as  the  following: 
“  Thou  shalt  be  like  a  watered  garden,  and  like  a  spring  of  water  whose 
waters  fail  not,”  and  “  their  soul  shall  be  as  a  watered  garden.”  On  the 
contrary,  when  the  v/icked  were  denounced,  “ye  shall  be  as  an  oak 
whose  leaf  fadeth,  and  as  a  garden  that  hath  no  water.”  The  same  me¬ 
taphor  is  a  frequent  one  in  ancient  poets,  and  in  most  instances  the  use  of 
the  swape  is  implied.  Thus  Homer  : 

As  when  autumnal  Boreas  sweeps  the  sky. 

And  instant  blows  the  watered  gardens  dry. 

And  Ovid  : 

As  in  a  watered  garden's  blooming  walk.  Met.  x,  277. 

Pliny  mentions  it  expressly  for  the  same  purpose,  and  to  it  Juvenal 
seems  to  allude  in  his  third  satire : 

There  from  the  shallow  well  your  hand  shall  pour 

The  stream  it  loves  on  every  opening  flower. 

This  use  of  the  swape  is  not  now  confined  to  the  gardens  of  fallen  Asia, 
Egypt  and  Greece,  but  it  is  employed  by  the  most  enlightened  nations  ; 
and  in  London  and  in  Paris,  as  in  Athens  and  Alexandria,  Memphis  and 
Thebes,  this  primitive  implement  has  not  been  superseded.  In  Breton’s 
China,  Lon.  1834,  the  Chinese  swape  is  described  ;  and  the  author  ob¬ 
serves,  “  it  is  similar  to  those  which  are  seen  in  the  market  gardens  round 
London:”  and  in  a  more  recent  work,  *  Scripture  illustrated  from  Egypt¬ 
ian  Antiquities,’  the  author  speaking  of  the  Egyptian  swape,  says,  it  is*  the 
same  as  used  in  the  gardens  of  Brentford. 

Of  the  swape,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  most  ancient  portraiture 
extant,  of  any  hydraulic  machine ,  is  a  sculptured  representation  of  it.  be¬ 
tween  three  and  four  thousand  years  old,  and  even  at  that  remote  period 


Garden  Swape. 


103 


Chap.  13.] 


it  was  in  all  probability  a  very  old  affair,  and  in  common  use.  These 
sculptures  moreover  prove,  that  it  has  remained  in  Egypt  unaltered  in  its 
form,  dimensions,  mode  and  material  of  its  construction  and  methods  of  us¬ 
ing  it,  during  at  least  thirty-four  centuries  !  and  this,  notwithstanding  the 
political  convulsions  to  which  that  country  lias  ever  been  subject,  since  its 
conquest  by  Cambyses  ;  its  inhabitants  having  been  successively  under 
the  Persian,  Grecian,  Roman,  Saracenic,  and  Turkish  yoke,  thus  literally 
fulfilling  a  prophecy  of  Ezekiel,  that,  “  there  shall  be  no  longer  a  prince 
of  the  land  of  Egypt,” — a  descendant  of  its  ancient  kings  ;  yet  through 
all  these  mighty  revolutions  that  have  swept  over  it  like  the  fatal  Simoon, 
and  destroyed  every  vital  principle  of  its  ancient  grandeur,  this  simple 
machine  has  past  through  them  all  unchanged,  and  is  still  applied  by  the 
inhabitants  to  the  same  purposes,  and  in  precisely  the  same  way,  for  which 
it  was  used  by  their  more  enlightened  progenitors. 

We  have  seen  it  used  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  we  find  it  still 
in  the  possession  of  their  descendants,  wherever  they  dwell,  as  well  as 
among  those  of  more  ancient  people,  the  Hindoos,  Arabs,  and  Chinese. 
And  although  we  may  be  unable  to  keep  it  constantly  in  view  in  Europe, 
in  those  ages  which  immediately  followed  the  fall  of  the  Roman  power, 
when  the  ferocious  tyranny  of  the  Saracens  established  a  despotism  over 
the  mind  as  well  as  the  body  ;  and  by  the  characteristic  zeal  of  Omar, 
entailed  ignorance  on  the  future,  by  consuming  the  very  sources  of  know¬ 
ledge  under  the  baths  of  Alexandria ;  yet,  when  in  the  15th  century,  the 
human  intellect  began  to  shake  off’  the  lethargy,  which  during  the  long 
night  of  the  dark  ages  had  paralyzed  its  energies,  and  printing  was  intro¬ 
duced — that  mighty  art  which  is  ordained  to  sway  the  destinies  of  our 
race  forever — among  the  earliest  of  printed  books,  with  illustrations,  this 
interesting  implement  may  be  found  portrayed  in  vignettes ,  in  views  of 
cities,  and  of  rural  lifer;  tangible  proofs  of  its  universal  use  throughout 
Europe  at  that  time,  as  well  as  during  the  preceding  ages. 


Having  referred  in  this  and  in  a  preceding  chapter,  to  the  ‘  Mathematical 
jVLagic’  of  Wilkins,  we  subjoin  some  remarks  on  the  mechanical  specula¬ 
tions  of  that  and  other  old  church  dignitaries.  [These  remarks  were  at 
first  designed  for  a  note,  but  have  been  too  far  extended  to  be  inserted  as 
one.]  The  former  was  certainly  one  of  the  most  ingenious  and  imaginative  of 
mechanics  that  ever  was  made  a  bishop  of,  and  not  a  few  have  worn  the 
mitre.  ‘The  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God,  John,  Lord  Bishop  of 
Chester,’  (like  friars  Bacon  and  Bungey,  the  Jesuit  Kircher,  the  Abbe 
Mical,  and  a  host  of  others,)  excelled  equally  in  mechanical  and  theologi¬ 
cal  science ;  and  at  one  period  of  his  researches  in  the  former,  seemed 
almost  in  danger  of  rendering  the  latter  superfluous:  viz.  by  developing 
a  plan  of  conveying  men  to  other  worlds  by  machinery!  See  his  Tract  on 
on  the  ‘Discovery  of  a  New  World  in  the  Moon,  and  the  possibility  of 
a  passage  thither.’  Lon.  1638.  After  removing  with  a  facility  truly  de¬ 
lightful,  those  objections  to  such  a  ‘passage’  as  arise  from  the  ‘extreme 
coldness  and  thinness  of  the  etherial  air,’  ‘the  natural  heaviness  of  a  man’s 
body,’ and ‘the  vast  distance  of  that  place  from  us,’  and  the  consequent 
necessity  of  rest  and  provisions  during  so  long  a  journey,  there  being,  as 
he  observes,  ‘no  inns  to  entertain  passengers,  nor  any  castles  in  the  air  to 
receive  poor  pilgrims’ — he  proposes  three  modes  of  accomplishing  the 
object.  1.  By  the  application  of  wings  to  the  body;  ‘as  angels  are  pic¬ 
tured,  as  Mercury  and  Daedalus  are  feigned,  and  as  has  been  attempted 
by  divers,  particularly  by  a  Turk  in  Constantinople,  as  Busbequius  re- 


a04 


Mechanical  Speculations 


[Book  I 


lates.  2.  By  means  of  birds,  for  as  he  quaintly  says,  “If  there  be  such 
a  great  ruclc  in  Madagascar,  as  Marcus  Polus  the  Venetian  mentions,  the 
feathers  in  whose  wings  are  twelve  feet  long,  which  can  scoop  up  a  horse 
and  his  rider,  or  an  elephant,  as  our  kites  do  a  mouse  ;  why  then,  ’tis 
but  teaching  one  of  these  to  carry  a  man,  and  he  may  ride  up  thither,  as 
Ganymede  did,  upon  an  eagle.”  3.  Or,  “if  neither  of  these  ways  will 
serve,  yet  I  do  seriously,  and  upon  good  ground,  affirm  it  possible  to  make 
a  flying  chariot,  in  which  a  man  may  sit,  and  give  such  a  motion  unto  it  as 
shall  convey  him  through  the  air ;  and  this  perhaps  might  be  made  large 
enough  to  carry  diverse  men  at  the  same  time,  together  with  food  for 
their  viaticum,  and  commodities  for  traflic.”  The  construction  of  such  a 
chariot,  he  says,  was  ‘no  difficult  matter,  if  a  man  had  leisure  to  show 
more  particularly  the  means  of  composing  it.’  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
he  did  not  pretermit  some  of  his  labors  for  that  purpose,  especially  as  his 
project  was  not  merely  to  skim  along  the  surface  of  this  planet,  like  mo¬ 
dern  aeronauts,  or  ancient  navigators  creeping  along  shores — but  like  ano¬ 
ther  Columbus,  to  launch  out  into  the  unknown  regions  of  space,  in  search 
of  other  worlds. 

Had  Wilkins  been  a  countryman  as  well  as  a  contemporary  of  Galileo, 
his  aerial  flights  would  have  been  confined  to  a  dungeon,  and  the  wings 
of  his  genius  would  have  been  effectually  clipped  with  Roman  shears. 
Indeed  we  must  admit  that  he  was  the  greater  sinner  of  the  two!  for 
Galileo  merely  taught  the  absurd  doctrine  of  the  sun’s  stability,  and  that 
the  earth  moved  round  it,  in  opposition  to  the  evidence  of  his  senses,  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  church,  and  in  flat  contradiction  of  those  passages  in 
the  Bible,  which  Bellarmine  adduced  as  proofs  indubitable,  that  the  sun 
‘rises  up ’  in  the  east  every  morning,  and  ‘goes  down ’  in  the  west  every 
night,  and  that  the  earth  is  established  and  ‘cannot  be  moved.’  Whereas 
the  heretical  bishop,  endeavored  to  open  a  way  by  which  men  could 
visit  other  worlds  when  they  pleased,  and  that  too,  without  consulting,  or 
so  much  as  saying  ‘by  your  leave,’  to  the  successors  of  St.  Peter! 

The  earliest  English  aeronaut  was  Elmer,  a  monk  of  the  11th  century. 
He  adapted  wings  to  his  hands  and  feet,  and  took  his  flight  from  a  lofty 
tower.  He  sustained  himself  in  the  air  for  the  space  of  a  furlong,  but  his 
career,  (like  that  of  Dante  in  the  fifteenth  century)  terminated  unfortu¬ 
nately,  for  by  some  derangement  of  his  machinery  he  fell,  and  both  his 
legs  were  broken.  Dante,  after  several  successful  experiments,  fell  on  the 
roof  of  a  church  and  broke  his  thigfh. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  in  the  history  of  the  arts,  that  mechanical  skill  was 
in  former  times  intimately  connected  with  theological  pursuits,  and  that 
some  of  the  cleverest  workmen  were  ecclesiastics,  and  of  the  highest 
grades  too  ;  witness  Gerbert,  Dunstan,  Albertus,  and  many  others.  The 
first  was  a  French  mechanician  of  the  10th  century,  whose  researches 
led  him  at  that  early  period,  to  experiment  on  steam,  and  on  its  application 
to  produce  music.  He  Mras  successively  archbishop  of  Rheims  and  Ra¬ 
venna,  and  in  999  took  his  seat  in  St.  Peter’s  chair,  and  was  announced 
to  the  world  as  Pope  Sylvester  II.  It  may  now  appear  strange  that 
monks  and  friars,  abbots,  bishops,  archbishops  and  popes,  should  have  been 
among  the  chief  cultivators  of,  and  most  expert  manipulators  in  the  arts, 
and  that  to  them  we  are  greatly  indebted  for  their  preservation  through 
the  dark  ages ;  but,  in  those  times,  it  was  so  far  from  being  considered 
derogatory  in  ecclesiastics  to  work  at  ‘  a  trade,’  that  those  who  did  not,  were 
accounted  unworthy  members  of  the  church ;  hence  monks  were  cooks, 
carpenters,  bakers,  farmers,  turners,  founders,  smiths,  painters,  carvers, 
copyists,  &c.;  all  had  some  occupation,  besides  the  study  of  their  peculiar 


Chap.  13.j 


of  Ecclesiastics. 


106 


duties.  “  Tn  that  famous  colledg,  our  monasterie  of  Bangor,  in  which  there 
were  2100  Christian  philosophers,  that  served  for  the  profit  of  the  people 
in  Christ,  living  by  the  labor  of  their  hands,  according  to  St.  Paul’s  doc- 
trine.”a  This  was  in  the  5th  century,  when  Pelagius  belonged,  to  the 
same  monastery.  In  the  7th,  “almost  all  monks  were  addicted  to  manual 
arts,”  and  according  to  St.  Benedict,  such  only  as  lived  by  their  own  la¬ 
bor,  “were  truly  monks.”b  “ They  made  and  sold  their  wares  to  strangers, 
for  the  use  [benefit]  of  their  monasterie,  yet  somewhat  cheaper  than  others 
sold.”0  Many  of  these  men  naturally  became  expert  workmen,  especially 
in  the  metals — a  branch  of  the  arts  that  seems  to  have  been  a  favorite  one 
with  them ;  hence,  the  best  gold  and  silver  smiths  of  the  times  were  often 
found  in  cloisters ;  and  the  rich  ‘boles,  cups,  chalices,  basens,  lavatories 
of  silver  and  gold,  and  other  precious  furniture’  of  the  churches,  were 
made  by  the  priests  themselves  : — It  may  be  a  question,  whether  they 
were  not  right  in  thus  combining  mental  and  physical  employments;  as 
a  compound  being,  manual  labor  seems  necessary  to  the  full  development 
of  man’s  intellect,  and  to  its  healthy  and  vigorous  exercise.  Dunstan, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  the  10th  century,  was  skilled  in  metallurgical 
operations — he  was  a  working  jeweler,  and  a  brass  founder.  Two  large 
bells  for  the  church  at  Abingdon  were  cast  by  him.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  the  inventor  of  the  Eolian  harp,  an  instrument  whose  spontaneous 
music  induced  the  people  at  that  dark  age,  to  consider  him  a  conjurer — 
hence  the  old  lines — 

St.  Dunstan’s  harp,  fast  by  the  wall, 

Upon  a  pin  did  hang — a; 

The  harp  itself,  with  ty  and  all, 

Untouched  by  hand  did  twang — a. 

The  genius  of  some  led  them  to  cultivate  architecture.  Cathedrals  and 
other  buildings  yet  extant,  attest  their  skill.  Of  celebrated  architects  in 
the  11th  century,  were  Mauritius,  bishop  of  London,  and  Gimdulphus, 
bishop  of  Rochester.  The  latter  visited  the  Holy  Land  previous  to  the 
crusades,  and  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  greatest  builders,  and  the 
most  eminent  castle  architect  of  his  age.  In  the  Towers  of  London  and 
Rochester,  he  left  specimens  of  his  art.  At  page  62,  we  referred  to  the 
remains  of  a  castle  built  by  him,  and  to  his  mode  of  protecting  the  well, 
and  raising  the  water  to  the  different  floors.  In  the  12th  century,  these 
reverend  artists  were  numerous.  In  England,  were  Roger,  bishop  of 
Salisbury,  and  Ernulf,  his  successor — Alexander  of  Lincoln — Henry  De 
Blois  of  Winchester,  and  Roger,  of  York ;  all  of  whom  left  remarkable 
proofs  of  their  proficiency  as  builders.  In  France,  ‘in  sundry  times  the 
ecclesiastics  performed  carving ,  smelting,  painting,  and  mosaic .’  Leo, 
bishop  of  Tours  in  the  6th  century,  ‘was  a  great  artist,  especially  in  car 
pentry.’  St.  Eloy  was  at  first  a  sadler,  then  a  goldsmith,  and  at  last 
bishop  of  Noyan  ;  he  built  a  monastery  near  Limoges,  but  he  was  most 
noted  for  shrines  of  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones.  He  died  in  668. 
The  church  of  Notre  Dame  des  Unes,  in  Flanders,  was  begun  by  Pierre, 
the  7th  abbot,  and  completed  in  1262,  by  Theodoric.  ‘The  whole  church 
was  built  by  the  monks  themselves,  assisted  by  the  lay  brothers  and  their 
servants.’*1 

Luther  was  accustomed  to  turning,  and  kept  a  lathe  in  his  house,  ‘in 
order  to  gain  his  livelihood  by  his  hands,  if  the  word  of  God  failed  to 
support  him.’ 


a  Monastichon  Britannicum,  Lon.  1655.  p.  40.  b  lb.  268.  e  lb.  301 
dEd.  Encyc.  Art.  Civil  Architecture. 


14 


106 


Roode  of  Grace. 


[Book  I 


Those  in  whom  the  ‘  organ  of  constructiveness, ’  or  invention  was  prom¬ 
inent,  produced  among  other  curious  machinery,  speaking  heads,  images  of 
saints,  Sfc.  These,  it  is  believed,  were  imitations  of  similar  contrivances 
in  heathen  temples.  The  statue  of  Serapis  moved  its  eyes  and  lips.  The 
bird  of  Memnon  flapped  his  wings,  and  uttered  sounds.*  It  is  to  be  re¬ 
gretted  that  no  detailed  descriptions  of  these,  and  of  such,  as  were  used 
in  European  churches  previous  to  the  reformation,  have  been  preserved. 
An  account  of  the  ingenious  frauds  of  antiquity  would  be  as  valuable  to  a 
mechanician  as  it  would  be  interesting  to  a  philosopher.  It  would  in  all 
probability  develope  mechanical  combinations  both  novel  and  useful ;  and 
would  include  all  the  mechanism  of  modern  androides ;  and  most  of  the 
deceptions  to  be  derived  from  natural  magic. 

A  famous  image  known  as  the  Roode  of  Grace ,  is  often  mentioned  by 
English  historians.  A  few  scattered  notices  of  it  are  worth  inserting. 
Speed  in  his  history  of  Great  Britain,  (page  790,)  says  “  it  was  by  divers 
vices  [devices]  made  to  how  down,  and  to  lift  up  itselfe,  to  shake,  and  to 
stir  both  head,  hands,  and  feet,  to  rowle  its  eyes,  moove  the  lips,  and  to  bend 
the  brows.”  It  was  destroyed  in  Henry  VIII’s  reign,  being  “  broken  and 
pulled  in  pieces,  so  likewise  the  images  of  our  Lady  of  Walsingham 
and  Ipswich,  set  and  besprinkled  with  jewels,  and  gemmes,  with  divers 
others  both  of  England  and  Wales,  were  brought  to  London,  and  burnt 
at  Chelsea,  before  the  Lord  Crumwell.”  In  the  life  of  the  last  named  in¬ 
dividual  some  further  particulars  of  it  are  given,  and  which  explain  the 
mode  of  operation.  “  Within  the  Roode  of  Grace,  a  man  stood  inclosed 
with  an  hundred  wyers,  wherewith  he  made  the  image  roll  his  eyes,  nod  his 
head,  hang  the  lip,  move  and  shake  his  jaws  ;  according  as  the  value  of 
the  gift  offered,  pleased  or  displeased  the  priest ;  if  it  were  a  small  piece 
of  silver,  he  would  lia.ng  the  lip,  if  it  were  a  good  piece  of  gold,  his  chaps 
would  go  merrily,”  &c.  Cromwell  discovering  the  cheat,  caused  the 
image  “  with  all  his  engines  to  be  openly  showed  at  Paul’s  Cross,  and 
there  to  be  torn  in  pieces  by  the  people.”  Clarke’s  Lives,  Lon.  1675. 
It  would  have  been  a  dangerous  practice  to  have  employed  intelligent 
‘  lay  craftsmen’  in  making  machines  like  this,  or  to  have  engaged  them  in 
*  pulling  the  wires.’  The  shrine  of  Becket  showed  great  proficiency  in 
some  of  the  arts.  It  “  did  abound  with  more  than  princely  riches,  its 
meanest  part  was  pure  gold,  garnished  with  many  precious  stones,  as 
Erasmus  that  saw  it,  hath  written  ;  whereof  the.  chiefest  was  a  rich 
gemme  of  France,  offered  by  king  Lewis,  who  asked  and  obtained  (you 
may  be  sure,  he  buying  it  so  deare)  that  no  passenger  betwixt  Dover  and 
Whitesand  should  perish  by  shipwracke.”  The  bones  of  Becket  were 
laid  in  a  splendid  tomb.-  “  The  timber  work  of  his  shrine  was  covered 
with  plates  of  gold,  damasked  and  embossed  with  wires  of  gold,  garnished 
with  broches,  images ,  angels,  precious  stones,  and  great  orient  pcarles  ;  all 
these  defaced  filled  two  chests,  and  were  for  price,  of  an  unestimable 
value.”  A  catalogue  of  the  miracles  wrought  at  his  shrine  filled  two  folio 
volumes  !b 

a  Sec  Kircher’s  Musurgia  Universalis,  Rome,  1650,  Tom  ii,  p.  413,  for  an  ingenious 
figure  of  such  an  automaton. 

b  Accounts  kept  by  Churchwardens  previous  to  the  reformation  often  exhibit  curious 
information  in  relation  to  the  repairing,  replacing,  and  clothing  of  images,  and  to  the 
sale  of  damaged  or  worn  out  ones,  as  appears  by  the  following  extracts  from  ‘  A  boake 
of  the  stuffe  in  the  cheyrche  of  Holbeche  sowld  by  Cheyrchewardyns  of  the  same,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  injunctyons  of  the  Kvnges  Magyste,  A.  D.  1447.’  The  Trinity  with  the 
Tabernacle,  sold  for  two  shilling  and  fourpence.  The  Tabernacle  of  Nicholas  and  James 
for  six  shillings  and  eight  pence.  “All  the  Apostyls  coats  and  other  raggs,"  for  eight  shil¬ 
lings  and  four  pence.  And  in  1547,  “  XX  score  and  X  hund,  of  latyn,  at  ii.  s.  and  xi.  d. 
the  score.”  This  item  probably  consisted  of  brazen  utensils,  images,  &c.  sold  for  theil 
value  as  old  metal.  Stukely’s  Antiquities.  London  1770,  page  21. 


Chap.  13.] 


Speaking  Tubes. 


107 


Other  devices,  less  complex  than  the  Roode  of  Grace,  but  when  adroitly 
managed,  equally  effective  and  imposing,  consisted  in  the  application  of  se¬ 
cret  tubes,  through  which  sound  might  be  conveyed  from  a  person  at  a  dis¬ 
tance.  Sometimes  the  accomplice  was  concealed  in  the  pedestal,  or  in  the 
statue  itself,  or  in  the  vicinity.  “  The  craftinesse  of  the  inchanters,  (observes 
Peter  Martyr,)  led  them  to  erect  images  against  walles,  and  gave  answer 
through  holes  bored  in  them ;  wherefore  the  people  were  marvellouslie 
amazed  when  they  supposed  the  images  spake.  There  were  dailie  woon- 
ders  wrought  at  the  images  whereby  the  sillie  people  were  in  sundriewise 
seduced.”3  It  was  by  a  trick  of  this  kind,  that  J)unstan  confounded  bis 
adversaries  in  an  important  discussion — the  crucifix  hanging  in  the  church 
opened  its  mouth  and  decided  the  question  in  his  favor.  Numerous  exam¬ 
ples  of  more  recent  times  might  be  given.  We  add  one  from  Keysler’s 
Trav.  Yol.  i,  148  :  A  monk  having  made  a  hole  through  a  wall,  behind  an 
image  of  the  Virgin,  ‘  placed  a  concealed  tube  from  it  to  his  cell ;  and  through 
it  caused  the  image  to  utter  whatever  he  wished  the  people  to  believe.’  By 
such  tubes  figures  of  the  Virgin  have  repeatedly  declared  her  wishes, 
saluted  her  worshippers,  and  returned  their  compliments.  It  was  by  the 
same  device  that  several  statues  of  heathen  deities  performed  prodigies  ; 
that  of  Jupiter  for  example,  which  burst  forth  into  loud  fits  of  laughter. 
Misson’s  Trav.  Vol.  ii,  412. 

Within  ancient  temples,  says  Fosbroke,  was  a  dark  interior,  answering 
to  the  choir  of  modern  cathedrals,  the  Penetrale,  into  which  the  people 
were  not  permitted  to  enter.  When  the  time  of  sacrifice  arrived,  the 
priest  opened  the  doors  that  the  people  might'  see  the  altar  and  victim ; 
for  only  the  priests  and  privileged  persons  entered  into  the  cella,  i.  e.  into 
interior.  Some  temples  admitted  light  only  at  the  door,  for  darkness  was 
deemed  a  most  powerful  aid  to  superstition.  “  The  penetrale  of  the  tem¬ 
ple  of  Isis,  at  Pompeii  is  a  small  pavilion,  raised  upon  steps,  under  which 
is  a  vault,  that  may  have  served  for  oracular  impositions.  A  shrine  of 
this  kind  is  still  open  for  inspection  at  Argos.  In  its  original  state  it  had 
been  a  temple ;  the  further  part  where  the  altar  was,  being  an  excavation 
of  the  rock,  and  the  front  and  roof  constructed  of  baked  tiles.  The  altar 
yet  remains  and  part  of  the  fictile  superstructure,  but  the  most  remarka¬ 
ble  thing  is  a  secret  subterraneous  passage  terminating  behind  the  alta r 
its  entrance  being  at  a  considerable  distance ,  towards  the  right  of  a  person 
facing  the  altar,  and  so  cunningly  contrived  as  to  have  a  small  aperture, 
easily  concealed,  and  level  with  the  surface  of  the  rock.  This  was  barely 
large  enough  to  admit  the  entrance  of  a  single  person,  who  could  creep 
along  to  the  back  of  the  altar,  where  being  hid  by  some  colossal  statue,  or 
other  screen,  the  sound  of  his  voice  would  produce  a  most  impo¬ 
sing  effect  among  the  listening  votaries.”  Antiq.  33.  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that  conjurers  and  chiefs  among  American  Indians,  were  found 
to  practice  similar  cheats.  In  St.  Domingo,  some  Spaniards  having 
abruptly  entered  the  cabin  of  a  cacique,  they  were  astonished  to  hear  an 
idol  apparently  speaking  (in  the  Indian  tongue)  with  great  volubility. 
Suspecting  the  nature  of  the  imposture,  they  broke  the  image,  and  dis¬ 
covered  a  concealed  tube,  which  proceeded  from  it  to  a  distant  corner, 
where  an  Indian  was  hid  under  some  leaves.  It  was  this  man,  speaking 
through  the  tube,  that  made  the  idol  utter,  whatever  he  wished  the  hear¬ 
ers  to  believe.  The  Cacique  prayed  the  Spaniards  to  keep  the  trick 
secret,  as  it  was  by  it,  that  he  secured  tribute  and  kept  his  people  in  sub¬ 
jection.11 

a  Common  Places,  Part  ii,  Chap.  v.  Lon.  1583. 

b  Histoire  Gen&rale.  La  Haye.  1763.  Tom.  18,  p.  229. 


108 


Illuminated  Manuscripts. 


[Book  I, 


Another  device  adopted  by  ecclesiastics,  for  subduing  the  turbulent 
passions  of  their  ignorant  people,  and  exciting  in  them  feelings  of  respect 
for  the  church,  was  by  making  images  of  the  Virgin  and  of  Christ,  to 
zoeep,  and  sometimes  to  sweat  blood,  &c.  These  effects  being,  of  course, 
represented  as  the  result  of  their  impenitence.  ‘  The  fathers  of  Monte 
Vaccino  made  the  wooden  crucifix  sweat  that  was  fastened  to  the  wall 
of  their  church  ;  through  which  they  ha4  a  passage  for  the  water  to  run 
into  the  body  of  the  crucifix,  wherein  they  had  drilled  several  pores,  so 
that  it  passed  through  in  little  drops.’  De  La  Mortraye’s  Trav.  Vol.  i,  23. 
This  was  a  staple  trick  of  heathen  priests ;  hence  Statius,  in  his  Thehaid, 
B.  ix,  v.  906,  represents  the  statue  of  Diana  weeping. 

For  tears  descended  from  the  sculptured  stone. 

And  Lucan, 

The  face  of  grief  each  marble  statue  wears, 

And  Parian  gods  and  heroes  stand  in  tears. 

In  the  temple  of  the  great  Syrian  goddess  at  Hierapolis,  were  idols 
that  could  ‘move,  sweat  and  deliver  oracles  as  if  alive. ’a  Among  an¬ 
cient  chemical  deceptions,  the  liquefaction  of  St.  Januarius’  blood,  is  still 
performed;  and  once  a  year,  all  Naples  is  in  suspense  till  the  miracle  is 
accomplished.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  notice  other  ingenious  ancient 
devices  for  the  same  purposes  of  delusion,  in  the  fourth  Book,  when  speak¬ 
ing  on  the  application  of  steam  to  raise  water. 

Although  the  monks  present  lamentable  examples  of  misdirected  talents 
and  misapplied  time,  their  labors  tended  to  the  general  progress  of  re¬ 
finement  and  learnmg.  We  may  regret  that  unworthy  spirits  among  them 
abused  the  superstitions  of  the  times  to  their  own  advantage — imitating 
the  statesmen  and  priests  of  antiquity,  in  making  the  oracles  declare  what 
they  wished ;  still,  they  were  the  only  lights  of  the  dark  ages,  and  eve« 
their  introduction  of  images  of  saints,  &c.  in  place  of  the  pagan  idols, 
contributed  in  the  end  to  the  overthrow  of  idolatry,  and  was  perhaps  the 
only  condition  on  which  the  barbarous  people,  could  be  induced  to  give 
up  their  ancient  deities.  ‘It  can  hardlie  be  credited,’  says  Peter  Martyr, 
*  with  how  greate  labor  and  difficultie,  man  could  be  brought  from  the  wor¬ 
shipping  of  images.’ 

Another  class  devoted  themselves  to  writing  and  copying,  that  is,  to  the 
art  of  multiplying  books ;  and  their  industry  and  skill  have  never  been, 
and  in  all  human  probability,  never  will  be  surpassed.  The  beauty,  uni¬ 
formity  and  effect  of  their  pages,  are  equal  to  those  of  any  printed  volume. 
The  richness  of  the  illuminated  letters,  the  fertility  of  imagination  dis¬ 
played  in  their  endlessly  variegated  forms,  the  brightness  of  the  colors 
and  gilding,  and  the  minuteness  of  finish,  can  only  be  appreciated  by 
those  who  have  had  opportunities  of  examining  them.  We  have  seen 
some  in  which  the  illustrations  equalled  the  finest  paintings  in  miniature.1* 
In  a  literary  and  useful  point  of  view,  the  labors  of  these  men  are  above 
all  praise.  They  were  the  channels  through  which  many  valuable  works 
of  the  ancients  have  been  preserved  and  transmitted  to  us.  And  as  re¬ 
gards  the  arts,  both  ornamental  and  useful,  the  monks  were  at  one  time 
almost  their  only  cultivators. 


a  Univer.  Hist,  i,  373. 


bIn  the  Library  of  John  Allan,  Esq.  of  this  city. 


Chap  14.J 


Wheels  for  raising  Water. 


109 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Wheels  for  raising  water — Machines  described  by  Vitruvius — Tympanum — De  La  Faye’s  improve¬ 
ment — Scoop  Wheel — Chinese  Noria — Roman  do. — Egyptian  do. — Noria  with  Pots — Supposed  origin  ot 
Toothed  Wheels — Substitute  for  wheels  and  pinions — Persian  Wheels  Common  in  Syria — Large  ones 
at  Hamath — Various  modes  of  propelling  the  Noria  by  men  and  animals — Early  employment  of  the  lat¬ 
ter  to  raise  water.  Antiquity  of  the  Noria — Supposed  to  be  the  ‘Wheel  of  Fortune’ — An  appropriate 
emblem  of  abundance  in  Egypt — Sphinx — Lions’  Heads — Vases — Cornucopia — Ancient  emblems  of 
irrigation — Medea:  Inventressof  Vapor  Baths — Ctesibius — Metallic  and  glass  mirrors — Barbers. 

Having  examined  such  devices  for  raising  water,  as  from  their  sim¬ 
plicity  have  been  generally  unnoticed  in  treatises  on  hydraulic  machines, 
we  proceed  to  others  more  complex ;  and  first,  to  such  as  revolve  round 
the  centres  from  which  they  are  suspended,  and  which  have  a  continuous 
instead  of  an  alternating  motion.  Although  differing  in  these  respects  and 
in  their  form,  from  the  jantu  or  vibrating  gutter  and  the  swape,  they  will  be 
found  essentially  the  same;  their  change  of  figure  being  more  apparent  than 
real,  and  merely  consequent  on  the  new  movement  imparted  to  them.  As 
these  machines  are  obviously  of  later  date  than  the  preceding,  it  may  per¬ 
haps  be  supposed,  that  the  period  of  their  introduction  might  be  ascer¬ 
tained  ;  but  so  it  is,  that  with  scarcely  an  exception,  the  time  when,  place 
where,  and  the  persons  by  whom,  they  were  invented,  are  absolutely 
unknown.  / 

Although  allusions  to  machines  for  raising  water  are  found  in  several 
of  their  authors,  it  does  not  appear,  that  any  general  account  or  compre¬ 
hensive  treatise  of  them,  was  ever  written  by  the  ancients.  If  such  a 
work  was  executed,  it  has  perished  in  the  general  wreck  of  ancient  re¬ 
cords.  About  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  a  Roman  architect  and 
engineer,  published  a  treatise  on  those  professions,  in  which  he  inserted  a 
brief  description  of  some  hydraulic  engines.  This  is  the  only  ancient  work 
extant  which  treats  professedly  of  them ;  and  the  whole  that  relates  to  them 
might  be  included  in  two  pages  of  this  volume. 

The  machines  described  by  Vitruvius,  for  it  is  to  him  we  allude,  are 
the  Tympanum,  Noria,  Chain  of  Pots,  the  Screw,  and  the  Machine  of 
Ctesibius  or  Pump.  He  has  not  mentioned  the  jantu,  swape,  the  cord  and 
bucket,  with  the  various  modes  of  using  the  latter;  probably,  because  he 
considered  these  too  simple  in  their  construction  to  be  properly  classed 
among  hydraulic  machinery;  he  therefore  passed  by  them,  and  modern  au¬ 
thors  have  generally  followed  his  example.  Notwithstanding  the  omission 
of  these,  there  are  circumstances  which  render  it  probable  that  his  ac¬ 
count,  brief  as  it  is,  includes  all  the  principal  machines  that  were  used  by 
the  nations  of  the  old  world,  if  we  except  China.  He  wrote  at  a  period  the 
most  favorable  for  acquiring  and  transmitting  to  posterity,  a  pei’fect  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  mechanic  arts  of  the  ancient  civilized  nations  ;  for  he  flourished 
during  the  last  scenes  of  the  mighty  drama,  when  Rome  had  become  the  ar- 
bitress  of  the  world,  and  the  enlightened  nations  of  the  east — their  wealth, 
learning,  arts  and  artisans,  were  prostrate  at  her  feet;  so  that  if  we  were  to 
suppose,  absurd  as  it  would  be,  that  the  previous  intercourse  of  the  Ro¬ 
mans  with  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  Carthage  and  Greece,  had  not  made  them  fa¬ 
miliar  with  the  arts  of  those  countries,  nothing  could  have  prevented  them 
from  possessing  such  knowledge  when  they  became  Roman  provinces—- 


110 


The  Tympanum. 


[Book  1 


hence  we  infer,  that  if  there  had  been  in  use  in  any  of  those  countries, 
(for  some  centuries  previous  to  or  during  the  life  time  of  Vitruvius,  and  he 
was  an  old  man  when  he  published  his  work ;)  any  efficient  machine  for 
raising  water,  different  from  those  he  has  described,  it  would  have  been 
known  to  the  Romans,  and  would  have  been  noticed  by  him.  Moreover, 
he  was  evidently  familiar  with  the  inventions  of  the  mechanicians  of  for¬ 
mer  ages  and  frequently  refers  to  them  ;  and  as  all  the  machines  described 
by  him,  were  of  foreign  origin,  and  most  of  them  of  such  high  antiquity 
as  to  reach  back  to  ages  anterior  to  the  birth  of  Romulus  and  the  founda¬ 
tion  of  Rome ;  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  important  one  has 
escaped  him:  to  which  we  may  add,  if  any  useful  machine  for  raising  wa¬ 
ter  had  originated  with  his  countrymen,  he  would  scarcely  have  failed  to 
record  the  fact. 

The  tympanum  consists  of  a  series  of  gutters  united  at  their  open  ends 
to  a  horizontal  shaft,  which  is  made  hollow  at  one  end  and  placed  a  little 
higher  than  where  the  water  is  to  be  elevated  ;  the  gutters  are  arranged 
as  radii,  and  are  of  sufficient  length  to  extend  from  the  shaft  to  a  short 
distance  below  the  surface  of  the  water,  as  represented  in  the  annexed  di¬ 
agram. 

S,  the  shaft ;  G,  G,  the  gutters  ;  A,  a  trough 
to  take  away  the  water.  The  arrow  indicates 
the  direction  in  which  the  wheel  turns  ;  each  gut¬ 
ter,  as  it  revolves  scoops  up  a  portion  of  water 
and  elevates  it,  till  by  the  inclination  to  the  axle, 
it  flows  towards  the  latter,  and  is  discharged 
through  one  end  of  it. 

Were  the  machine  made  as  thus  represented,  i.e. 
of  separate  gutters  and  not  connected  to  each  other 
it  could  not  be  durable,  as  the  weight  of  water 
raised  at  the  end  of  each  would  have  a  tendency 
No.  44.  Tympanum.  to  break  them  at  their  junction  with  the  shaft. 

The  ancients  therefore  made  two  strong  disks 
of  plank  well  jointed  together,  of  the  diameter  of  the  intended  wheel,  these 
they  secured  on  a  shaft,  at  a  distance  from  each  other,  proportionate  to 
the  quantity  of  water  required  to  be  raised.  Any  number  of  plank  par¬ 
titions  (Vitruvius  says  eight)  were  then  inserted  in  the  direction  of  radii 
between  these  disks,  and  were  well  secured  to  them,  and  made  tight  by 
caulking  and  pitch.  The  spaces  between  them,  at  the  circumference  of 
the  wheel,  were  also  closed,  with  the  exception  of  an  opening  left  for  the 
admission  of  water  to  each;  and  where  each  partition  joined  the  shaft,  a 
hollow  channel  was  formed  in  the  latter,  parallel  to  the  axis,  through  which 
the  water  was  discharged  into  a  trough  or  gutter  placed  immediately  un¬ 
der  it.  The  tympanum  is  obviously  a  modification  of  the  jantu  of  India, 
or  rather  it  is  a  number  of  them  combined,  and  having  a  revolving  instead 
of  a  vibratory  movement.  It  is  the  first  machine  described  by  Vitruvius  ; 
of  which  he  observes,  “  it  does  not  raise  the  water  high,  but  it  discharges 
a  great  quantity  in  a  short  time.”  B.  x,  Cap.  9.  From  its  resemblance 
to  a  dtum  or  tabor,  it  was  named  by  the  Romans  Tympanum. 

The  prominent  defect  of  the  tympanum  arises  from  the  water  being 
always  at  the  extremity  of  a  radius  of  the  wheel,  by  which  its  resistance 
increases  as  it  ascends  to  a  level  with  the  axis ;  being  raised  at  the  end  of 
levers  which  virtually  lengthen  till  the  water  is  discharged  from  them. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose,  that  this  defect  if  perceived  at  all,  by  an¬ 
cient  mechanicians,  was  ever  remedied  by  them  ;  to  most  persons,  the  idea 
would  never  occur,  that  so  simple  a  machine  could  be  essentially  improv 


Chap.  14.] 


Ill 


The  Tympanum  and  Scoop  Wheel. 

ed,  and  its  having  been  described  as  represented  in  the  last  figure  by  a 
Roman  philosopher  and  engineer ;  it  was  most  likely  used  as  thus  con¬ 
structed,  through  the  remote  ages  of  antiquity,  to  the  early  part  of  the  last 
century,  when  a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  of  France, 
M.  De  La  Faye,  developed  by  geometrical  reasoning,  a  beautiful  and 
truly  philosophical  improvement.  It  is  described  by  Belidor,  (Tom.ii,  385, 


No,  45.  Tympanum  improved  by  La  Faye. 


oiil,)  together  with  the  process  of  reasoning  that  led  to  it  “  When  the 
circumference  of  a  circle  is  developed  ;  a  curve  is  described,  (the  invo¬ 
lute)  of  which  all  the  radii  are  so  many  tangents  to  the  circle  ;  and  are 
likewise  all  respectively  perpendicular  to  the  several  points  of  the  curve  de¬ 
scribed,  which  has  for  its  greatest  radius,  a  line  equal  to  the  periphery  of 
the  circle  evolved.  Hence,  having  an  axle  whose  circumference  a  little 
exceeds  the  height  which  the  water  is  proposed  to  be  elevated,  let  the 
circumference  of  the  axle  be  evolved,  and  make  a  curved  canal,  whose 
curvature  shall  coincide  throughout  exactly  with  that  of  the  involute  just 
formed ;  if  the  further  extremity  of  this  canal  be  made  to  enter  the  water 
that  is  to  be  elevated,  and  the  other  extremity  abut  upon  the  shaft  which 
is  turned  ;  then  in  the  course  of  rotation,  the  water  will  rise  in  a  vertical 
direction,  tangential  to  the  shaft,  and  perpendicular  to  the  canal,  in  what¬ 
ever  position  it  may  be.”  See  No.  45. 

The  above  figure  from  Belidor,  is  composed 
of  four  tube3  only,  but  it  is  frequently  con¬ 
tracted  with  double  the  number.  Instead  of 
tubes,  curved  partitions  between  the  closed  sides 
of  the  wheel  are  oftener  used,  as  in  the  scoop 
wheel — which  consists  of  a  number  of  semi¬ 
circular  partitions,  extending  from  the  axle  to 
the  circumference  of  a  large  flat  cylinder.  As 
it  revolves  in  the  direction  of  the  arrows,  the  ex¬ 
tremities  of  the  partitions  dip  into  the  water, 
and  scoop  it  up,  and  as  they  ascend,  discharge 
No.  46.  Scoop  Wheel.  it  into  a  trough  placed  under  one  end  of  the 
shaft,  which  is  hollowed  into  as  many  compart¬ 
ments  as  there  are  partitions  or  scoops.  Wheels  of  this  description,  and 
propelled  by  steam,  are  extensively  used  to  drain  the  fens  of  Lincolnshire. 


112 


The  Chinese  Noria. 


[Book  I. 


THE  NORIA  OR  EGYPTIAN  WHEEL. 

The  tympanum  has  been  described  as  an  assemblage  of  gutters,  and 
the  Noria  may  be  considered  as  a  number  of  revolving  swapes.  It  con¬ 
sists  of  a  series  of  poles  united  like  the  arms  of  a  wheel  to  a  horizontal 
shaft.  To  the  extremity  of  each,  a  vessel  is  attached,  which  fills  as  it  dips 
into  the  water,  and  is  discharged  into  a  reservoir  or  gutter  at  the  upper 
part  of  the  circle  which  it  describes.  See  No.  47.  Hence,  the  former 
raises  water  only  through  half  a  diameter,  while  this  elevates  it  through 
a  whole  one.  The  idea  of  thus  connecting  a  number  of  poles  with  their 
buckets,  must  have  early  occurred  to  the  agricultural  machinists  of  Asia. 
The  advantages  of  such  an  arrangement  being  equally  obvious  as  in  the 
tympanum.  The  means  that  naturally  suggested  themselves,  of  strength¬ 
ening  a  number  of  poles  thus  arranged,  gradually  brought  these  machines 
into  the  form  of  wheels.  Sometimes,  a  rude  ring  was  formed,  to  which 
the  exterior  ends  were  secured  ;  at  others,  disks  of  plank  were  adopted, 
and  the  vessels  were  attached  either  to  the  sides  or  rim,  and  sometimes  to 
both. 


The  Chinese  make  the  noria,  in  what  would  seem  to  have  been  its  pri¬ 
mitive  form  ;  and  with  an  admirable  degree  of  economy,  simplicity,  and 
skill.  With  the  exception  of  the  axle  and  two  posts  to  support  it,  the 
whole  is  of  bamboo,  and  not  a  nail  used  in  its  construction.  Even  the 
vessels,  are  often  joints  of  the  same,  being  generally  about  four  feet  long 
and  two  or  three  inches  in  diameter.  They  are  attached  to  the  poles  by 
ligatures  at  such  an  angle,  as  to  fill  nearly  when  in  the  water,  and  to  dis¬ 
charge  their  contents  when  at,  or  near  the  top.  See  No.  48. 

The  periphery  of  the  wheel  is  composed  of  three  rings  of  unequal  di¬ 
ameter,  and  so  arranged,  as  to  form  a  frustrum  of  a  cone.  The  smallest 
one,  to  which  the  open  ends  of  the  tubes  are  attached,  being  next  the  bank 
over  which  the  water  is  conveyed.  By  this  arrangement,  their  contents 
are  necessarily  discharged  into  the  gutter  as  they  pass  the  end  of  it 
When  employed  to  raise  water  from  running  streams,  they  are  propelled 
by  the  current  in  the  usual  way — the  paddles  being  formed  of  woven 
bamboo.  The  sizes  of  these  wheels,  vary  from  twenty  to  seventy  feet  in 


Egyptian  Noria. 


113 


Chap.  14.] 


diameter.  According  to  Staunton,  some  raise  over  three  hundred  tons  of 
water  in  twenty-four  hours.  A  writer  in  the  Chinese  Repository,  men¬ 
tions  others  which  raise  a  hundred  and  fifty  tons  to  the  height  of  forty 
feet,  during  the  same  time.  They  combine  strength  and  lightness  in  a  re¬ 
markable  degree.® 

The  mode  of  constructing  and  moving  the  noria  by  the  Romans,  is 
thus  described  by  Vitruvius  :  “When  water  is  to  be  raised  higher,  than 
by  the  tympanum,  a  wheel  is  made  round  an  axis,  of  such  a  magnitude, 
as  the  height  to  which  the  water  is  to  be  raised  requires.  Around  the  ex¬ 
tremity  of  the  side  of  the  wheel,  square  buckets  cemented  with  pitch  and 
wax  are  fixed  ;  so  that  when  the  wheel  is  turned  by  the  walking  of  men, 
the  filled  buckets  being  raised  to  the  top,  and  turning  again  toward  the 
bottom,  discharge  of  themselves  what  they  have  brought  into  the  reser¬ 
voir.”  B.  x,  Cap.  9.  Newton’s  Trans.  As  the  drawings  made  by  Vi¬ 
truvius  himself,  and  annexed  to  his  work  are  all  lost,  his  translators  do 
not  always  agree  respecting  the  precise  form  of  the  machines  described 
by  him.  Newton  has  figured  the  noria  as  a  large  drum,  to  one  side  of  which 
square  boxes  or  buckets  are  secured.  These  buckets  are  closed  on  all 
sides,  with  the  exception  of  an  opening  to  admit  and  discharge  the  water. 
Perault  has  placed  them  on  the  paddles  or  floats  of  an  undershot  wheel, 
like  Barbaro,  except  that  the  latter  makes  the  bottom  of  the  boxes  or 
buckets  serve  at  the  same  time  as  paddles  to  receive  the  impulse  of  the 
stream.  Rivius,  in  his  German  Translation,  (Nuremburgh  1548,)  has  given 
one  figure  resembling  an  overshot  wheel  with  the  motion  reversed,  a  form 
in  which  it  is  still  sometimes  made ;  in  another,  it  is  similar  to  the  noria 
of  Egypt  at  the  present  day,  a  modification  of  it,  probably  of  great  antiquity. 


No.  49.  Egyptian  Noria. 


Instead  of  pots  or  other  vessels  secured  to  the  arms  by  ligatures,  or 
buckets  attached  to  the  sides  of  a  wheel,  as  described  by  Vitruvius,  the 
periphery  of  the  wheel  itself  is  made  hollow,  and  is  divided  into  a  number 
of  cells,  or  compartments,  which  answer  the  same  purpose  as  separate  ves- 


*Van  Braam’s  Journal,  i,  172.  Ellis’s  Journal  of  Amherst's  Embassy,  250.  Chinese 
Repository,  iii,  125. 


15 


114 


Noria  with  Pots. 


[Book  ] 

sels.  The  figure  No.  49,  is  taken  from  the  Grande  Description  of  Egypt. 
Plate  3,  Tom.  2,  E.  M.  It  was  sketched  from  one  near  Rosetta,  which  raised 
the  water  nine  feet.  The  liquid  enters  through  openings  in  the  rim,  and 
is  discharged  from  those  on  the  sides.  The  arrow  shows  the  direction  in 
which  it  moves.  The  section  of  part  of  the  rim,  will  render  the  internal 
construction  obvious.  Mr.  P.  S.  Girard,  author  of  the  Memoir  on  the 
Agriculture  of  the  Egyptians,  says  they  are  extensively  used  in  the  Delta, 
the  cog  wheels  being  very  rudely  formed. 

The  tympanum  may  be  considered  as  a  wheel  with  hollow  spokes, 
while  the  noria,  as  above  constructed,  is  one  with  hollow  felloes ,  a  term  by 
which  it  is  designated  in  French  authors:  ‘  Roue  a  jante  creuses,’  a  name 
very  expressive,  and  one  which,  in  the  absence  of  information  respecting 
the  construction  of  this  machine,  might  enable  a  mechanic  to  make  it. 

In  various  parts  of  Asia,  Greece,  Turkey,  Spain,  &c.  Earthenware 
jars  or  pots,  are  secured  to  the  rim  or  side  of  the  wheel,  as  in  No.  50. 
Every  farm  and  garden  in  Catalonia,  says  Arthur  Young,  has  such  a  ma¬ 
chine  to  raise  water  for  the  purpose  of  irrigating  the  soil.  They  are  pro¬ 
pelled  by  horses,  oxen,  mules,  and  sometimes  by  men.  In  Spain,  the 
noria  has  remained  unaltered  from  remote  times.  It  is  there  still  moved 

by  means  of  a  device  which 
probably  gave  rise  to  toothed 
wheels. 

In  the  axle  of  the  noria  are  in¬ 
serted  two,  (and  sometimes  four) 
strong  sticks  which  cross  each  oth¬ 
er  at  right  angles,  forming  arms 
or  spokes.  The  part  of  the  shaft 
in  which  these  are  fixed,  extends 
nearly  to  the  centre  of  the  path, 
round  which  the  animal  walks ;  and 
contiguous  to  it,  is  the  vertical 
shaft  to  which  the  yoke  or  beam 
is  attached :  the  bottom  of  this  shaft 
has  spokes  inserted  into  it  similar 
to  the  former,  and  which  take  hold 
of  them  in  succession,  and  thereby 
keep  the  wheel  or  noria  in  rota¬ 
tion.  See  No.  50.  This  rude  con¬ 
trivance  is  common  through  all 
the  east,  and  is  in  all  probability 
identical  with  those  of  the  early 
ages ;  in  other  words,  the  primitive 
substitute  of  the  modern  cog 

No.  50.  Noria  with  Pots.  wheel 

In  Besson’s  ‘  Theatre  Des  Instrumens’  is  an  ingenious  device  by  which 
a  horizontal  shaft  with  four  spokes,  as  in  the-  last  figure,  can  impart  motion 
to  a  vertical  one,  at  any  distance  from  the  centre,  and  thereby  answer  the 
purpose  of  a  number  of  wheels  and  pinions  in  modifying  the  velocity  of 
the  machinery,  according  to  the  work  it  has  to  perform,  or  to  an  increase 
or  diminution  of  the  motive  force  employed.  On  the  horizontal  shaft, 
(which  is  turned  by  a  crank,)  is  a  sliding  socket  to  which  the  spokes  are 
secured.  The  vertical  shaft  lias  also  a  similar  socket,  which  is  raised  and 
lowered  by  means  of  a  screw,  and  to  it,  arms  and  spokes  are  well  secur¬ 
ed.  These  are  arranged  in  the  form  of  a  flat  cone  ;  so  that  by  adjusting 
the  sockets,  the  spokes  in  the  horizontal  shaft  can  be  made  to  take  hold 


Persian  Wheel. 


115 


Chap.  14.] 


on  those  which  form  the  cone  round  the  vertical  one  at  any  part,  from  its 
apex  to  its  base. 

Two  prominent  defects  have  been  pointed  out  in  the  noria.  First,  part 
of  the  water  escapes  after  being  raised  nearly  to  the  required  elevation. 
Second,  a  large  portion  is  raised  higher  than  the  reservoir  placed  to  re¬ 
ceive  it,  into  which  it  is  discharged  after  the  vessels  begin  to  descend. 
(See  No.  49,  in  which  they  are  very  conspicuous.)  Consequently,  part 
of  the  power  expended  in  moving  this  wheel,  produces  no  useful  effect. 
These  imperfections,  however,  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  ancient  me¬ 
chanicians,  for  to  obviate  them,  the  Persian  wheel  was  devised,  and  so 
named  from  its  having  been  invented  or  extensively  used  in  that  country. 

The  vessels  in  which  the  water  is 
raised,  instead  of  being  fastened  to  the 
rim,  or  forming  part  of  it,  as  in  the 
preceding  figures,  are  suspended  from 
pins,  on  which  they  turn,  and  thereby 
retain  a  vertical  position  through  their 
entire  ascent ;  and  when  at  the  top  are 
inverted  by  their  lower  part  coming  in 
contact  with  a  pin  or  roller  attached  to 
the  edge  of  the  gutter  or  reservoir,  as 
represented  in  the  figure.  By  this  ar¬ 
rangement  no  water  escapes  in  rising, 

|  nor  is  it  elevated  any  higher  than  the 
edge  of  the  reservoir;  hence  the  defects 
in  the  noria  are  avoided.  Persian  wheels 
it  is  believed,  have  been  used  in  Eu¬ 
rope  ever  since  the  Romans  ruled 
over  it,  if  not  before.  The  greatest  work  in  France  according  to  Arthur 
Young,  for  the  artificial  irrigation  of  land,  was  a  series  of  them  in  Lan¬ 
guedoc,  which  raised  the  water  thirty  feet.  In  a  Dutch  translation  of 
Virgil’s  Georgies  in  1682,  they  are  represented  with  huge  buckets  like 
barrels,  suspended  from  both  sides  of  the  rim.  They  are  common  in 
Switzerland  and  the  Tyrol.  Travels  in  Poland  by  D’Ulanski,  page  241. 
They  were  extensively  used  in  England  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 
See  Diet.  Rusticum.  Lon.  1704.  We  are  not  aware  of  their  being  much 
employed,  if  at  all,  in  the  United  States. 

They  are  common  in  various  parts  of  Asia.  “The  water  wheels  still 
used  in  Syria,”  says  Mr.  Barrow,  “  differ  only  from  those  of  China,  by 
having  loose  buckets  suspended  at  the  circumference,  instead  of  fixed 
tubes.”a  Dr.  Russel,  in  his  ‘Natural  History  of  Aleppo,’  (p.  20,)  says  the 
inhabitants  make  use  of  large  quantities  of  water,  “  which  they  raise  with 
the  Persian  wheel,”  from  the  river.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  speci¬ 
mens  of  these  machines  extant,  are  to  be  found  in  another  and  very  ancient 
city  of  Syria;  in  Hamath  on  the  Orontes,  so  named  after  its  founder,  one 
of  the  sons  of  Canaan.  “Two  days  journey  below  Homs,  (says  Volney) 
is  Hamath,  celebrated  in  Syria  for  its  water  works.  The  wheels  are 
the  largest  in  the  country,  being  thirty-two  feet  in  diameter.”  The  city  is 
built  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  is  supplied  with  water  from  it  by 
means  of  them,  the  buckets  of  which  empty  themselves  into  stone  aque¬ 
ducts,  supported  on  lofty  arches  on  a  level  with  the  ground  on  which  the 
city  stands.  They  are  propelled  by  the  current.  Burckhardt  observed  about 
a  dozen  of  them,  the  largest  he  says,  “is  called  Naoura  el  Mahommeyde, 


No.  51.  Persian  Wheel. 


“Embassy  to  China,  Lon.  1806.  p.  540. 


116 


[Book  1 


Modes  of  propelling  the  Noria. 

and  is  at  least  seventy  feet.”a  They  are,  he  remarks,  the  greatest  curiosity 
which  a  modern  traveler  can  find  in  the  city.  Their  enormous  magnitude 
will  be  apparent,  if  we  consider  that  the  loftiest  class  of  buildings  in  this 
city,  (N.  York,)  those  of  six  stories,  seldom  exceed  sixty  feet.  If  there¬ 
fore,  the  largest  of  the  Persian  wheels  at  Hamath,  were  placed  on  the 
pavement,  with  its  side  towards  a  range  of  such  buildings,  it  would  oc¬ 
cupy  a  space  nearly  equal  to  the  fronts  of  three  of  them,  and  would  ex¬ 
tend  several  feet  over  the  roofs  of  the  highest — and  twelve  of  them  would 
occupy  a  street,  one  sixth  of  a  mile  in  length. 

The  construction  of  the  water  works  of  Hamath  have  probably  re¬ 
mained  unaltered  in  their  general  design,  from  very  remote  times.  The 
peculiar  location  of  this  city,  the  rapidity  of  the  river,  (named  El  Ausi, 
the  swift,)  and  its  consequent  adaptation  to  propel  undei'shot  wheels,  which 
we  know,  were  used  in  such  works  by  the  ancients,  render  it  probable 
that  the  present  mode  of  raising  water,  is  much  the  same  as  when  this  city 
flourished  under  Solomon;  and  when  the  Romans  under  Aurelius,  over¬ 
threw  the  queen  of  Palmyra  and  her  army,  in  its  immediate  vicinity;  and 
from  the  great  antiquity  of  the  noria,  its  extensive  use  over  all  Asia  in 
former  ages,  and  its  peculiar  adaptation  to  Hamath,  and  the  tenacious  ad¬ 
herence  of  the  orientals  to  the  devices  of  their  forefathers;  we  infer  that 
the  machines  which  Burckhardt  beheld  with  admiration,  raising  the  water 
of  the  Orontes,  were  similar  to  others  in  use  at  the  same  city,  when  the 
spies  of  Moses,  searched  the  land,  ‘  from  the  wilderness  of  Zin  unto  Rehob, 
as  men  come  to  IIamath.’b  These  wheels  may  be  cited  as  another  proof  of 
the  preservation,  (by  continual  use)  of  hydraulic  machines,  while  every 
other  memorial  of  the  people  by  whom  they  were  originally  used,  has 
long  since  disappeared. 

Modes  of  propelling  the  noria. — The  tympanum,  noria,  chain  of 
pots,  and  even  the  screw,  were  often  turned,  according  to  Vitruvius,  by 
the  ‘  treading’  or  ‘  walking  of  men,’  i.  e.  except  when  employed  to  raise 
water  from  rapid  streams,  in  which  case  they  were  propelled,  he  says,  by 
the  current  acting  on  float  boards  or  paddles,  as  in  common  under-shot 
wheels.  There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  among  his  translators  respecting 
the  mode  by  which  men  moved  these  machines.  Rivius,  the  translator  of 
the  German  edition  of  1548,  seems  to  have  thought  that  they  walked  round 
an  upright  shaft,  (as  in  figs.  26  and  53,)which  they  turned  by  horizontal 
bars,  and  by  means  of  cog  wheels  communicated  the  required  motion. 
He  has  also  represented  the  noria  as  moved  by  men  turning  a  crank ;  a 
mode  of  propelling  it  that  is  figured  in  the  first  German  edition  of  Ve- 
getius,  (1511.)  Barbaro,  (1567,)  represents  the  tympanum  as  moved  by 
a  crank;  the  noria  by  a  current  of  water;  and  the  chain  of  pots,  by  a 
tread  wheel,  like  the  one  figured  in  No.  24.  Reravlt,  also,  in  his  figure  of 


aTravels  in  Syria,  and  the  Holy  Land.  Lon.  1822,  p.  146. 

b  There  are  several  interesting  circumstances  recorded  respecting  Hamath.  This  city 
and  Damascus  were  frequently  subject  to  the  Jews.  The  ‘  land  of  Hamath,'  was  par¬ 
ticularly  fatal  to  them  and  their  kings.  Zedekiah  was  there  taken,  and  his  sons  and  no¬ 
bles  slain  in  his  presence;  his  own  eyes  were  then  put  out,  and  he  was  carried  a  captive  to 
Babylon,  wheie  he  died.  Jer.  xxxix,  5.  Pharaoh  Necho  there  put  Jehoahaz,  another  of 
their  kings  in  bonds,  whence  he  was  taken  a  prisoner  to  Egypt,  and  confined  till  his 
death.  2  Kings  xxiii,  34.  Among  the  most  interesting  discoveries  of  modern  times, 
connected  with  the  ancient  history  of  this  people,  are  sculptured  representations  at 
Thebes,  of  the  Jews  captured  by  Shishak,  with  the  hieroglyphical  inscription,  ‘  Jo 
houda  Melee,’  king  of  the  Jews.  From  the  discoveries  of  Young  and  Champollion 
the  precision  with  which  the  dates  are  determined,  is  wonderful ;  ‘  many  of  the  sculp 
tures  have  the  dates  inscribed  to  the  day  and  the  month.’  The  figure  of  the  Jewish 
king,  is  supposed  to  be  a  correct  portrait,  for  we  are  told  in  those  of  the  Egyptian  nio- 
narchs,  “  the  likenesses  are  always  exactly  preserved.” 


117 


Chap.  14.]  Early  employment  of  Animals  to  raise  Water. 

the  tympanum,  places  the  men  in  a  similar  one,  and  this  interpretation  of 
the  text  has  been  generally  followed.  It  is  corroborated  by  other  ancient 
authors,  and  by  Vitruvius  himself,  in  Book  x,  cap.  4,  where  he  speaks  of 
a  wheel  to  raise  weights,  ‘by  the  walking  of  men  therein,’  that  is,  the 
common  walking  crane.  Philo,  who  was  contemporary  with  Vitruvius, 
or  flourished  shortly  after  him,  mentions  a  wheel  for  raising  water,  which 
was  turned  by  the  motion  of  men’s  feet,  ‘by  their  ascending  successively 
the  several  steps  that  are  within  it.’  Tread  wheels  are  mentioned  also 
by  Suetonius,  and  Strabo  speaks  of  some  for  raising  the  water  of  the  Nile, 
which  were  moved  by  a  hundred  and  fifty  slaves.  Mr.  Newton,  the  En¬ 
glish  translator,  supposed  the  men  walked  on  the  outside  of  the  wheel, 
like  the  modern  tread  mill.  It  is  very  probable  that  this  mode  was  in 
use  among  the  ancients,  for  it  is  common  in  Persia  and  other  oriental 
countries,  particularly  China,  where  it  is  undoubtedly  of  great  antiquity. 
Barbaro  has  figured  the  screw,  as  propelled  by  men  pulling  down  spokes 
on  the  periphery  of  a  wheel  attached  to  it,  or  by  treading  on  them. 

About  eighteen  years  ago,  a  person  in  this  city,  (N.  York,)  took  out  a 
patent  for  employing  animals  to  propel  such  wheels.  A  horse  was  placed 
near  the  top  and  yoked  to  a  horizontal  beam  fixed  behind,  and  against 
which  he  drew.  In  January,  1795,  a  Mr.  Eckhardt  obtained  a  patent  in 
England  for  ‘A  Method  of  applying  Animals  to  Machinery  in  general.’ 
His  plan  was  to  employ  cattle  and  all  other  bulky  animals  to  walk  on  the 
top  of  large  wheels ;  he  also  proposed  a  flexible  floor,  like  an  endless  chain, 
which  passed  over  two  wheels,  and  formed  an  inclined  plane  on  which 
animals  walked,  and  to  increase  the  effect,  they  drew  a  loaded  cart  be¬ 
hind  them.a  Sixty  years  before  this,  viz.  in  1734,  Mr.  W.  Churchman 
exhibited  before  the  Royal  Society,  a  model  of  ‘A  new  Engine  for 
raising  Water,  in  which  Horses  and  other  Animals  draw  without  any  loss 
of  power.’  This  engine  was  a  series  of  pumps  worked  by  a  large  tread 
wheel,  on  the  top  of  which  horses  were  made  to  draw  against  a  beam  to 
which  they  were  yoked.  He  also  proposed  to  employ  horses  at  the  same 
time  within  the  wheel.b  But  the  contrivance  was  even  then  an  old  one,  for 
in  Agricola,  a  horse  is  figured  imparting  motion  to  bellows  by  walking 
upon  a  tread  wheel.0 

There  is  a  passage  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Koran,  which  throws 
some  light  on  the  early  employment  of  animals  in  raising  water.  Among 
the  ancients,  it  was  a  prevailing  custom  when  they  sacrificed  an  ox,  or  a 
heifer,  to  select  such  as  had  never  been  broken  to  labor  :  hence  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  Sibyl  to  Eneas. 

Seven  bullocks  yet  unyoked,  for  Phoebus  choose, 

And  for  Diana,  seven  unspotted  ewes. 

The  Israelites  also,  were  instructed  to  offer  “  a  red  heifer  without  spot 
wherein  is  no  blemish,  and  upon  which  never  came  yoke''  “  An  heifer 
which  hath  not  been  wrought  with,  and  which  hath  not  drawn  in  the  yoke.” 
One  which,  according  to  Mahomet,  was  “  not  broken  to  plough  the  earth, 
or  water  the  field."  Now  this  interpretation  is  not  only  consistent  with 
the  text  of  Moses,  but  is  exceedingly  probable,  for  the  Arabs  have  un¬ 
doubtedly  preserved  with  their  independence  and  ancient  habits,  traditions 
of  numerous  transactions  referred  to  in  the  Pentateuch,  the  particulars  of 
which  are  not  recorded  ;  besides  it  indicates,  what  indeed  might  have 
been  inferred  :  viz.  that  the  principal  employment  of  animals  in  the  early 
ages,  was  to  plough  and  irrigate  the  soil.  But  when  in  process  of  time, 


“Repertory  of  Arts.  Lon.  1795.  Vol.  ii.  bPhil.  Trans.  Abridged  by  Martyn,  viii,  321. 
« De  Re  Metallica,  169 


118 


Antiquity  of  the  Noria. 


[Book  I. 


human  population  became  dense,  then  animal  labor  was  in  some  degree 
superseded  by  that  of  man.  The  extensive  employment  of  the  latter, 
appears  to  have  been  a  prominent  feature  in  the  political  economy  of  an¬ 
cient  Egypt,  just  as  it  is  in  modern  China.  As  the  country  teemed  with 
inhabitants,  the  extensive  use  of  animal  labor  would  not  only  have  inter¬ 
fered  with  the  means  of  the  great  mass  of  the  former  in  obtaining  a  living, 
but  would  have  required  too  large  a  portion  of  the  land  to  raise  food 
merely  for  the  latter.  _ 

The  antiquity  of  the  noria  may  be  inferred  from  its  name  of  “  Egyptian 
wheel,”  the  only  one  by  which  it  was  known  in  some  countries.  It  is  to 
be  found  if  we  mistake  not,  among  the  symbols  of  ancient  mythology. 
In  elucidating  one  of  the  religious  precepts  of  Numa,  which  required 
persons  when  worshipping  in  the  temples,  to  turn  round ;  Plutarch  ob¬ 
serves,  that  this  change  of  posture  may  have  an  enigmatical  meaning,  “like 
the  Egyptian  wheels,  admonishing  us  of  the  instability  of  every  thing 
human,  and  preparing  us  to  acquiesce  and  rest  satisfied  with  whatever 
turns  and  changes  the  divine  being  may  allot.”  Life  of  Numa.  This 
figurative  application  of  the  noria,  is  obviously  used  by  Plutarch  as  a  com¬ 
mon  and  consequently  a  long  established  symbol  of  the  mutability  of  human 
affairs;  and,  as  the  sentiment  which  he  illustrates  by  it,  is  precisely  the 
same  as  that  which  the  wheel  of  the  goddess  of  fortune  was  designed  to 
point  out,  the  “  instability  of  fortune,”  and  of  which  it  was  the  emblem, 
we  conclude  that  the  “  whpel  of  fortune,”  was  a  water  wheel,  and  no  oth¬ 
er  than  the  noria  ;  and  that  to  it,  the  Grecian  philosopher  in  the  above 
passage  referred.  The  selection  of  an  Egyptian  wheel  to  denote  the  mu¬ 
tability  of  human  affairs,  indicates  the  origin  not  only  of  Plutarch’s  simili¬ 
tude,  but  also  that  of  the  fable  of  the  goddess.  Egypt  was  the  source 
whence  the  Greeks  obtained  not  only  their  arts  and  science,  but  also  their 
mythology,  with  its  deities,  heroes  and  its  mysterious  system  of  symbolical 
imagery;  and  if  the  Egyptians  were  not  the  inventors  of  the  system  of 
representing  and  concealing  things  by  symbols,  they  certainly  carried  it  to 
a  greater  extent  than  any  other  people,  and  at  a  period  long  before  the 
Greeks  had  emerged  from  barbarism,  or  an  Egyptian  colony  had  settled 
in  their  country. 

Although  we  are  not  aware  that  the  wheel  of  fortune  had  any  other 
signification,  yet,  as  the  same  goddess  presided  over  riches  and  abund¬ 
ance — a  more  expressive  emblem  of  these  in  Egypt  could  not  have  been 
devised.  Agriculture  was  the  grand  source  of  wealth  in  that  country, 
and  it  depended  almost  entirely  upon  artificial  irrigation,  for  except  dur¬ 
ing  the  annual  inundation  of  the  Nile,  water  was  raised  for  that  purpose 
by  machines,  and  among  these,  the  -noria  was  one  of  the  most  prominent, 
and  probably  one  of  the  most  ancient.  Egypt  without  irrigation  would 
have  been  a  dreary  waste,  and  like  its  neighboring  deserts  uninhabited  by 
man;  but  by  means  of  it,  the  soil  became  so  exceedingly  fertile  that 
Egypt  became  “the  garden  of  the  east,” — the  “  hot  bed  of  nature,”  and 
the  “granary  of  the  world.”  It  was  artificial  irrigation  which,  under  the 
Pharaohs,  produced  food  for  seventeen  millions  of  inhabitants,  and  in  the 
reign  of’Rameses  or  Sesostris,  a  surplus  sufficient  for  thirty-three  millions 
more  ;  and  even  under  the  Grecian  yoke,  when  its  ancient  glory  had  long 
departed,  the  prodigious  quantities  of  grain,  which  it  produced,  enabled 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus  to  amass  treasure  equal  to  nine  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  of  dollars.  There  was  therefore  a  peculiar  propriety,  whether 
designed  or  not,  in  the  goddess  of  “  prosperity,”  “  riches,”  and  “  abund¬ 
ance,”  being  accompanied  with  the  noria  or  Egyptian  wheel,  the  imple- 


Ancient  emblems  of  Irrigation. 


119 


Chap.  14.] 


ment  which  contributed  so  greatly  to  produce  them.  The  manner  in 
which  this  deity  was  sometimes  represented,  appears  to  have  had  direct 
reference  to  agriculture  and  irrigation.  She  was  seated  on  rocks,  (em¬ 
blems  of  sterility  1)  the  wheel  by  her  side  and  a  river  at  her  feet,  (to  sig¬ 
nify  irrigation  I)  and  she  held  wheat  ears,  and  flowers  in  her  hand.  But 
whether  the  ancient  Egyptians  adopted  the  noria  or  not,  as  the  emblem 
of  wealth  and  irrigation,  one  of  their  most  favorite  symbols  has  direct 
reference  to  the  latter,  and  indirectly  to  the  former :  viz.  the  sphinx  ; 
figures  of  which  have  been  found  among  the  ruins,  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other.  This  figure  consists,  as  is  universally  known,  of  the 
the  head  and  breasts  of  a  woman,  united  to  the  body  of  a  lion,  and  was 
symbolical  of  the  annual  overflow  of  the  Nile,  which  occurred  when 
the  sun  passed  through  the  zodiacal  signs,  Leo  and  Virgo — hence  the 
combination  of  these  signs  in  the  Sphinx,  as  an  emblem  of  that  general 
irrigation  of  the  land  once  a  year,  upon  which  their  prosperity  so  greatly 
depended.  This  was  the  origin  of  passing  streams  of  water  through  the 
mouths  of  figures  of  lions,  and  sometimes,  though  more  rarely,  of  virgins,  as 
in  the  figures  below — which  are  taken  from  Rivius’  translation  of  Vitruvius. 


No.  52.  Orifices  of  Pipes,  &c.  symbolical  of  Irrigation. 

The  analogy  between  the  form  and  ornaments  of  an  object  and  its  uses, 
seems  to  have  always  been  kept  in  view  by  the  ancients ;  although,  from 
our  imperfect  knowledge  of  them,  it  is  difficult  and  sometimes  impossible 
to  perceive  it.  That  they  displayed  unrivaled  skill  in  some  of  their  de¬ 
signs  and  decorations  is  universally  admitted.  There  is  certainly  no  na¬ 
tural  analogy  between  a  lion  and  a  fountain,  and  no  obvious  propriety  in 
making  water  to  flow  out  of  the  mouths  of  figures  of  these  animals  ;  on 
the  contrary,  they  appear  to  be  very  inappropriate ;  but  when  we  learn 
that  the  lion  as  an  astronomical  symbol,  was  intimately  associated  with  a 
great  natural  hydraulic  operation,  of  the  first  importance  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Egyptians,  we  perceive  at  once  their  reasons  for  transferring  figures 
of  it  to  artificial  discharges  of  the  liquid,  and  hence  the  orifices  of  cocks, 
pipes,  and  spout3  of  gutters,  fountains,  &c.  were  decorated  as  above.  In 
some  ancient  fountains ,  figures  of  virgins,  as  nymphs  of  springs,  leaned 
upon  urns  of  running  water.  In  others,  vases  overturned ,  (with  figures 
of  Aquarius,  Oceanus,  &c.)  a  beautiful  device.  Lions’  heads  for  spouts 
are  very  common  in  Pompeii. 

There  is  another  ancient  emblem,  and  one  that  is  universally  admired, 
which  may  here  be  noticed,  as  its  origin  is  associated  with  artificial  irri¬ 
gation — the  CoiInucopia,  or  ‘Horn  of  Abundance.’  This  elegant  symbol 
is  probably  of  Egyptian  origin,  for  Isis  was  sometimes  represented  with 
it,  and  Isis,  in  the  Egyptian  language,  signified  the  ‘cause  of  abundance.’ 
We  have  already  seen  that  irrigation  was  and  still  is,  the  principal  source 
of  plenty  in  Egypt;  and  water  in  the  scriptures  is  repeatedly  used  in  the 
same  sense.-  To  understand  the  allegory,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
rivers  were  anciently  compared  to  bulls;  the  reasons  for  which  at  this  re¬ 
mote  period,  are  not  very  obvious  ;  perhaps  among  others,  from  the  noise 


120 


Medea :  Ancient  Vapor  Baths. 


[Book  I. 


of  rapid  streams,  bearing1  some  resembance  at  a  distance,  to  the  lowing 
and  bellowing  of  these  animals ;  and  the  branches  of  rivers  were  com¬ 
pared  to  their  horns ;  thus,  the  small  branch  of  the  Bosphorus,  which 
forms  the  harbor  of  Constantinople,  still  retains  its  ancient  name  of  the 
‘  Golden  Horn and  in  some  of  our  dictionaries,  ‘  winding  streams’  is 
given  as  one  of  the  definitions  of  horns.  The  bull  which  is  common  on 
some  Greek  coins  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  symbol  of  a  river,  per¬ 
haps  from  the  overflow  of  some,  when  the  sun  passed  through  the. zodiacal 
sign  Taurus.  According  to  the  Greek  version,  one  of  the  branches  of  the 
river  Achclous  in  Epirus,  was  diverted  or  broken  off  by  Hercules,  to  irri¬ 
gate  some  parched  land  in  its  vicinity.  This,  like  other  labors  of  that 
hero,  was  allegorized  by  representing  him  engaged  in  conflict  with  a  bull, 
(Achelous)  whom  he  overcame,  and  broke  off  one  of  his  horns;  and  this 
horn  being  filled  with  fruits  and  flowers,  was  emblematical  of  the  subse¬ 
quent  fertility  of  the  soil.  Ovid  describes  the  contest,  when  that  hero 

. .  .  ’twixt  rage  and  scorn, 

From  his  maimed  front,  he  tore  the  stubborn  hofn, 

This,  heap’d  with  flowers  and  fruits,  the  Naiads  bear, 

Sacred  to  plenty,  and  the  bounteous  year. 
»■****» 

But  Achelous  in  his  oozy  bed 

Deep  hides  his  brow  deform’d,  and  rustic  head, 

No  real  wound  the  victor’s  triumph  show’d, 

But  his  lost  honors  griev'd  the  watery  god.  Met.  ix. 

Thus  river  gods  were  sometimes  represented  with  a  cornucopia  in  one 
hand,  and  the  other  resting  on  a  vase  of  flowing  water. 

Another  interesting  allegory  of  the  ancients  has  reference  to  water  : 
the  fable  of  Medea,  who  it  was  said,  by  boiling  old  people,  made  them 
young  again,  referred  to  warm  or  vapor  baths,  which  she  invented,  and  into 
which  she  infused  fragrant  herbs — in  other  words,  the  ‘patent  medicated 
vapor  baths’  of  the  present  day.  She  also  possessed  the  art  of  changing 
the  color  of  the  hair.  When  therefore,  by  her  fomentations,  persons  ap¬ 
peared  more  active  and  improved  in  health,  and  their  grey  hairs  changed 
into  ringlets  of  jet,  the  belief  in  her  magic  powers  became  irresistible — 
and  when  at  length,  her  apparatus,  i.  e.  the  cauldrons ,  wood  and  fire ,  Spc. 
were  discovered,  (which  she  had  sedulously  concealed,)  it  was  supposed 
that  her  patients  were  in  reality  boiled.  From  Ovid,  it  seems  she  had  the 
modern  sulphur  bath  also,  and  used  it  in  the  cure  of  iEson,  the  father  of  her 
husband  Jason : 

. .  .  the  sleeping  sire, 

She  lustrates  thrice  with  sulphur,  water,  fire. 

*  *-  *  *  * 

H  is  feeble  frame  resumes- a  youthful  air, 

A  glossy  brown,  his  hoary  beard  and  hair. 

The  meagre  paleness  from  his  aspect  fled 
And  in  its  room  sprang  up  a  florid  red.  Met.  vii. 

This  lady  was  the  great  patroness  of  herb  and  steam  doctors  of  old  ;  and 
may  be  considered  the  ancient  representative  of  modern  manufacturers  of 
specifics,  which,  as  they  allege,  (and  often  truly)  remove  all  diseases.  The 
fable  of  her  slaying  her  own  children  in  the  presence  of  Jason,  is  easily 
explained  by  her  administering  to  them  the  ivrong  medicine ,  or  too  large 
a  dose  of  the  right  one ;  the  latter  was  certainly  the  case  with  old  Pelias 
who  expired  under  it. 

Having  noticed  in  this  chapter  the  supposed  origin  of  cog-wheels,  we 
may  as  well  introduce  here  an  ancient  mechanic,  to  whom  we  shall  have 
occasion  hereafter  to  allude  ;  one,  whose  name  is  intimately  associated 
with  the  most  valuable  machines  for  raising  water,  and  with  several  im- 


Ctesibivj. 


121 


Chap.  14.] 

portant  improvements  in  the  mechanic  arts.  As  the  earliest  distinct  notice 
of  cog-wheels  is  in  the  description  of  one  of  his  machines,  (see  the  clep¬ 
sydra,  page  547,)  we  may  as  well  introduce  him  to  the  reader  at  this 
part  of  our  subject,  although  we  have  not  yet  in  the  progress  of  our 
work,  arrived  at  the  period  at  which  he  flourished. 

During  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  over  Egypt,  an  Egyptian 
barber  pursued  his  vocation  in  the  city  of  Alexandria.  Like  all  professors 
of  that  ancient  mystery,  he  possessed  besides  the  inferior  apparatus,  the 
two  most  essential  implements  of  all :  a  razor  and  a  looking  glass,  or 
mirror,  probably  a  metallic  one.  This  mirror,  we  are  informed,  was  sus¬ 
pended  from  the  ceiling  of  his  shop,  and  balanced  by  a  weight,  which 
moved  in  a  concealed  case  in  one  corner  of  the  room.  Thus,  when  a 
customer  had  undergone  the  usual  purifying  operations,  he  drew  down 
the  mirror,  that  he  might  witness  the  improvement  which  the  artist  had 
wrought  on  his  outer  man ;  and,  like  Otho, 

In  the  Speculum  survey  his  charms.  Juv.  Sat.  ii. 
after  which  he  returned  it  to  its  former  position  for  the  use  of  the  next 
customer.1  It  would  seem  that  the  case  in  which  the  weight  moved  was 
enclosed  at  the  bottom,  or  pretty  accurately  made,  for  as  the  weight 
moved  in  it,  and  displaced  the  air,  a  certain  sound  was  produced,  either 


'Metallic  mirrors  furnish  one  of  the  best  proofs  of  skill  in  working  the  metals  in  the 
remotest  times,  for  their  antiquity  extends  beyond  all  records.  In  the  first  pages  of  his¬ 
tory  they  are  mentioned  as  in  common  use.  The  brazen  laver  of  the  Tabernacle, 
was  made  of  the  mirrors  of  the  Israelitish  women,  which  they  carried  with  them  out  of 
Egypt.  From  some  found  at  Thebes,  as  well  as  representations  of  others  in  the  sculp¬ 
tures  and  paintings,  we  see  at  once  that  these  ‘looking  glasses,’  (as  they  are  called  in 
Exodus,)  were  similar  to  those  of  Greek  and  Roman  ladies  :  viz.  round  or  oval  plates 
of  metal,  from  three  to  six  inches  in  diameter,  and  having  handles  of  wood,  stone  and 
metal  highly  ornamented  and  of  various  forms,  according  to  the  taste  of  the  wearer. 
Some  have  been  found  in  Egypt  with  the  lustre  partially  preserved.  They  are  com¬ 
posed  of  an  alloy  of  copper,  and  antimony  or  tin,  and  lead ;  and  appear  to  have  been 
carried  about  the  person,  secured  to,  or  suspended  from  the  girdle,  as  pincushions  and 
scissors  were  formerly  worn  and  are  so  still  by  some  antiquated  ladies.  The  Greeks 
and  Romans  had  them  also  of  silver  and  of  steel.  Some  of  the  latter  were  found  in 
Herculaneum.  Plutarch  mentions  mirrors  enclosed  in  very  rich  frames.  Among  tire 
articles  of  the  toilet  found  in  Pompeii,  are  ear-rings,  golden  and  common  pins,  and 
several  metallic  mirrors.  One  is  round  and  eight  inches  in  diameter,  the  other  an  ob¬ 
long  square.  They  had  them  with  plane  surfaces,  and  also  convex  and  concave.  Se¬ 
neca  says  his  countrywomen  had  them  also,  equal  in  length  and  breadth  to  a  full  grown 
person,  superbly  decorated  with  gold  and  silver,  and  precious  stones.  Their  luxury  in 
this  article,  seems  to  have  been  excessive,  for  the  cost  of  one  often  exceeded  a  mo¬ 
derate  fortune.  The  dowry  which  tire  Senate  gave  the  daughter  of  Scipio,  according 
to  Seneca,  would  not  purchase  in  his  time,  a  mirror  for  the  daughter  of  a  freedman. 
The  Anglo-  Saxon  dames  had  portable  metallic  mirrors,  and  wore  them  suspended  from 
the  waist  It  is  not  a  litle  singular  that  the  ancient  Peruvians  had  them  also,  formed  of 
silver,  copper  and  its  alloys,  and  also  of  obsidian  stone.  They  had  them  plane,  convex, 
and  concave.  Had  not  the  art  of  making  these  mirrors  been  revived  in  the  speculums 
of  reflecting  telescopes,  their  lustre  could  hardly  have  been  appreciated;  and  they 
would  probably  have  been  considered  as  indifferent  substitutes  for  the  modern  looking- 
glass.  These  last  are  supposed  to  have  been  manufactured  in  ancient  Tyre,  and  of  a 
black  colored  glass.  Fluid  lead  or  tin  was  afterwards  used.  It  was  poured  on  the 
plates  while  they  were  hot  from  the  fire,  and  being  suffered  to  cool,  formed  a  back 
which  reflected  the  image.  Looking-glasses  of  this  description  were  made  in  Venice, 
in  the  13th  century.  It  was  not  till  about  the  16th,  that  the  present  mode  of  coating  the 
back  with  quicksilver  and  tin  foil  was  introduced.  The  inventor  is  not  known. 
Venus  was  sometimes  represented  with  a  speculum  m  one  hand,  and  the  astronomical 
symbol  of  the  planet  Venus  is  the  figure  of  one.  There  is  a  chemical  examination 
of  an  ancient  speculum  in  the  17th  volume  of  Tilloch’s  Phil.  Mag. 

Barbers  flourished  in  the  mythologic  ages,  for  Apollo  having  prolonged  the  ears  of 
Midas  to  a  length  resembling  those  of  a  certain  animal,  the  latter  it  is  said,  endeavored 
to  hide  his  disgrace  by  his  hair,  but  found  it  impossible  to  conceal  it  from  his  barber 
Bronze  razors  were  anciently  common. 


16 


122 


The  Chain  of  Pots. 


[Book  1 


by  its  expulsion  through  some  small  orifice,  or  by  its  escape  between  the 
sides  of  the  case  and  the  weight.  This  sound  had  probably  remained 
unnoticed  like  the  ordinary  creaking  of  a  door,  perhaps  for  years,  until 
one  day  as  the  barber’s  son  was  amusing  himself  in  his  father’s  shop,  his 
attention  was  arrested  by  it.  This  boy’s  subsequent  reflections .  induced 
him  to  investigate  its  cause  ;  and  from  this  simple  circumstance,  he  was 
led  eventually  either  to  invent,  or  greatly  to  improve  the  hydraulic  organ, 
a  musical  instrument  of  great  celebrity  in  ancient  times.  His  ingenuity 
and  industry  were  so  conspicuous,  that  he  was  named  ‘  The  Delighter  in 
Works  of  Art.’  His  studies  in  various  branches  of  natural  philosophy, 
were  rewarded  it  is  said,  with  the  discovery  of  the  pump,  air-gun,  fire-en¬ 
gine,  &c.  He  also  greatly  improved  the  clepsydra  or  water-clock,  in  the 
construction  of  which  he  introduced  toothed  wheels,  and  even  jeweled 
holes.  Vitruvius,  ix,  9.  These  ancient  time-keepers,  werp  therefore  the 
origin  of  modern  clocks  and  watches.  Now  this  barber’s  son  is  the  indi¬ 
vidual  we  wish  to  introduce  to  the  reader,  as  Ctesibius  of  Alexandria, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  mathematicians  and  mechanicians  of  antiquity — 
one,  whose  claims  upon  our  esteem,  are  not  surpassed  by  those  of  any 
other  individual,  ancient  or  modern. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  the  simple,  the  trivial  sound  produced  by  the 
descent  of  the  weight  in  his  father’s  shop,  was  to  him,  what  the  fall  of  the 
apple  was  to  Newton,  and  the  vibration  of  the  lamp  or  chandelier  in  the 
church  at  Pisa,  to  Galileo.  The  circumstance  presents  another  to  the  nu¬ 
merous  proofs  which  might  be  adduced,  that  inquiries  into  the  causes  of 
the  most  trifling  or  insignificant  of  physical  effects,  are  sure  to  lead,  di¬ 
rectly  or  indirectly,  to  important  results — while  to  young  men  especially, 
it  holds  out  the  greatest  encouragement  to  occupy  their  leisure  in  useful 
researches.  It  shows,  that  however  unpropitious  their  circumstances  may 
be,  they  may  by  industrious  application,  become  distinguished  in  science, 
and  may  add  their  names  to  those  of  Ctesibius  and  Franklin,  and  many 
others — immortal  examples  of  the  moral  grandeur  of  irrepressible  per¬ 
severance  in  the  midst  of  difficulties. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  CHAIN  OF  POTS — Its  origin — Used  in'Joseph’s  well  at  Cairo — Numerous  in  Egypt — Attempt  ol 
Belzoni  to  supersede  it  and  the  noria — Chain  of  pots  of  the  Romans,  Hindoos,  Japanese,  and  Europeans — 
Described  by  Agricola — Spanish  one — Modern  one — Applications  of  it  to  other  purposes  than  raising 
water — Employed  as  a  first  mover  and  substitute  for  overshot  wheels — Francini’s  machine — Antiquity  o/ 
the  chain  of  pots — Often  confounded  with  the  noria  by  ancient  and  modern  authors — Introduced  into 
Greece  by  Danaus — Opinions  of  modern  writers  on  its  antiquity — Referred  to  by  Solomon — Babylonian 
engine  that  raised  the  water  of  the  Euphrates  to  supply  the  hanging  gardens — Rope  pump — Hydraulic 
Belt. 

The  tympanum  and  noria  in  all  their  modifications,  have  been  consider¬ 
ed  as  originating  in  the  gutter  or  jantu,  and  the  swape  ;  while  the  ma¬ 
chine  we  are  now  to  examine  is  evidently  derived  from  the  primitive  cord 
and  bucket.  The  first  improvement  of  the  latter  was  the  introduction  of 
a  pulley  (No.  11)  over  which  the  cord  was  directed — the  next  was  the  ad¬ 
dition  of  another  vessel,  so  as  to  have  one  at  each  end  of  the  rope,  (Nos. 
13  and  14)  and  the  last  and  most  important  consisted  in  uniting  the  ends 


Egyptian  Chain  of  Pots. 


123 


Chap.  15.] 


of  the  rope,  and  securing  to  it  a  number  of  vessels  at  equal  distances 
through  the  whole  of  its  length — and  the  chain  of  pots,  was  the  result. 

The  general  construction  of  this  machine  will  appear  from  an  examin¬ 
ation  of  those  which  are  employed  to  raise  water  from  Joseph’s  well 
at  Cairo,  represented  at  page  46.  Above  the  mouth  of  each  shaft  a 
vertical  wheel  is  placed ;  over  which  two  endless  ropes  pass  and  are  sus¬ 
pended  from  it.  These  are  kept  parallel  to,  and  at  a  short  distance  from 
each  other,  by  rungs  secured  to  them  at  regular  intervals,  so  that  when 
thus  united,  they  form  an  endless  ladder  of  ropes.  The  rungs  are  some¬ 
times  of  wood,  but  more  frequently  of  cord  like  the  shrouds  of  a  ship, 
and  the  whole  is  of  such  a  length  that  the  lowest  part  hangs  two  or  three 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  water  that  is  to  be  raised.  Between  the 
rungs,  earthenware  vases  (of  the  form  figured  No.  7)  are  secured  by  cords 
round  the  neck,  and  also  round  a  knob  formed  on  the  bottom  for  that  pur¬ 
pose.  See  A,  A,  in  the  figure.  As  the  axis  of  the  two  wheels  are  at 
right  angles  to  each  other,  two  separate  views  of  the  chains  are  repre¬ 
sented.  In  the  lower  pit,  both  ropes  of  one  half  of  the  chain  is  seen  ; 
while  in  the  upper,  the  whole  length  of  one  is  in  view.  The  vases  or 
pots  are  so  arranged  that  in  passing  over  the  wheel,  they  fall  in  between 
the  spokes  which  connect  the  two  sides  of  the  latter  together,  as  shown  in 
the  section ;  and  when  they  reach  the  top,  their  contents  are  discharged 
into  a  trough.  [In  some  machines  the  trough  passes  under  one  rim  which 
is  made  to  project  for  that  purpose;  in  others,  it  is  placed  below  the  wheel 
and  between  the  chains.]  There  are  in  the  upper  pit,  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  pots  and  the  distance  from  each  other  is  about  two  feet  seven 
inches.  The  contents  of  each  are  twenty  cubic  inches.  The  wheels  that 
carry  the  chains  are  six  feet  and  a  half  in  diameter.  They  are  put  in  mo¬ 
tion  by  cog  wheels  (on  the  opposite  ehd  of  their  axles)  working  into  oth¬ 
ers  that  are  attached  to  the  perpendicular  shafts  to  which  the  blindfolded 
animals  are  yoked. 

The  chain  of  pots  in  Egypt  is  named  the  Sahia.  Its  superiority  over 
the  noria  and  tympanum,  &c.  in  being  adapted  to  raise  water  from  every 
depth,  has  caused  it  to  be  more  extensively  employed  for  artificial  irriga¬ 
tion  than  any  other  Egyptian  machine — hence  it  is  to  be  seen  in  operation, 
all  along  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  from  its  mouth  up  to  the  first  cataract. 
In  Upper  Egypt,  and  Nubia,  they  are  so  exceedingly  numerous  as  to  oc¬ 
cur  every  hundred  yards  ;  and  in  some  cases  they  are  not  forty  yards  apart. 
Their  numbers  and  utility  have  rendered  them  a  source  of  revenue,  for  we 
are  informed  that  each  sakia  is  taxed  twenty  dollars  per  annum,  while  the 
swape  is  assessed  at  half  that  amount.  They  are  also  common  in  Abys¬ 
sinia.  They  were  noticed  there  by  Poncet  in  169S.  When  Sandys  was 
in  Egypt,  A.  D.  1611,  the  great  number  of  sakias  did  not  escape  his 
observation  :  “  Upon  the  banks  all  along  are  infinite  numbers  of  deepe 
and  spacious  vaults  into  which  they  doe  let  the  river,  drawing  up  the  wa¬ 
ter  into  higher  cesterns,  with  wheeles  set  round  with  pitchers,  and  turned 
about  by  buffaloes.”  Travels,  page  118. 

An  attempt  was  made  some  years  ago  by  an  enterprising  European  to 
supersede  the  employment  of  these  machines  in  Egypt,  which  on  account 
of  the  interesting  circumstances  connected  with  it  may  here  be  noticed. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  an  intelligent  young  man  of  Padua 
was  designed  by  his  parents  for  a  monk,  and  was  sent  to  Rome  to  receive 
an  appropriate  education.  His  inclination  however  led  him  to  prefer  the 
study  of  natural  philosophy  to  that  of  theology,  and  particularly  hydrau¬ 
lics.  Upon  the  invasion  of  Italy  and  capture  of  Rome  by  the  French,  he 
wandered  over  various  parts  of  Europe,  supporting  himself  by  publicly  per 


124  Roman  Chain  of  Pots.  [Book  I, 

forming  feats  of  agility  and  strength,  and  by  scientific  exhibitions.  After 
roving  thus  for  fifteen  years,  he  determined  to  visit  Egypt,  under  the  belief 
that  he  would  make  his  fortune  there  by  introducing  machinery  on  the  prin¬ 
ciple  of  the  pump,  as  substitutes  for  the  noria  and  chain  of  pots,  &c.  In 
June  1815,  he  landed  at  Alexandria,  and  after  some  delay  was  introdu¬ 
ced  to  Mahommed  Ali,  (the  present  Pasha,)  who  approved  of  his  project, 
and  in  whose  gardens  at  Soubra,  three  miles  from  Cairo,  he  constructed 
his  machine.  But  no  sooner  was  it  completed  and  put  in  operation  than 
he  discovered  in  the  Turkish  and  Arabic  cultivators  an  unconquerable  op¬ 
position  to  its  introduction.  Indeed  this  result  might  have  been  anticipa¬ 
ted  and,  if  we  are  not  mistaken,  they  were  right  in  preferring  their  own 
simple  apparatus  to  an  elaborate  machine,  of  the  principle  of  whose  action 
they  were  utterly  ignorant.  Their  rejection  of  it  was  looked  upon  as  an¬ 
other  example  of  superstitious  adherence  to  the  imperfect  mechanism  of 
former  ages ;  but  under  all  the  circumstances,  it  was,  we  believe,  an  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  correctness  of  their  judgment.  Thus  disappointed,  his 
brightest  hopes  blasted,  and  his  pecuniary  resources  all  but  exhausted — 
for  he  received  no  renumeration,  either  for  the  loss  of  his  time  or  his 
money — he,  with  an  energy  of  character  deserving  all  praise,  determined 
to  make  the  best  of  his  misfortunes.  He  therefore  turned  his  attention 
to  that  subject  which  necessarily  occurs  to  every  intelligent  stranger  in 
Egypt — its  antiquities — and  while  the  British  Museum  remains,  and  the 
colossal  head  of  young  Memnon  is  preserved,  the  name  of  Belzoni  will 
be  remembered  and  respected. 

From  the  following  description  of  the  chain  of  pots  by  Vitruvius,  it  ap¬ 
pears  that  the  Romans  made  it  of  more 
durable  materials  than  either  the  an¬ 
cient  or  modern  people  of  Asia.  “But 
if  a  place  of  still  greater  height  (than 
could  be  reached  by  the  noria)  is  to  be 
supplied  ;  on  the  same  axis  of  a  wheel, 
a  double  chain  of  iron  is  wound  and  let 
down  to  the  level  of  the  bottom  ;  hav¬ 
ing  brass  buckets ,  each  containing  a 
congius  (seven  pints)  hanging  thereto, 
so  that  upon  the  turning  of  the  wheel, 
the  chain  revolving  round  the  axis 
raises  the  buckets  to  the  top ;  which 
when  drawn  upon  the  axis,  become  in¬ 
verted  and  pour  into  the  reservoir  the 
Water  they  have  brought.”  Book  x, 
Cap.  9,  Newton’s  Trans.  As  no  re¬ 
ference  is  made  to  the  form  of  the  ves¬ 
sels,  by  Vitruvius,  we  find  them  repre¬ 
sented  by  translators  in  a  variety  of 
shapes,  as  cylinders,  cubes,  truncated 
cones,  pyramids,  as  well  as  portions  of, 
and  combinations  of  them  all.  Some 
are  left  open  at  the  top,  and  both  with 
and  without  projecting  lips  in  front,  by 
which  to  shoot  the  contents  over  the 
edge  of  the  reservoir  as  they  pass  the 
No.  53.  Homan  Cham  of  Pots.  wheel  or  drum.  Others  are  closed, 

and  admit  and  discharge  the  water  through  an  orifice  or  short  tube  as  re¬ 
presented.  (No.  53.)  From  the  separate  figure  of  one  of  the  vessels  it 


125 


Chap.  15.]  Hindoo  Chain  of  Pots. 

will  be  seen  that  the  tubes  are  placed  at  the  upper  corner,  and  consequent¬ 
ly  retain  the  water  till  the  vessels  ascend  the  drum,  when  it  is  discharged 
as  represented.  Provision  should  be  made  for  the  escape  of  air  from 
these  vessels,  as  they  enter  the  water,  and  also  for  its  admission  on  the 
discharge  of  the  liquid  above.  The  wheel  or  drum  which  carries  the 
chain  is,  in  this  figure,  solid,  and  cut  into  a  hexagonal  form  to  prevent  it 
from  slipping. 

There  is  also  in  old  authors  a  great  diversity  in  the  construction  of  the 
chains,  and  also  in  their  number.  Some  understand  by  the  term  ‘  double 
chain'  merely  a  simple  one  doubled  and  its  ends  united ;  i.  e.  one  whose 
length  is  equal  to  double  the  space  through  which  the  water  is  to  be  ele¬ 
vated  by  it.  Others  suppose  two  separate  ones  intended  and  placed  par¬ 
allel  to  each  other,  the  vessels  being  connected  to  them  as  in  the  figure. 
Others  again,  and  among  them  Barbaro,  figure  two  sets  of  chains  and  pots 
carried  by  the  same  wheel.  He  has  also  made  them  pass  under  pulleys 
in  the  water,  a  useless  device,  except  when  the  chains  are  employed  in  an 
inclined  position. 

The  chain  of  pots  is  mentioned  by  most  oriental  travelers,  although  de¬ 
scribed  by  few.  In  Terry's  voyage  to  India  in  1615,  speaking  of  the 
tanks  and  wells  of  the  Hindoos,  he  observes,  “  they  usually  cover  those 
wells  with  a  building  over  head,  and  with  oxen  draw  water  out  of  them, 
which  riseth  up  in  many  small  buckets,  whereof  some  are  always  going 
down,  others  continually  coming  up  and  emptying  themselves  in  troughs 
or  little  rills,  made  to  receive  and  convey  the  water,  whither  they  please.” 
p.  187.  To  the  same  machine  Fryer  refers,  when  speaking  of  the  differ¬ 
ent  modes  of  raising  water  from  deep  wells.  It  is  drawn  up,  he  says,  by 
oxen  “  with  huge,  leathern  buckets  or  pots  around  a  wheel.”  p.  410. 
And  again  at  Surat,  it  is  drawn  up  “  in  leathern  bags  upon  wheels.”  p. 
104.  Had  not  wells  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  these  extracts 
from  Fryer,  we  might  have  supposed  it  was  the  noria  to  which  he  alluded. 
Tavernier  mentions  it  in  the  same  way  as  applied  to  draw  water  from 
wells  in  Persia,  p.  143.  When  required  to  raise  it  from  rivers,  they 
were,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Persian  wheels  on  the  Orontes,  propelled  by 
the  current  when  it  was  sufficiently  rapid  for  the  purpose.  “  As  for  the 
Euphrates,  (observes  Tavernier,)  certain  it  is  that  the  great  number  of 
mills  built  upon  it,  to  convey  water  to  the  neighboring  grounds,  have  not 
only  rendered  it  unnavigable,  but  made  it  very  dangerous.”  Lucan  in 
the  3d  book  of  his  Pharsalia  alludes  to  this  extensive  diversion  of  the  wa¬ 
ter  for  agricultural  purposes,  in  his  time. 

But  soon  Euphrates’  parting  waves  divide, 

Covering,  like  fruitful  Nile,  the  country  wide. 

These  mills  are  probably  similar  to  those  referred  to  by  Montanus  in 
his  account  of  Japan,  p.  296.  The  city  of  Jonda,  he  observes  was  de¬ 
fended  by  a  strong  castle,  which  was  “  continually  supplied  with  fresh 
water  by  two  mills.”  It  is  a  pity  they  were  not  described. 

The  chain  of  pots  was  used  by  all  the  celebrated  nations  of  antiquity 
and  it  still  is  employed  more  or  less  over  all  Asia  and  Europe.  Previous 
to  the  16th  century,  it  constituted  the  ‘waterworks’  for  supplying  Europe¬ 
an  cities,  and  was  often  driven  by  windmills — as  it  still  is  in  Holland.  It 
seems  to  be  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  hydraulic  engines  among  half  civilized 
nations,  while  those  only  which  are  enlightened,  have  the  pump.  Even 
the  materials  of  which  it  was  made  by  different  pe<^ple  of  old,  may  be 
considered  as  emblematical  of  their  national  characters.  The  inhabitants 
of  Egypt,  central  and  southern  Asia,  employed  light  and  fragile  materials; 


126 


Spanish  Chain  of  Pots. 


[Book  1. 


the  ropes  were  fibres  of  the  palm  tree,  and  the  vessels  of  earthenware  ; 
while  the  Romans  made  the  chains  of  iron  and  the  vessels  of  brass.  The 
former  people  were  soft,  effeminate,  and  easily  subdued;  the  latter  stern 
and  inflexible — an  iron  race. 

It  is  described  by  Agricola  as  employed  in  the  German  mines.  De  Re 
Metallica,  pp.  131,  132,  133.  The  chains  and  vessels  are  represented 
of  various  forms,  and  the  latter  both  of  iron  and  wood,  and  propelled  by 
tread  and  water  wheels.®  In  Besson’s  ‘  Theatre,’  A.  D.  1579,  it  is  figured 
as  worked  by  a  pendulum  and  cog  wheels — the  teeth  being  continued 
over  half  the  peripheries  only.b 

In  Spain  it  has  remained  in  continual  use  since  the  conquest  and  occu¬ 
pation  of  that  country  by  the  Romans ;  and  was  perhaps  previously  intro¬ 
duced  by  the  Phenicians,  a  people,  to  whom  Spain  was  early  indebted 
for  many  valuable  acquisitions.  It  was  employed  there  by  the  Moors  in  the 
middle  ages,  under  whom  the  inhabitants  enjoyed  a  degree  of  prosperity 
and  civilization  unexampled  during  any  subsequent  period  of  their  histo¬ 
ry.  The  arts  and  manufactures  were  carried  to  great  perfection,  so  much 
so,  that  in  the  twelfth  century,  while  the  rest  of  Europe  was  in  compara¬ 
tive  barbarism,  the  tissues  of  Grenada  and  Andalusia  were  highly  prized 
'  at  Constantinople,  and  throughout  the  eastern  empire.  To  the  Moors  of 
Spain,  Europe  was  greatly  indebted  for  the  introduction  and  dissemination 
of  many  of  the  arts  of  the  east;  among  others  they  introduced  the  Asiatic 
system  of  agriculture,  with  its  inseparable  adjunct,  artificial  irrigation.  We 
are  told  they  divided  the  lands  into  small  fields,  which  were  kept  constantly 
under  tillage  ;  and  “they  conveyed  water  to  the  highest  and  driest  spots  ” 


No.  54.  Spanish  Chain  of  Pots. 


The  chain  of  pots  in  Spain,  is  in  the  form  and  material  of  its  vessels 


a  The  De  Re  ‘  Metallica’  of  George  Agricola  is  invaluable  for  its  account  of  the  hy¬ 
draulic  engines  employed  in  the  mines  of  Germany  in  the  16th  and  preceding  centu 
ries ;  being  doubtless  similar  to  those  used  by  the  Romans  in  some  of  the  same  mines, 
and  continued  uninterruptedly  in  use.  The  first  edition  of  this  work  was  published  in 
1546,  others  in  1556 — 1558—1561—1621 — and  1657,  all  at  Basil.  Brunet’s  ‘  Manuel 
Du  Libraire  et  De  L’Amateur  de  Livres.’  Paris,  1820.  It  is  a  copy  of  the  last  edition 
we  make  use  of.  The  author  was  born  in  1494,  and  died  in  1555. 

b  See  also  Kircher’s  Mundus  Subterraneus.  Tom.  ii.  pp.  195,  228. 


Chap.  15.J 


Modern  Chain  of  Pots. 


127 


and  the  imperfect  substitutes  for  cog  wheels,  identical  with  those  of  Egypt 
and  Asia,  and  may  be  considered  a  fair  representative  of  this  machine  as 
used  in  the  agricultural  districts  of  the  ancient  world. 

No.  55,  represents  a  section  of  a  mod¬ 
ern  machine.  The  wheel  is  placed  in  or 
over  a  cistern  designed  to  receive  the  wa¬ 
ter.  Buckets  are  secured  to  the  chain  be¬ 
tween  the  joints  of  the  latter,  and  the 
wheel  as  it  revolves,  receives  the  cen¬ 
tre  of  these  joints  on  the  ends  of  its 
arms,  which  are  suitably  shaped  for  the 
purpose.  The  buckets  therefore  fall  in 
between  the  arms  of  the  wheel  and  be¬ 
come  inverted  in  passing  over  it  as  in 
the  figure. 


No.  55.  Modern  Chain  of  Pots. 


The  chain  of  pots  has  been  applied 
to  a  great  variety  of  purposes.  It  has 
been  employed  for  ages,  in  cleansing 
docks ,  deepening  harbors ,  &c.  The 
vessels  being  made  of  iron  and  formed 
like  wide  scoops,  are  made  to  pass  un¬ 
der  pulleys  attached  to  the  bottom  of  a 
moveable  frame,  which  is  raised  and 
lowered,  to  suit  the  varying  depth  of 
*  the  channel.  Besson  also  proposed  it 
to  raise  mortar ,  &c.  to  the  top  of  city 
walls,  fortifications,  &c.  and  wherever 
large  quantities  were  required  ;  an  ap¬ 
plication  of  it  that  is  worthy  of  the  notice  of  extensive  builders,  for  the 
time  consumed  and  exertion  expended  by  a  laborer,  in  ascending  a  long  lad¬ 
der  or  flight  of  stairs  to  deposit  a  modern  hodful  of  mortar,  and  returning 
through  the  same  space,  is  hardly  consistent  with  the  spirit  of  economy 
and  useful  research  that  characterizes  the  age.  The  amount  of  force  con¬ 
sumed  in  bearing  his  own  body  twice  over  the  space,  independently  of  the 
load,  would  in  a  well  regulated  device  of  this  kind  produce  an  equal  re¬ 
sult.  Oliver  Evans  introduced  the  chain  of  pots  into  his  mills,  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  transmitting  flour  and  grain  to  the  different  floors. 

It  has  been  adopted  as  a  substitute  for  water  wheels.  As  the  noria, 
when  its  motion  is  reversed  by  the  admission  of  water  into  its  buckets  at 
the  upper  part  of  the  periphery,  is  converted  into  an  overshot  wheel — so 
the  chain  of  pots,  has  in  a  similar  manner,  been  made  to  transmit  power 
and  communicate  motion  to  other  machines.  In  locations  where  there  is 
a  small  supply  of  water,  but  which  falls  from  a  considerable  height,  it  be¬ 
comes  a  valuable  substitute  for  the  overshot  wheel,  as  a  first  mover.  It 
is  remarkable  that  this  obvious  application  of  it  should  not  have  occurred 
to  European  mechanicians  previous  to  the  17th  century.  It  was  designed 
by  M.  Francini,  and  by  the  direction  of  Colbert ,  the  illustrious  and  pa¬ 
triotic  minister  of  Louis  XIV,  one  was  erected  in  1668,  in  one  of  the  pub¬ 
lic  gardens  at  Paris.  A  natural  spring  in  this  garden  supplied  water  for 
the  plants.  It  was  received  into  a  large  basin,  and  to  prevent  its  over¬ 
flowing,  the  surplus  or  waste  water  was  discharged  by  a  gutter  into  a  well, 
at  the  bottom  of  which  it  disappeared  in  the  soil.  M.  Francini  took  ad¬ 
vantage  of  this  fall  of  waste  water  in  the  well,  and  made  it  the  means  of 
raising  a  portion  of  the  spr  ng  water  sufficiently  high  to  form  a  jet  d’eau, 


128 


Francini’s  Machine. 


[Book  I. 


He  erected  a  chain  of  pots,  E,  B,  No.  56,  which  reached  from  the  bot¬ 
tom  of  the  well  to  such  a  height  above  its  mouth  as  the  water  to  form 
the  jet  was  required  to  be  raised.  From  the  upper  wheel  or  drum,  another 

chain  of  pots,  D,  C,  was  suspended 
and  carried  round  by  it,  the  lower  end 
dipping  into  the  water  to  be  raised 
from  the  spring  A.  By  this  arrange¬ 
ment  the  weight  of  the  water  in  de¬ 
scending  the  well  in  the  buckets  of 
the  first  chain,  raised  a  smaller  portion 
(allowing  for  friction)  through  the 
same  space  by  the  second  one — and  a 
proportionable  quantity  still  higher. 
A  spout  conveyed  the  water  into  the 
buckets  of  the  driving  or  motive  chain 
as  shown  at  B.  These  buckets  were 
made  of  brass,  and  wide  at  the  top, 
the  better  to  receive  water  from  the 
spring ;  and  also  that  when  one  was 
filled,  the  surplus  might  fall  down  its 
sides  into  the  next  one  below,  and 
from  that  to  the  third  one,  and  so  on, 
that  none  might  be  lost  by  spilling 
over.  The  buckets  of  the  other  chain 
were  of  the  same  form  and  material, 
but  instead  of  being  open  like  the  for¬ 
mer,  they  were  closed  on  all  sides, 
the  water  being  received  into  them  at 
A,  and  discharged  from  them  at  m , 
through  short  necks  or  tubes,  e,  s, 
which  are  upwards  when  the  buckets 
ascend,  being  connected  to  the  smaller 
part  of  the  latter.  A  pipe  from  the 
upper  cistern  m,  conveyed  the  water  to  form  the  jet.  The  arrow  indi¬ 
cates  the  direction  in  which  both  chains  move.  The  vessels  on  the  chain 
E,  B,  below  B,  descending  into  the  well,  (the  bottom  of  which  is  not  shown,) 
full — while  those  shown  at  D,  C,  are  empty. 

The  chain  of  Pots  has  been  employed  to  work  pumps  in  mines,  to  pro¬ 
pel  thrashing  machines,  &c.  &c.R 


No.  56.  Fruneini’s  Machine. 


There  is  much  confusion  in  the  notices  of  the  chain  of  pots  by  ancient 
authors,  from  their  referring  to  it  without  discrimination  as  a  ‘  wheel, ’  and 
thus  confounding  it  with  the  tympanum  and  noria,  and  that  modification 
of  the  latter,  known  as  the  Persian  wheel.  From  the  circumstance  of 
its  having  been  propelled  in  the  same  manner  as  these,  viz  :  by  oxen  in 
the  usual  way,  (through  the  medium  of  cog  wheels,)  or  by  men  walking 
upon  or  within  a  wheel,  &e.  it  has  from  custom,  inadvertence,  or  from  a 
superficial  knowledge  of  its  distinctive  features,  been  classed  with  them. 
It  was  of  it  that  Strabo  spoke,  “  which  by  wheels  and  pulleys  raised  the 
water  of  the  Nile  to  the  top  of  a  very  high  hill ;  and  which,  instead  of 
being  moved  by  oxen,  was  propelled  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  slaves.” 
And  when  Julius  Ceesar  was  beseiged  in  Alexandria  by  the  Egyptians, 


»  See  Vol.  i,  of  machines  approved  by  the  French  Academy.  Desaguliers’  Philos 
Vol.  ii  Edinburgh  Encyc.  Vol.  x,  896. 


Chain  of  Pots. 


129 


Chap.  15.] 


the  chain  of  pots  was  included  among  the  “  wheels  and  other  engines,” 
by  which  the  latter  raised  water  from  the  sea  and  discharged  it  into  the 
cisterns  that  supplied  Cassar’s  army  with  fresh  water.  It  was  most  like¬ 
ly  among  the  “  hydraulic  engines,”  which  Herodotus  observes  the  Baby¬ 
lonians  had,  to  raise  water  from  the  Euphrates  to  irrigate  their  lands. 
These  ‘  engines’  were  certainly  similar  to  those  of  India,  Egypt,  Greece, 
and  other  neighboring  countries ;  for  if  they  had  been  of  novel  construc¬ 
tion,  or  peculiar  to  Chaldea,  he  would  scarcely  have  failed  to  notice  so 
important  a  fact,  if  he  even  omitted  (as  he  has)  to  describe  them. 

The  same  lack  of  discrimination  is  obvious  in  almost  all  the  accounts 
of  modern  as  of  ancient  authors,  respecting  this  machine.  When  they 
speak  of  wheels  for  raising  water,  it  is  as  difficult  to  ascertain  those  to 
which  they  allude,  as  it  is  in  the  parallel  passages  of  Philo  and  Diodorus, 
Strabo  and  Caesar.  Thus  Tavernier  in  his  passage  down  the  Tigris  to 
Bagdat,  remarks,  “  all  the  day  long,  we  saw  nothing  upon  either  side  of 
the  river,  but  pitiful  huts,  made  of  the  branches  of  palm  trees,  where  live 
certain  poor  people  that  turn  the  wheels ,  by  means  whereof  they  water 
the  neighboring  ground.”  Sometimes  the  chain  of  pots  is  mentioned  by 
travelers  as  the  Persian  wheel ,  and  popular  extracts  from  their  works 
tend  greatly  to  perplex  enquirers  into  its  history.  When  we  met  with 
statements  from  Shaw’s  travels,  that  the  Persian  wheel  was  extensively 
used  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  through  all  Egypt,  they  were  so  much  at 
variance  with  the  testimony  of  other  oriental  travelers,  and  so  foreign  to 
our  impressions  respecting  the  use  of  that  machine  in  Egypt,  that  we  had 
immediate  reference  to  his  work ;  when  the  apparent  discrepancy  was 
explained.  He  describes  and  figures  the  chain  of  pots  (sakia)  as  the 
Persian  wheel?-  Norden  commits  the  same  error  :  “  they  likewise  employ 
the  Persian  wheel  with  ropes  of  pitchers,  which  is  turned  by  oxen.”b 
Twiss  also  describes  the  Spanish  chain  of  pots  as  the  Persian  wheel,  and 
which  he  observes  is  used  “  all  over  Portugal,  Spain,  and  the  Levant.”® 

Other  travelers  speak  of  it  as  the  Noria.  Mr.  Jacob,  in  his  “  Tra¬ 
vels  in  the  South  of  Spain,”  Lon.  1S11,  page  152,  says  the  Spaniards  “  use 
a  mill  of  Arabic  origin,  from  which  our  chain  pump  is  evidently  derived ; 
it  is  called  a  noria.  A  vertical  wheel  over  a  well  has  a  series  of  earthen 
jars  fastened  together  by  cords  of  Esparto,  which  descend  into  the  water 
and  fill  themselves  by  the  motion  of  the  wheel.  The  vertical  wheel 
is  put  in  motion  by  a  horizontal  one,  which  is  turned  by  a  cow.  No 
machine  can  be  more  simple.”  In  the  Grande  Description  of  Egypt, 
it  is  designated  *  Roue  a  pols,’d  instead  of  naming  it  from  the  chain, 
its  peculiar  and  distinguishing  feature.  It  certainly  has  nothing  in  com¬ 
mon  with  the  noria, except  the  pots  or  vessels  in  which  the  water  is  raised; 
and  these  in  the  latter,  are  suspended  from  the  arms  of  inflexible  levers, 
and  ascend  in  the  arc  of  a  circle  ;  while  in  both  these  circumstances,  and 
others  might  be  named,  there  is  no  resemblance  whatever  between  them. 
The  chain  of  pots  is  generally  named  by  French  authors,  ‘  Chapelet ,’  from 
its  resemblance  to  the  string  of  beads,  which  Roman  catholics,  Mahome¬ 
tans,  Budhists,  &c.  (like  the  Pagans  of  old)  use  in  repeating  their  prayers. 
This  appellation  is  sufficiently  discriminating,  and  is  appropriate  ;  certainly 
more  so  than  Roue  a  pots,  since  it  serves  to  separate  this  machine  from 
every  species  of  wheels ,  and  to  preserve  a  distinction  between  two  very 
different  classes  of  hydraulic  engines. 

The  chain  of  pots  seems  always  to  have  been  used  to  raise  water  from 

‘Travels,  page  337.  b  Travels  in  Egypt  and  Nubia,  Vol.  i,  56. 

e  Travels  through  Portugal  and  Spain  in  177*2,  and  ’73.  Lon.  1780,  page  329. 

d  Tom.  2.  Memoirs,  E.  M.  Plate  5. 

17 


130 


Pumps  of  Danau s. 


[Book  I. 


Joseph’s  well.  If  the  location  of  this  well,  its  peculiar  construction,  di¬ 
vision  into  two  distinct  shafts,  the  chamber  between  them  for  the  animals 
which  propel  the  machinery,  the  passage  for  their  ascent  and  descent,  and 
its  enormous  depth,  be  maturely  considered,  it  will  appear,  we  think,  that 
no  other  machine  could  at  any  time  have  been  used,  or  intended  by  its  con¬ 
structors  to  have  been  used  in  raising  its  water ;  if  therefore  this  celebra¬ 
ted  well  be,  as  supposed,  a  work  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  or  a  relic  of 
Babylon,  then  the  endless  chain  of  pots  may  safely  be  regarded  as  coeval 
with  the  foundation  of  that  ancient  city,  if  not,  as  it  probably  is,  much 
more  ancient. 

It  was  probably  the  *  pump,’  which  according  to  tradition,  Danaus 
introduced  into  Greece,  a  thousand  years  before  the  building  of  Babylon 
by  the  Persians.  During  the  time  the  Israelites  were  in  Egypt,  this 
prince,  in  consequence  of  domestic  quarrels,  left  it  with  his  family  and 
friends,  and  sailed  for  Greece.  They  landed  on  the  coast  of  Peloponessus 
or  the  Morea,  and  were  hospitably  entertained  at  Argos,  where  they  set¬ 
tled.  It  is  said,  the  Greeks  did  not  at  that  time  possess  the  knowledge  of 
obtaining  water  from  wells ;  the  companions  of  Danaus  having  been  the 
first  to  dig  them,  and  to  introduce  pumps.  Pliny  vii.  56.  If  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  Greece  were  ignorant  of  wells,  previous  to  the  arrival  of  these 
strangers,  they  could  certainly  have  had  no  occasion  for  pumps ;  and  it 
was  natural  for  the  Egyptians,  when  they  dug  wells,  to  introduce  their 
own  country  methods  of  obtaining  water  from  them. 

As  the  word  ‘  pumps,’  is  not  however  to  be  understood  in  the  restricted 
sense  in  which  it  is  at  present  used,  the  question  occurs,  what  kind  of  ma¬ 
chines  were  these!  1.  They  must  have  been  simple  in  their  construction, 
for  otherwise  they  would  have  been  ill  adapted  to  a  rude  and  uncultivated 
people,  and  such  the  Greeks  were  while  ignorant  of  wells.  2.  They 
must  have  been  of  general  application  to  the  wells  of  Greece.  3.  They 
were  such  as,  from  their  great  utility,  were  continued  in  use  through  sub¬ 
sequent  ages,  for  they  were  highly  prized,  and  the  memory  of  their  intro¬ 
duction  preserved.  4.  They  were  such  as  were  previously  used  in  Egypt. 
Now,  of  all  ancient  devices  for  raising  wrater,  to  which  the  term  1  pump’ 
could  with  any  propriety  be  applied,  the  chain  of  pots  is  the  only  one  that 
fulfils  the  conditions  premised.  It  is  evident  that  the  jantu  and  its  modi¬ 
fications  are  wholly  inapplicable  to  raise  water  from  wells ;  and  the  tym¬ 
panum  and  noria  are  equally  so.  The  sivape  is  not  adapted  to  deep  wells 
and  those  of  Greece  were  generally  such  :  yet  as  it  is  admirably  adapted 
to  raise  water  from  small  depths,  and  was  so  used  by  the  ancient  Greeks  ; 
it  is  probable  that  it  was  also  introduced  by  Danaus  ;  as  we  know  that  it 
was  in  common  use  in  Egypt,  in  his  time.  (See  figures  36  and  43.)  It 
must  however  have  been  of  extremely  limited  application  to  wells  on  ac¬ 
count  of  their  depth.  (See  page  38.)  The  modern  inhabitants  of  Egypt 
raise  water  with  it  only  about  seven  feet ;  and  from  the  figures  just  referred 
to,  it  is  obvious  that  in  the  time  of  Danaus,  it  was  raised  no  higher  by  it. 
but  if  its  application  was  even  extended  in  Greece,  to  elevate  water  from 
twice  that  depth,  its  employment  in  wells  must  have  been  comparatively 
trifling. 

It  could  not  have  been  the  chain  pump,  for  it  does  not  appear,  that 
either  the  Greeks  or  Romans  were  acquainted  with  that  machine.  Vi¬ 
truvius  is  silent  respecting  it.  Nor  can  we  suppose  any  thing  like  the 
atmospheric  or  forcing  pump  intended — even,  if  it  could  be  proved  that 
both  were  then  known.  They  are  too  complex  to  have  been  at  all  suited 
to  the  Greeks  at  that  remote  age.  Indeed  they  are  altogether  worthless 
to  a  rude  people,  who  would  be  unable  to  keep  them  in  order,  or  to  detect 


Antiquity  of  the  Chain  of  Pots. 


131 


Chap.  15.] 


the  causes  of  their  ceasing  to  act.  But  that  the  ‘pumps’  of  Danaus  were 
some  kind  of  bucket  machines,  like  the  chain  of  pots,  is  inferable  from 
the  account  of  his  daughters’  punishment.  They  were  condemned  to  draw 
water  from  deep  wells,  and  would  of  course,  use  the  machines  their  fa 
ther  introduced.  Now  we  are  told  that  the  vessels  in  which  they  raised 
the  liquid  leaked  so  much,  that  the  water  escaped  from  them  ere  it  reach¬ 
ed  the  surface — hence  their  endless  punishment.  The  witty  remark  of 
Bion  implies  the  same  thing.  A  person  speaking  of  the  severe  punish¬ 
ment  of  these  young  women,  in  perpetually  drawing  water  in  vessels  full 
of  holes,  he  remarked,  “I  should  consider  them  much  more  to  be  pitied 
were  they  condemned  to  draw  water  in  vessels  without  holes.”  Hence, 
we  infer  that  the  Egyptian  sakia  or  chain  of  pots,  was  the  ‘  pump’  in¬ 
troduced  by  Danaus,  and  that  to  it  tradition  refers.  It  was  the  only  one 
to  which,  from  its  construction,  and  adaptation  to  every  depth ,  the  name 
of  ‘  pump’  could  have  been  applied — while  from  its  simplicity  and  effi¬ 
ciency,  it  was  a  gift  of  no  ordinary  value  to  the  Greeks ;  and  the  introduc¬ 
tion  of  it  into  their  country  was  worthy  of  being  preserved  from  oblivion. 

It  is  believed  to  have  been  in  uninterrupted  use  there  since  the  age  of 
Danaus  ;  although  history  may  not  have  preserved  any  record  or  repre¬ 
sentation  of  so  early  an  employment  of  it.  It  is  still  used  on  the  conti¬ 
nent  and  in  the  islands,  as  well  as  throughout  Syria  and  Asia  Minor.  At 
Smyrna  it  is  as  common  as  a  pump  with  us.  In  “  Voyage  Pittoresque  de 
la  Grece,”  Paris,  1782,  Plate  49,  contains  a  drawing,  and  page  9  a 
description  of  one  in  a  garden  at  Scio,  the  ancient  Chios,  and  capital  city 
of  the  island  of  the  same  name.  It  is  similar  to  the  one  represented  in 
No.  54,  and  is  doubtless  identical  with  those  employed  in  the  same  cities, 
when  Homer  was  born  near  the  former,  and  when  he  kept  a  school  in 
the  latter. 

On  the  antiquity  of  this  and  preceding  machines,  we  add  the  opinions  of 
recent  writers.  “  A  traveler  standing  on  the  edge  of  either  the  Libyan  or 
Arabian  desert,  and  overlooking  Egypt,  would  behold  before  him  one  of 
the  most  magnificent  prospects  ever  presented  to  human  eyes.  He  would 
survey  a  deep  valley,  bright  with  vegetation,  and  teeming  with  a  depres¬ 
sed  but  laborious  population  engaged  in  the  various  labors  of  agriculture. 
He  would  see  opposite  to  him  another  eternal  rampart,  which,  with  the 
one  he  stands  upon,  shuts  in  this  valley,  and  between  them  a  mighty  river, 
flowing  in  a  winding  course  from  the  foot  of  one  chain  to  the  other,  fur¬ 
nishing  lateral  canals,  whence  the  water  is  elevated  by  wheels  and  buck¬ 
ets  of  the  rudest  structures,  worked  sometimes  by  men  and  sometimes  by 
cattle,  and  no  doubt  identical  with  the  process  in  use  in  the  days  of  Sesos- 
tris."h  “  These  methods”  (of  raising  water  to  irrigate  the  land,)  “  are  not 
the  invention  of  the  modern  Egyptians,  but  have  been  used  from  time  im¬ 
memorial  without  receiving  the  smallest  improvement .”b  “  Even  the  creak¬ 
ing  sound  of  the  water  wheels,  as  the  blindfolded  oxen  went  round  and 
round,  and  of  the  tiny  cascades  splashing  from  the  string  of  earthen  pots 
into  the  trough  which  received  and  distributed  the  water  to  the  wooden 
canals ;  were  not  disagreeable  to  my  ears,  since  they  called  up  before  the 
imagination,  the  primitive  ages  of  mankind,  the  rude  contrivances  of  the 
early  kings  of  Egypt,  for  the  advancement  of  agriculture,  which  have  un¬ 
dergone  little  change  or  improvement  up  to  the  present  hour.”c 

Like  every  other  machine  that  has  yet  been  named,  the  date  of  its  ori- 


*  North  American  Review,  Jan.  1839.  p.  185* *6.  b  History  of  the  Operations  of  the 
French  and  British  Armies  in  Egypt.  Newcastle  1809.  Vol.  i,  page  92. 

*  St.  John,  “  Egypt  and  Mohammed  Ali.”  Vol.  i,  10. 


132  Chain  of  Pots  referred  to  in  Ecclesiastes.  [Book  L 

gin  is  unknown.  From  its  simplicity,  its  obvious  derivation  from  the  prim¬ 
itive  cord  and  bucket,  its  employment  over  all  Asia  and  Egypt  at  the 
present  time,  and  its  extensive  use  in  the  ancient  world ;  there  can  be  no 
question  of  its  great  antiquity.  Vitruvius  is  alike  silent  respecting  the 
origin  of  this,  as  of  the  noria  and  tympanum,  and  doubtless  for  the  same 
reason — their  origin  extended  too  far  into  the  abyss  of  past  ages  to  be  dis¬ 
covered.  It  is  singular  that  the  ancients,  who  attributed  almost  every 
agricultural  and  domestic  implement  to  one  or  other  of  their  deities,  should 
not  have  derived  the  equally  important  machines  for  raising  water  from  a 
similar  source.  The  origin  of  the  ‘plough  they  gave  to  Osiris,  of  the  harrow 
to  Occator,  the  rake  to  Sarritor,  the  scythe  to  Saturn,  the  sickle  to  Ceres, 
the  fail  to  Triptolemus,  &c. ;  and  as  they  attributed  the  art  of  manuring 
ground  to  a  god,  they  surely  ought  to  have  given  the  invention  of  ma¬ 
chines  to  irrigate  it  to  another. 

To  the  chain  of  pots,  there  is  an  allusion  in  the  beautiful  description  of 
the  decay  and  death  of  the  human  body,  in  the  12th  chapter  of  Ecclesi¬ 
astes  :  “  Or  ever  the  silver  cord  be  loosed,  or  the  golden  bowl  be  broken; 
or  the  pitcher  be  broken  at  the  fountain,  or  the  wheel  broken  at  the  cis¬ 
tern.”  In  the  east,  the  chain  is  almost  uniformly  made  of  cord  or  rope ; 
and  the  former  part  of  the  passage  appears  to  refer  to  the  ends,  which 
are  spliced  or  tied  together,  becoming  loosened,  when  the  vessels  would 
necessarily  be  broken,  for  the  whole  would  fall  to  the  bottom  ;  an  occur- 
rence  which  is  not  uncommon.  The  term  silver  cord,  is  expressive  of  its 
whiteness,  the  result  of  its  constant  exposure  to  water  and  the  bleaching 
effect  of  the  sun’s  rays  :  and  golden  bowl  refers  to  the  red  earthenware 
pots  or  vases,  in  which  the  water  is  raised.  Both  pots  and  cords  stream¬ 
ing  with  water,  and  glittering  in  the  sun,  presented  to  the  vivid  imagina¬ 
tions  of  the  orientals,  striking  resemblances  to  burnished  gold  and  silver. 
The  circulation  of  the  stream  of  life  in  man,  (his  blood)®  its  interruption 
in  disease  and  old  age,  his  energies  failing,  and  the  mechanism  of  his 
frame  wearing  out,  and  at  last  ceasing  forever  to  move;  are  forcibly  illus¬ 
trated  by  the  endless  or  circulating  cord  of  this  machine;  its  raising  living 
waters  and  dispersing  them  through  various  channels,  as  so  many  streams 
of  life,  until  its  vessels,  the  pitchers,  become  broken,  and  the  flow  of  the 
stream  interrupted,  and  the  wheel,  upon  which  its  movements  depended, 
becoming  deranged,  broken,  and  destroyed. 

That  the  pots  or  vases  are  frequently  broken,  we  learn  from  numerous 
travelers.  In  the  account  of  Joseph’s  well,  in  the  Grande  Description,  it 
is  said  to  be  necessary  for  a  man  to  be  in  constant  attendance,  to  keep  the 
animals  which  move  it  from  stopping,  and  to  replace  the  pitchers  that  are 
broken.  And  that  the  wheels  were  often  deranged  is  more  than  pro¬ 
bable,  when  we  consider  how  exceedingly  rude  and  imperfect  is  their 
construction  over  all  the  east.  The  surprise  of  travelers  has  often  been 
elicited  by  their  continuing  to  work  at  all,  while  exhibiting  every  symptom 
of  derangement  and  decay.  “  The  water  wheels,  pots,  ropes,  &c.”  says 
Mr.  St.  John,  “  had  an  extremely  antique  and  dilapidated  appearance;  and, 
if  much  used,  would  undoubtedly  fall  to  pieces.”1* *  We  are  told  that  a 
more  striking  picture  of  rude  and  imperfect  mechanism  could  scarcely  be 
conceived ;  and  it  is  not  improbable,  that  the  *  Egyptian  Wheel’  as  an  em¬ 
blem  of  instability,  had  reference  to  its  defective  construction  and  con- 


°That  the  circulation  of  the  blood  was  known  to  the  ancients,  see  Dutens'  ‘Inquiry 
into  the  origin  of  the  discoveries  attributed  to  the  Moderns  ’  Lon.  I7G9,  pp.  210,  222 

*  Egypt  and  Mohammed  Ali,  i,  126,  127. 


133 


Clap.  15.J  The  ’Babylonian  Engine. 

stant  liability  to  derangement,  as  much  so  as  to  its  rotary  movement.  Noi¬ 
ls  it  likely  that  they  were  much  superior  at  any  time  in  Judea,  for  the 
Jews  never  cultivated  the  arts  to  any  extent.  The  mechanics  amon^ 
them  when  they  left  Egypt  were  probably  more  numerous  and  expert 
than  during  any  subsequent  period  of  their  history.  In  the  eleventh  cen¬ 
tury  B.  C.  when  Saul  began  to  reign,  there  was  not  a  blacksmith  in  the 
land,  or  one  that  could  forge  iron ;  they  had  been  carried  off  by  the  Phi¬ 
listines ;  and  although  David  at  his  death  left  numerous  artificers,  when  his 
son  built  the  temple  and  his  own  palace,  he  obtained  mechanics  from  Tyre. 

It  is  moreover  possible  that  the  plaints  and  moanings  incident  to  old 
age,  ‘when  the  grasshopper  shall  be  a  burden  and  desire  shall  fail,’  were 
also  intended  to  be  pointed  out  by  the  perpetual  creaking  of  these  rickety 
machines,  as  indicative  of  approaching  dissolution.  The  harsh  noise  they 
make  has  been  noticed  by  several  travelers.  St.John  speaks  of  the  creak¬ 
ing  sound  of  the  water  wheels ;  and  Stephens,  in  his  ‘Incidents  of  Travel,’ 
observes,  “  it  was  moonlight,  and  the  creaking  of  the  water  wheels  on 
the  banks,  (of  the  Nile)  sounded  like  the  moaning  spirit  of  an  ancient 
Egyptian.” 


ON  THE  ENGINE  THAT  RAISED  WATER  FROM  THE  EUPHRATES  TO  SUPPLY  THE 

HANGING  GARDENS  AT  BABYLON. 

There  is  a  machine  noticed  by  ancient  authors,  which  probably  belongs 
to  this  part  of  our  subject,  and  it  is  by  far  the  most  interesting  hydraulic 
engine  mentioned  in  history.  Some  circumstances  connected  with  it,  are 
also  worthy  of  notice.  It  was  constructed  and  used  in  the  most  ancient 
and  most  splendid  city  of  the  postdiluvian  world ;  a  city  which  according* 
to  tradition  existed  like  Joppa,  before  the  deluge:  viz.  Babylon — a  city 
generally  allowed  to  have  been  founded  by  the  builders  of  Babel;  subse¬ 
quently  enlarged  by  Nimrod ;  extended  and  beautified  by  Semiramis; 
and  which  reached  its  acme  of  unrivaled  splendor  under  Nebuchadnezzar. 

The  engine  which  raised  the  water  of  the  Euphrates  to  the  top  of  the 
walls  of  this  city,  to  supply  the  pensile  or  hanging  gardens,  greatly  ex¬ 
ceeded  in  the  perpendicular  height  to  which  the  water  was  elevated  by  it, 
the  most  famous  hydraulic  machinery  of  modern  ages  ;  and  like  most  of 
the  works  of  the  remote  ancients,  it  appears  to  have  borne  the  impress  of 
those  mighty  intellects,  who  never  suffered  any  physical  impediment  to 
interfere  with  the  accomplishment  of  their  designs  ;  and  many  of  whose 
works  almost  induce  us  to  believe  that  men  ‘  were  giants  in  those  days.’ 
The  walls  of  Babylon,  according  to  Herodotus,  i,  178,  were  350  feet  high ! 
Diodorus  Siculus  and  others  make  them  much  less;  bat  the  descriptions 
of  them  by  the  latter,  it  is  alleged,  were  applicable  only,  after  the  Per- 
sians  under  Darius  Hystaspes  retook  the  city  upon  its  revolt,  and  demo¬ 
lished,  or  rather  reduced  their  height  to  about  50  cubits  ;  whereas  the  fa¬ 
ther  of  history  gives  their  original  elevation,  and  incredible  as  it  may  ap- 
pear,  his  statement  is  believed  to  be  correct.  He  is  the  oldest  author 
who  has  described  them;  and  he  visited  Babylon  within  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  of  Nebuchadnezzar’s  death;  and  four  hundred  before  Dio¬ 
dorus  flourished.  He  has  recorded  the  impressions  which  at  that  time, 
the  city  made  on  his  mind,  in  the  following  words,  “  its  internal  beautv 
and  magnificence  exceed  whatever  has  come  within  my  knowledge;”  and 
Herodotus,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  well  acquainted  with  the  splen¬ 
did  cities  of  Egypt  and  the  east.  Had  not  the  pyramids  of  Geezer,  the 
es  anc^  tom^s  Thebes  and  Karnac,  the  artificial  lakes  and  canals 
°  kgypt,  the  wall  of  China,  the  caves  of  Ellora  and  Elephanta,  &c. 


134 


The  Babylonian  Engine. 


[Book  1. 


come  down  to  our  times;  descriptions  of  them  by  ancient  authors,  would 
have  been  deemed  extravagant  or  fabulous,  and  their  dimensions  reduced 
to  assimilate  them  with  the  works  of  modern  times:  so  strongly  are 
we  inclined  to  depreciate  the  labors  of  the  ancients,  whenever  they 
greatly  excel  our  own.  According  to  Berosus,  who  is  quoted  by  Jose¬ 
phus,  Antiq.  x,  11,  it  was  Nebuchadnezzar  who  constructed  these  gardens, 
so  that  the  prophet  Daniel  must  have  witnessed  their  erection,  and  also 
that  of  the  hydraulic  engine ;  for  he  was  a  young  man  when  taken  a  cap¬ 
tive  to  Babylon  in  the  beginning  of  Nebuchadnezzar’s  reign,  and  he  con¬ 
tinued  there  till  the  death  of  that  monarch  and  of  his  successor.  Amytis, 
the  wife  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  was  a  Mede,  and  as  Babylon  was  situated 
on  an  extensive  plain,  she  very  sensibly  felt  the  loss  of  the  hills  and 
woods  of  her  native  land.  To  supply  this  loss  in  some  degree,  these  fa¬ 
mous  gardens,  in  which  large  forest  trees  were  cultivated,  were  con¬ 
structed.  They  extended  in  terraces  formed  one  above  another  to  the 
top  of  the  city  walls,  and  to  supply  them  with  the  necessary  moisture, 
the  engine  in  question  was  erected.4 

As  no  account  of  the  nature  of  this  machine  has  been  preserved,  we 
are  left  to  conjecture  the  principle  upon  which  it  was  constructed,  from 
the  only  datum  afforded,  viz  :  the  height  to  which  it  raised  the  water. 
We  can  easily  conceive  how  water  could  have  been  supplied  to  the  upper¬ 
most  of  these  gardens  by  a  series  of  machines,  as  now  practised  in  the  east 
to  carry  water  over  the  highest  elevations — but  this  is  always  mentioned 
as  a  single  engine,  not  a  series  of  them.  Had  its  location  been  determin¬ 
ed,  that  circumstance  alone,  would  have  aided  materially  in  the  investi 
gation  ;  but  we  do  not  certainly  know  whether  it  was  placed  on  the  highest 
terrace — on  a  level  with  the  Euphrates — or  at  some  intermediate  elevation. 
The  authors  of  the  Universal  History  remark,  “upon  the  uppermost  oi  these 
terraces  was  a  reservoir,  supplied  by  a  certain  engine,  from  whence  the 
gardens  on  the  other  terraces  were  supplied.”  They  do  not  say  where  the 
engine  itself  was  located.  Rollin  places  it  on  the  highest  part  of  the  gar¬ 
dens  :  “  In  the  upper  terrace  there  was  an  engine  or  kind  of  pump  by 
which  the  water  was  drawn  up.” 

The  statement  of  an  engine  having  been  erected  at  the  top  is  probably 
correct,  for  we  are  not  aware  that  the  ancients  at  that  period  possessed 
any  machine  which,  like  the  forcing  pump,  projected  water  above  itself. 
Ancient  machines,  (and  every  one  which  we  have  yet  examined,  is  an  ex¬ 
ample,)  did  not  raise  water  higher  than  their  own  level.  But  if  sucking 
and  forcing  pumps  were  then  known  and  used  in  Babylon,  a  period  howev¬ 
er,  anterior  to  that  of  their  alleged  invention,  of  at  least  500  years,  still  if 
this  engine  was  placed  on  the  uppermost  terrace,  both  would  have  been 
wholly  inapplicable.  If  therefore  we  incline  to  the  opinion  that  this  en 
gine  was  a  modification  of  one  of  those  ancient  machines,  which  we  have 
already  examined  ;  we  are  not  led  to  this  conclusion  by  supposing  the 
state  of  the  arts  in  Babylon  at  the  period  of  its  construction,  to  have 
been  too  crude  and  imperfect  to  admit  of  more  complex  or  philosophical 

a  Paintings  found  in  Pompeii,  represent  Villas  of  two  stories  having  trees  planted  on 
their  roofs.  These  kind  of  gardens  were  probably  not  very  uncommon  in  ancient 
times  in  the  east,  though  none  perhaps  ever  equaled  those  of  Babylon.  They  have 
been  continued  to  modern  times  in  Asia.  Tavernier,  when  in  Bagnagar  (the  modem 
Hyderabad)  the  capital  of  Golconda,  found  the  roofs  of  the  large  courts  of  the  palace 
terraced  and  containing  gardens,  in  which  were  trees  of  such  immense  size  “  that  it  is 
a  thing  of  great  wonder  how  those  arches  should  bear  so  vast  a  burden.”  The  origin 
of  these  and  of  the  city  was  similar  to  that  of  the  Babylonian  gardens.  The  King  at 
the  importunity  of  Nagar,  one  of  his  wives,  founded  the  city  and  named  it  aAer  her 
Bagnagar — i.  e,  “  the  gardens  of  Nagar.” 


The  Babylonian  Engine. 


L35 


Chap.  15.] 


apparatus — on  the  contrary,  we  know  that  the  Babylonians  carried  many 
of’  the  arts  to  the  highest  degree  of  refinement.  “  They  were  great  con¬ 
trivers,”  in  this  respect,  and  “  fell  short  of  no  one  nation  under  the  sun, 
so  far  from  it,  that  they  in  a  great  measure  showed  the  way  to  every  na¬ 
tion  besides.”  Univer.  His.  Vol.  i,  933.  Besides,  it  is  certainly  more 
philosophical  to  suppose  this  famous  engine  to  have  been  a  modification 
of  some  machine,  which  we  have  reason  to  believe  was  used  in  Chaldea  at 
that  time,  and  capable  of  producing  the  results  ascribed  to  the  Babylonian 
engine,  than  of  any  other  of  which  that  people  possibly  knew  nothing. 

Of  all  ancient  machines,  the  chain  of  pots  was  certainly  the  best  adapt¬ 
ed  for  the  purpose,  and  if  we  mistake  not,  the  only  one  that  could,  with 
any  regard  to  permanency  and  effect,  have  been  adopted.  It  stands,  and 
justly  so,  at  the  head  of  all  ancient  engines  for  raising  water  through  great 
elevations  ;  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  any  machine  could  now  be 
produced  better  adapted  for  the  hanging  gardens  of  Babylon — either  in  the 
economy  and  simplicity  of  its  construction  ;  durability  and  effect ;  or  be 
less  liable  to  derangement,  less  expensive,  or  less  difficult  for  ordinary 
people  to  repair.  The  project  of  raising  water  through  a  perpendicular 
elevation,  exceeding  three  hundred  feet,  in  numerous  vessels  attached  to 
an  endless  chain,  would  probably  startle  most  of  our  mechanicians ;  and 
some  might  suppose  that  the  weight  of  so  long  a  chain,  if  made  of  iron , 
would  overcome  the  tenacity  of  the  metal ;  but  almost  all  the  works  of 
the  remote  ancients  partook  of  the  same  bold  features.  Magnitude  in  some 
of  their  machines,  is  as  surprising  as  in  other  departments  of  their  labors. 
Their  engineers  seem  to  have  carried  it  to  an  extent  that  in  modern  days, 
would  be  considered  as  verging  on  the  limits  of  the  natural  properties  of 
materials. 

That  the  chain  of  pots  was  the  standard  machine  for  raising  water  in 
quantities  from  great  depths  would  appear  from  Vitruvius,  since  it  is  the 
only  one  adapted  for  that  purpose  which  he  has  described,  except  the 
“machine  of  Ctesibius and  as  he  professes  to  give  an  account  of  the 
“  various  machines  for  raising  water,”  and  his  profession  as  a  civil  engi¬ 
neer  would  necessarily  render  him  familiar  with  the  best  of  them,  it  is 
clear  that  he  was  ignorant  of  any  other  having  been  in  previous  use. 
That  the  engine  at  Babylon  was  no  other  than  the  chain  of  pots,  may  be 
inferred  from  the  employment  of  the  latter  in  Joseph’s  well,  where  it 
raises  water  to  an  elevation  nearly  equal  to  that  ascribed  to  the  former  ; 
and  if  the  subject  were  pf  sufficient  interest,  we  think  a  connection  might 
be  traced  between  them^  if  Joseph’s  well  be,  as  supposed,  a  relic  of  Egypt¬ 
ian  Babylon.  Both  Egypt  and  Chaldea  were  subject  to  the  same  monarch 
at  the  time  that  city  was  built.  Twenty  two  or  three  years  only  had  elapsed 
after  Nebuchadnezzar’s  death  when  Cyrus  took  Babylon,  and  with  it  the 
empire  ;  and  nine  years  after  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cambyses,  who 
when  in  Egypt,  it  is  alleged,  founded  a  city  on  the  site  of  modern  Cairo, 
and  named  it  after  old  Babylon.  Cambyses  reigned  seven  years  and  five 
months.  If,  therefore,  the  Babylonian  machine  was  superior  to  the  ‘  chain 
of  pots,’  (and  it  must  have  been,  if  it  differed  at  all  from  the  latter,  for 
otherwise  it  would  not  have  been  selected,)  then  it  would,  we  think,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  have  been  adopted  also  in  Joseph’s  well,  in  which  the 
water  was  required  to  be  elevated  to  about  the  same  height  as  in  the 
hanging  gardens.  Besides,  if  it  possessed  peculiar  advantages,  it  would 
certainly  have  been  preserved  in  use,  as  well  as  the  chain  of  pots,  for  the 
wealth,  comfort,  and  even  existence  of  the  people  of  the  east,  have  at  all 
times  depended  too  much  upon  such  machines  to  suffer  any  valuable  one 
to  be  lost. 


136 


Rope  Rump. 


[Book  1. 


Bat  was  the  chain  of  this  machine  formed  of  metal,  or  of  ropes'?  Of 
the  latter  we  have  no  doubt.  They  are  generally  made  of  flax  or  fibres  of  the 
palm  tree  at  the  present  day  over  all  the  east.  In  great  elevations,  chains 
of  rope  possess  important  advantages  over  those  of  metal,  in  their  supe¬ 
rior  lightness,  being  free  from  corrosion,  and  the  facility  of  repairing  them. 
But  by  far  the  most  interesting  problem  connected  with  the  Babylonian 
engine  is,  was  the  water  of  the  Euphrates  raised  by  it  to  the  highest  ter¬ 
race  at  a  single  lift  \  If  we  had  not  been  informed  of  one  reservoir  only, 
on  the  upper  terrace  “  from  whence  the  gardens  on  the  others  were  water¬ 
ed,”  we  should  have  supposed  the  water  really  raised  as  in  Joseph’s  well, 
i.  e.  by  two ,  or  even  more  separate  chains ;  and  as  it  is,  we  cannot  believe 
that  so  ingenious  a  people  as  the  Babylonians  would  raise  the  whole  of 
the  water  which  the  gardens  required  to  the  uppermost  terrace,  when  the 
greatest  portion  of  it  was  not  wanted  half  so  high.  As  the  size  of  the  ter¬ 
races  diminished  as  they  approached  the  top  of  the  walls,  it  is  probable  that 
full  two  thirds  of  the  water  was  consumed  within  one  hundred  feet  of  the 
ground.  We  therefore  conclude  that  this  famous  engine  was  composed 
of  at  least  two,  and  probably  more,  separate  chains  of  pots;  and  even  then, 
it  might  with  as  much  propriety,  be  noticed  by  ancient  authors  as  a  single 
machine,  as  that  at  Cairo  still  is,  by  all  modern  travelers.  Winkelman 
says,  the  famous  gardens  at  Babylon  had  canals,  some  of  “  which  were 
supplied  by  pumps  and  other  engines.”  And  Kircher  in  his  Turris  Baltel, 
16/9,  represents  fountains  and  jets  d'eau  on  every  terrace. 


t  .  .  i3 


No.  57.  Rope  Pump. 


There  is  another  device  that  belongs  to  this  chapter.  Every  person 
knows,  that  where  water  is  dispersed  over  extended  surfaces,  and  of  too  lim¬ 
ited  depth  to  allow  the  use  of  a  vessel  to  scoop  it  up,  various  substances 
are  employed  to  absorb  it,  as  sponge  and  woolen  rags,  and  from  which  it  is 
separated  by  pressure.  A  housemaid,  when  washing  a  floor,  thus  collects 
in  a  cloth  the  liquid  dispersed  in  the  purifying  process ;  and  by  wring¬ 
ing  returns  it  to  the  vessel.  The  process  is  substantially  the  same  as  that 
adopted  to  raise  water  in  Vera’s  Rope  Pump.  See  No.  57. 

This  machine  consists  of  one  or  more  endless  ropes,  formed  of  loosely 


Hydraulic  Belt. 


137 


Chap.  16.] 


spun  wool  or  horse  hair,  and  stretched  on  two  pulleys  like  the  endless 
chain  of  pots.  These  pulleys  have  grooves  formed  on  their  surfaces  for 
the  reception  of  the  ropes.  One  of  them  is  placed  over  the  mouth  of  a 
well,  and  the  other  suspended  in  or  secured  to  the  bottom.  A  rapid  mo¬ 
tion  is  communicated  to  the  upper  pulley,  by  a  multiplying  wheel,  and 
the  ascending  side  of  each  rope  then  carries  up  the  water  absorbed  by  it; 
and  which  is  separated  from  it  when  passing  over  the  upper  pulley,  partly 
by  centrifugal  force,  and  partly  by  being  squeezed  in  the  deep  groove,  or 
by  passing  through  a  tube  as  shown  in  the  figure.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  motion,  the  column  of  water  adhering  to  the  rope,  is  always  less  than 
when  it  has  been  worked  for  some  time,  and  continues  to  increase  till  the 
surrounding  air  partakes  of  its  motion.  By  the  utmost  efforts  of  a  man, 
nine  gallons  of  water  were  raised  by  one  of  these  machines  from  a  well, 
ninety-five  feet  deep,  in  one  minute.  Adam’s  Philos.  Vol.  iii,  494. 

The  hydraulic  belt  is  a  similar  contrivance.  It  is  an  endless  double 
band  of  woolen  cloth,  passing  over  two  rollers,  as  in  figure  57.  It  is  driven 
with  a  velocity  of  not  less  than  a  thousand  feet  per  minute  ;  when  the  water 
contained  between  the  two  surfaces  is  carried  up  and  discharged  as  it  passes 
over  the  upper  roller,  by  the  pressure  of  the  band.  Some  machines  of 
this  kind  are  stated  to  have  produced  an  effect  equal  to  seventy-five  per 
cent,  of  the  power  expended,  while  that  of  ordinary  pumps  seldom  ex¬ 
ceeds  sixty  per  cent.  See  Lon.  Meehan.  Mag.  Vol.  xxix,  page  431. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Screw — An  original  device — Various  modes  of  constructing  it — Roman  Screw — Often  re-invented 
— Introduced  into  England  from  Germany — Combination  of  several  to  raise  water  to  great  elevations — 
Marquis  of  Worcester’s  proposition  relating  to  it,  exemplified  by  M.  Pattu — Ascent  of  water  in  it 
formerly  considered  inexplicable — Its  history — Not  invented  by  Archimedes — Supposed  to  have  been  in 
early  use  in  Egypt — Vitruvius  silent  respecting  its  author — Conon  its  inventor  or  re-inventor — This  phi¬ 
losopher  famous  for  his  flattery  of  Ptolemy  and  Berenice — Dinocrates  the  architect — Suspension  of  metal¬ 
lic  substances  without  support — The  screw  not  attributed  to  Archimedes  till  after  his  death — Inventions 
often  given  to  others  than  their  authors — Screws  used  as  ship  pumps  by  the  Greeks — Flatterers  like 
Conon  too  often  found  among  men  of  science — Dedications  of  European  writers  often  blasphemous— 
Hereditary  titles  and  distinctions — Their  acceptance  unworthy  of  philosophers — Evil  influence  of  scien¬ 
tific  men  in  accepting  them — Their  denunciation  a  proof  of  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  framers  of  the 
U.  S.  Constitution — Their  extinction  in  Europe  desirable — Plato,  Solon,  and  Socrates — George  III— 
George  IV — James  Watt — Arago — Description  of  the  1  Syracusan,’  a  ship  built  by  Archimedes,  in 
which  the  Screw  Pump  was  used. 

The  Cochleon  or  Egyptian  Screw,  the  machine  next  described  by 
Vitruvius,  is,  in  every  respect,  the  most  original  one  of  which  he  has  giv¬ 
en  an  account.  Unlike  the  preceding,  which  appear  to  have  been  in  a 
great  measure  deduced  from  each  other,  it  forms  a  species  of  itself ;  and 
whoever  was  its  inventor,  he  has  left  in  it  a  proof  of  his  genius,  and  a 
lasting  monument  of  his  skill.  If  it  be  not  the  earliest  hydraulic  engine 
that  was  composed  of  tubes ,  or  in  the  construction  of  which  they  were  in¬ 
troduced,  it  certainly  is  the  oldest  one  known  of  that  description ;  and  in 
its  mode  of  operation  it  differs  essentially  from  all  other  ancient  tube  ma 
chines  ;  in  the  latter  the  tubes  merely  serve  as  conduits  for  the  ascending 
water,  and  as  such  are  at  rest;  while  in  the  screw  it  is  the  tubes  themselves 
in  motion  that  raises  the  liquid. 


18 


138 


The  Screw. 


[Book  1 


This  machine  has  been  constructed  in  a  variety  of  ways.  Sometimes 
by  winding,  in  the  manner  of  a  screw,  one  or  more  flexible  tubes 

(generally  of  lead  or  strong  leath¬ 
er)  round  a  cylinder  of  wood  or 
iron.  This  cylinder  is  sustained 
by  gudgeons  in  such  a  position, 
that  at  whatever  angle  with  the 
horizon  it  is  used,  the  plane  of 
the  helix  must  always  be  inclined 
to  its  axis  at  a  greater  angle  ;  oth¬ 
erwise  no  water  could  be  raised 
by  it  any  more  than  by  turning 
it  in  the  wrong  direction.  The 
lower  end  being  immersed  in  wa¬ 
ter,  the  liquid  enters  the  tube  and 
is  gradually  raised  by  each  revo¬ 
lution  until  it  is  discharged  above. 
These  machines  are  commonly 
used  at  an  inclination  to  the  hori¬ 
zon  of  about  45°,  although  they 
sometimes  are  placed  at  60°.  See 
the  figure. 

No.  58.  Screw.  Instead  of  tubes  wound  round 

a  cylinder,  large  grooves  were  sometimes  formed  in  the  latter  and  cover¬ 
ed  by  boards  or  sheets  of  metal,  closely  nailed  to  the  surfaces  between 
the  grooves — so  that  the  latter  might  be  considered  as  tubes  sunk  into 
the  cylinder,  instead  of  being  folded  round  its  exterior. 


No.  59.  Roman  Screw. 


Another  mode  was  to  make  the  threads  of  plank,  arranged  as  a  helix 
round  a  solid  cylinder,  which  was  fitted  with  journals,  and  made  to 
revolve  in  a  fixed  hollow  cylinder  of  the  same  length ;  the  edges  or  ex¬ 
tremities  of  the  threads  rubbing  against  the  sides  of  the  latter,  and  con¬ 
sequently  producing  the  same  effect  as  No.  58.  This  modification  of  the 
cochleon  is  known  as  the  German  Snail.  It  has  this  advantage,  that  it 
may  be  worked  in  an  open  channel,  or  half  a  cylinder  instead  of  a  whole 
one,  since  it  is  only  the  lower  half  of  the  latter,  that  is  essential  to  the 
the  operation  of  raising  water.  Machines  of  this  kind  of  large  dimen¬ 
sions  have  long  been  employed  by  the  Dutch,  and  are  generally  driven 


The  Screw. 


139 


Chap.  16.J 

by  windmills.  But  the  outer  cylinder  is  more  generally  fixed  to  the 
edges  of  the  helix,  and  turned  with  it.  It  was  made  in  this  manner  by 
the  ancient  Romans  ;  the  outer  cylinder  or  case  was  of  plank,  well  joint¬ 
ed  together,  and  nailed  to  the  edges  of  the  screw,  and  the  whole  cemented 
with  pitch,  and  bound  together  by  iron  hoops.  It  was  moved  like  the 
noria,  &c.  “  by  the  walking  of  men.”  Vitruvius,  B.  x,  Chap.  11.  See 
No.  59. 

The  screw  as  represented  in  the  preceding  figures,  has  never  been  lost 
to  the  world  since  its  invention,  although  it  has  long  been  unknown  in  that 
country  in  which  it  was  devised — Egypt.  It  appears  early  in  printed 
books.  In  the  first  German  edition  of  Vegetius,  (1511)  it  is  figured,  and 
nearly  in  a  vertical  position.  A  laborer  with  a  feather  in  his  cap,  and  a 
sword  at  his  side,  is  seated  across  the  top  of  the  frame,  and  turns  it  by  a 
crank.a 

Like  almost  every  other  hydraulic  engine,  the  screw  has  often  been 
re-invented.  Cardan  mentions  a  blacksmith  of  Milan,  who  imagining  him¬ 
self  its  original  inventor,  “  for  joy,  ran  out  of  his  wits,”  and  the  writer 
recollects  when  a  boy,  hearing  of  an  ingenious  shoemaker  in  much  the 
same  predicament.  It  appears  to  have  been,  like  other  machines  for  the 
same  purpose,  introduced  into  England  from  Germany.  “  The  Holland¬ 
ers,  (says  Switzer,)  have  long  ago,  as  some  books  that  I  have  seen  of 
theirs  of  fortification  intimate,  us’d  them  in  draining  their  morassy  and 
fenny  ground,  from  ivhence  they  have  been  brought  into  England;  and  used 
in  the  fens  of  Lincolnshire,  Cambridgeshire  and  other  low  countries. 
Those  of  the  smallest  kind  that  are  worked  by  men  have  only  an  iron 
handle,  as  a  grindstone  has ;  but  the  largest  that  are  wrought  by  horses, 
have  a  wheel  like  the  cog-wheel  of  a  horse  mill.  This  engine,  (he  con¬ 
tinues,)  which  takes  hold  of  the  water,  as  a  cork  screw  does  a  cork,  will 
throw  up  water  as  fast  as  an  overshot  wheel,  whereby  in  a  short  time,  an 
infinite  number  of  water  may  be  thrown  up;  and  I  remember  when  the 
foundation  of  the  stately  bridge  of  Blenheim  was  laid,  we  had  some  of 
them  used  with  great  success  ;  and  they  are  also  used  in  the  New  River 
Works,  about  Newbury,  Berkshire,  and  said  to  be  the  contrivance  of  a 
common  soldier,  who  brought  the  invention  out  of  Flanders.”  Hydros¬ 
tatics,  296,  298. 

When  employed  to  raise  water  to  great  elevations,  a  series  of  two, 
three,  or  more,  one  above  another,  have  been  employed  ;  the  lower  one 
discharging  its  contents  into  a  basin,  in  which  the  inferior  end  of  the  next 
above  is  immersed,  the  whole  being  connected  by  cog  wheels.  Thus  an 
old  author  observes,  “  you  may  raise  water  to  any  height  in  a  narrow  place, 
viz.  within  a  tower  to  the  top  thereof,  as  we  have  known  done  at  Au¬ 
gusta,  in  Germany  ;  to  wit,  if  the  spiral  pipes  be  multiplied,  so  that  the 
water  being  raised  by  the  lower  spiral,  and  being  poured  out  into  some  re¬ 
ceptacle  or  cistern  ;  hence,  it  may  be  raised  higher  again  by  another  spiral, 
and  so  successively  by  more  spirals,  as  high  as  you  please,  all  which  spir¬ 
als  may  be  moved  by  one  power,  viz.  by  the  water  of  a  river  underneath, 
or  by  another  animated  power.”  Moxon. 

It  was  one  of  the  objects  of  the  Marquis  of  Worcester,  and  his  ‘unpa¬ 
ralleled  workman,  Caspar  Kaltoff,’  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  thus  combin- 

°  Whether  sitting  was  the  usual  position  of  European  laborers  and  mechanics  when 
at  work,  in  the  middle  ages,  we  know  not ;  but  Cambden  has  a  remark  which  intimates 
that  all  English  mechanics  had  not  in  his  time,  abandoned  this  oriental  custom  In  con¬ 
cluding  his  long  account  of  “  the  States  and  Degrees  of  England,”  from  kings,  princes, 
dukes,  lords,  knights,  &c.  he  continues,  “  lastly,  craftsmen,  artizans  or  workmen  ;  be  they 
that  labor  for  hire,  and  namely,  such  as  sit  at  worlt,  mechanicke  artificers,  smiths,  car 
penters,”  Hfc. 


140  M.  Pattu's  Improvements.  [Book  1 

ing  a  number  of  them  together,  as  appears  from  the  fifty-third  proposition 
in  the  ‘  century  of  inventions/  “  A  way  how  to  make  hollow  and  cover 
a  water  screw,  as  “  big  and  as  long  as  one  pleaseth,  in  an  easy  and  cheap 
way.”  How,  and  of  what  materials  he  made  this,  is  not  known,  but  the 
fifty-fifth  proposition,  in  the  following  words,  has  been  fully  and  practical¬ 
ly  developed  by  a  French  engineer.  “  A  double  water  screw,  the  inner¬ 
most  to  mount  the  water,  and  the  outermost  for  it  to  descend,  more  in 
number  of  threads,  and  consequently  in  quantity  of  water,  though  much 
shorter  than  the  innermost  screw  by  which  the  water  ascendeth  ;  a  most 
extraordinary  help  for  the  turning  the  screw  to  make  the  water  rise.”  In 
1815,  M.  Pattu  published  an  account  of  the  following  improvements,  by 
which  the  ideas  of  Worcester  are  realized. 


No.  60.  represents  two  separate  screws  formed  on  the  same  axis,  one 
of  which,  A,  is  long  and  narrow  and  serves  for  the  nucleus  of  C,  which 
is  much  wider  and  shorter.  This  is  designed  to  propel  the  former.  The 
threads  of  both  wind  round  the  axis  in  opposite  directions,  so  that  when  those 
on  one  appear  to  be  moving  upwards,  those  on  the  other  seem  to  be  going 
downwards.  The  water  from  the  stream  M,  is  directed  into  the  top  of 
the  large  screw,  and  by  its  weight  (as  on  an  overshot  wheel)  puts  the 
whole  in  motion,  and  consequently  the  water  at  O,  in  which  the  lower  end 
of  A  revolves,  is  raised  into  the  cistern  at  B.  No.  61  is  merely  the  same 
machine  inverted.  It  illustrates  the  applications  to  such  locations  as  have 
a  short  fall  above  the  place  to  which  the  water  is  to  be  raised.  In  No.  62 
the  small  screw  drives  the  large  one,  through  which  the  water  from  the 
lowest  level  is  raised  sufficiently  high  to  be  discharged  at  an  intermediate 
one,  as  at  G.  From  these  figures  it  will  be  perceived  that  the  screw  has 
been  employed  like  the  noria  and  the  chain  of  pots,  to  transmit  power. 

This  machine  was  formerly  considered  as  exhibiting  a  very  singular 
paradox,  viz.  that  the  water  “  ascended  by  descending,”  and  the  mystery 
was,  how  both  these  operations  could  be  performed  at  the  same  time,  and 
yet  produce  so  strange  a  result.  It  was  remarked  that  when  those  form¬ 
ed  of  glass,  were  put  in  motion,  the  water  ran  down  the  under  side  of  each 
turn  of  the  tubes,  and  continued  thus  to  descend  until  it  was  discharged 
at  the  top  !  The  whole  operation  and  the  effects  being  visible,  there 
seemed  no  room  for  dispute,  however  contrary  to  acknowledged  princi¬ 
ples  the  whole  might  appear.  The  case  was  apparently  inexplicable,  and 
seemed  to  present  a  parallel  one  to  that  of  the  asymtote  ;  the  properties 
of  the  latter  being  as  incapable  of  demonstration  to  the  senses,  as  the  sup¬ 
posed  operation  of  this  machine  could  be  reconciled  to  the  mind.  Indeed 
the  proposition,  that  two  geometrical  lines  may  continue  to  approach  each 
other  forever,  without  the  possibility  of  coming  in  contact,  is  apparently, 
quite  as  impossible,  as  that  water  should  ascend  an  inclined  plane,  by  t  he 
mere  exercise  of  its  own  gravity.  But  the  idea  of  water  descending  in 


The  Screw. 


14] 


Chap.  16.] 

its  passage  through  the  screw  was  altogether  an  illusion.  On  the  contra 
ry,  it  is  uniformly  raised  by  the  continual  elevation  of  that  part  of  the  tub* 
which  is  immediately  behind  the  liquid,  and  which  pushes  it  up  in  a  man¬ 
ner  analagous  to  that  represented  by  the  following  diagram. 

Suppose  AY,  the  edge 
of  a  wide  strip  of  cloth 
or  tape,  secured  at  both 
ends,  at  an  angle  with 
the  horizon,  as  repre¬ 
sented,  and  upon  which 
the  boy’s  marble  or 
ball  at  P,  can  roll.  If 
No.  63.  we  hold  the  pen  with 

which  we  are  writing 

under  the  tape  between  P  Y,  and  raise  that  part  into  the  position  indicated 
by  the  dotted  lines ;  the  ball  .would  necessarily  be  pushed  forward  to  E  ; 
and  if  the  pen  were  then  drawn  towards  B  on  the  line  D  B,  the  ball  would 
be  carried  up  to  A,  and  without  deviating  in  its  "path  from  the  line  Y  A. 
If  A  Y  were  the  under  side  of  a  flexible  pipe  or  gutter,  containing 
water  at  E  in  place  of  the  ball,  it  is  obvious  that  it  would  also  be  raised 
to  A,  in  a  like  manner.  By  the  same  principle  water  is  raised  in  the  screw, 
and  we  may  add,  in  much  the  same  way,  for  the  rotation  of  the  screw  is 
merely  another  mode  of  effecting  the  same  thing,  which  we  have  suppos¬ 
ed  to  be  done  more  directly  by  the  pen,  i.  e.  by  producing  a  continual  ele¬ 
vation  of  the  plane  immediately  behind  the  ball  or  the  water.  The  path 
of  the  latter  through  a  screw  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  ball,  while  the 
curves  assumed  by  the  tape,  as  in  the  dotted  lines,  represent  sections  of 
the  helix,  and  the  lines  D  B,  A  Y,  of  the  cylinder  within  which  it  is 
formed. 


All  the  ancient  machines  hitherto  examined,  have  come  down  from  pe¬ 
riods  so  extremely  remote,  that  not  a  single  circumstance  connected  with 
their  origin  or  their  authors  has  been  preserved.  The  screw  is  the  first 
machine  for  raising  water,  whose  inventor,  or  alleged  inventor,  has  been 
named ;  and  yet,  from  the  imperfect  and  mutilated  state  of  such  ancient 
writings  that  incidentally  mention  it,  and  the  loss  of  others  which  treated 
professedly  on  it,  the  question  of  its  origin  is  far  from  being  settled.  Al¬ 
though  it  is  said  to  have  been  invented  by  Archimedes  and  has  long  been 
named  after  him,  there  are  circumstances  which  render  it  probable  that 
Diodorus  Siculus  and  Atheneus  were  mistaken  when  they  attributed  it 
to  the  great  philosopher  of  Syracuse.  Had  the  account  of  this  machine 
which  Archimedes  himself  wrote,  been  preserved,  there  would  have  been 
no  occasion  to  reason  on  its  origin  or  its  author  ;  but  unfortunately  this,  as 
well  as  his  description  of  pneumatic  and  hydrostatic  engines,  “  concerning 
which  he  wrote  some  books,”  are  among  those  that  have  perished. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  Archimedes  himself  ever  claimed  its 
invention ;  and  his  countryman  Diodorus,  who  lived  two  hundred  years 
after  him,  and  upon  whose  authority  chiefly  it  has  been  attributed  to  him, 
admits  that  it  was  invented  by  him  in  Egypt  ;  thus  allowing  it  to  have  been 
devised  in  that  country,  whence  the  Greeks  derived  all  or  nearly  all  that 
was  valuable  in  their  philosophy  and  their  arts.  Every  person  knows 
that  Egypt  was  the  grand  school  for  the  nations  of  old,  in  which  the  learn¬ 
ed  men  of  other  countries  were  instructed  in  every  branch  of  philosophy — 
for  the  cultivation  of  which  the  Egyptians  were  celebrated  even  in  the 


142 


Origin  of  the  Screw. 


Book  1 


time  of  Moses — hence  it  frequently  happened,  that  after  returning  to 
their  homes  imbued  with  the  ‘  wisdom  of  Egypt,’  philosophers  were  con¬ 
sidered  by  their  countrymen  as  the  authors  of  doctrines,  discoveries  and 
machines,  which  they  had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  as  pupils  abroad.  It 
is  not  therefore  impossible,  that  that  which  occurred  to  Thales  and  Pyth¬ 
agoras,  Lycurgus  and  Solon,  Plato  and  many  others,  may  also  have  hap¬ 
pened  to  Archimedes  with  respect  to  this  machine.  It  has  been  supposed 
that  the  screw  was  employed  in  Egypt  ages  before  he  visited  that  country; 
of  this,  however,  there  is  no  direct  proof;  perhaps  an  examination  of  the 
immense  mass  of  sculptures  in  the  temples,  and  tombs  of  Thebes  and  Beni- 
Hassan,  &c.  may  yet  bring  to  light  facts  illustrative  of  the  use  of  this  and 
other  machines  for  the  same  purpose  in  very  remote  times.  Its  ancient 
name  of  Egyptian  screw  indicates  its  origin. 

The  silence  of  Vitruvius  respecting  its  origin,  if  Archimedes  was  the 
inventor,  is  singular ;  for  through  the  whole  of  his  work  he  appears  stu¬ 
dious  to  record  the  names  of  inventors.  He  was  contemporary  with 
Diodorus,  and  had  therefore  equal  opportunities  of  ascertaining  its  history, 
while  from  his  profession,  and  the  nature  of  his  work,  a  more  perfect  ac¬ 
count  of  it  would  be  expected  from  him  than  from  the  other.  The 
Roman  architect  had  indeed  every  inducement,  (except  such  as  were  un¬ 
worthy  of  him,)  to  record  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  Ancient  Mathemati¬ 
cians  as  its  author,  if  such  he  knew  him  to  be.  The  reputation  of  Ar¬ 
chimedes;  his  splendid  discoveries;  his  famous  defence  of  his  native  city; 
his  melancholy  death  ;  the  interest  which  Marcellus  took  in  his  fate ;  the 
erection  of  his  tomb  by  that  General ;  and  its  discovery  by  Cicero  amidst 
thorns  and  rubbish,  one  hundred  and  forty  years  after  his  death,  and  in  the 
lifetime  of  Vitruvius — induce  us  to  believe  that,  as  a  candid  philosopher 
and  admirer  of  learned  men,  and  of  Archimedes  himself,  (B.  i,  Chap.  1.) 
he  would  certainly  have  awarded  to  the  latter  the  honor  of  its  invention, 
if  he  believed  him  entitled  to  it,  either  from  the  testimony  of  ancient  wri¬ 
ters,  or  from  traditional  report. 

But  if  this  machine  was  not  invented  by  him,  to  whom  then  is  the 
world  indebted  for  it?  We  reply — if  it  really  be  not  more  ancient  than 
the  Ptolemaic  era — to  a  Grecian  philosopher  of  Samos,  who  was  contem¬ 
porary  with  Archimedes.  Some  readers  will  recollect  that  when  Ptolemy 
Evergetes,  the  son  and  successor  of  Philadelphus,  departed  on  a  dangerous 
expedition,  the  success  of  which,  according  to  Rollin,  was  foretold  by 
Daniel,  (xi,  7,  9,)  his  wife  Berenice,  influenced  by  a  principle  of  supersti¬ 
tion,  that  at  one  time  was  universal,  vowed  to  sacrifice  her  greatest  orna¬ 
ment,  the  hair  of  her  head,  to  the  Goddess  Venus,  if  he  was  successful 
and  restored  to  her  in  safety.  Upon  his  victorious  return,  she  cut  off  her 
locks  and  dedicated  them  in  that  temple  which  Philadelphus  had  founded 
in  honor  of  her  mother  Arsinoe ;  the  dome  of  which  temple  was  intend¬ 
ed  to  have  been  lined  with  loadstone,  that  the  iron  statue  of  Arsinoe  might 
be  suspended  in  the  air ;  but  the  death  both  of  Dinocrates  the  architect, 
and  Philadelphus,  prevented  the  completion  of  a  building  that  would  have 
rivalled  the  most  perfect  of  all  human  productions  ;  a  work,  which  proba¬ 
bly  gave  rise  to  the  story  of  the  suspension  of  Mahomet’s  coffin." 

a  That  metallic  substances  have  been  actually  suspended  without  any  tangible  support 
appears  from  Poncet,  to  whose  travels  in  Abyssinia  we  referred  in  the  last  chapter.  He 
declares  that  he  beheld  in  a  monastery  in  that  country,  a  golden  staff  about  four  feet 
long,  thus  suspended  in  the  air ;  and  to  detect  any  deception  be  desired  permission  to 
examine  it  closely,  to  ascertain  whether  there  was  not  some  invisible  prop  or  support 
“  To  take  away  all  doubt  (he  says)  I  passed  my  cane  over  it  and  under  it,  and  on  all 
sides,  and  found  that  this  staff  of  gold  did  truly  hang  of  itself  in  the  air.’'  Ed.  Encyc. 
Vol.  xiii,  p.  46. 


143 


Chap.  16.]  Invented  by  Conon  of  Samos. 

Sometime  afterwards,  this  consecrated  hair  was  missing  from  the  tem¬ 
ple,  having  been  lost  through  the  negligence  of  the  priests,  or  perhaps 
designedly  concealed.  No  occurrence  was  more  likely  to  create  alarm 
among  a  superstitious  people,  or  to  excite  the  ire  of  a  despotic  monarch, 
than  such  an  insult  to  their  Gods,  and  to  his  favorite  queen.  In  this  di¬ 
lemma,  an  astronomer  of  Alexandria,  in  order  to  make  his  court  to  Ever- 
getes,  had  the  effrontery  to  giye  out  publicly  that  Jupiter  had  carried  off 
the  locks  of  Berenice  to  heaven,  and  had  formed  them  into  a  constellation  ! 
And  as  a  proof  of  his  assertion  he  pointed  to  an  unformed  cluster  of  stars 
near  the  tail  of  Leo,  as  Berenice’s  hair  !  And  4  Coma  Berenices'  is  the 
name  by  which  these  stars  are  known  to  this  day. 

It  was  this  artful  courtier  and  astronomer  who  either  invented  or  re-in¬ 
vented  the  screw.  He  was  named  Conon  of  Samos,  and  sometimes 
Conon  of  Alexandria,  from  his  residence  in  Egypt.  He  was  an  intimate 
friend  of,  and  greatly  esteemed  by  Archimedes;  and  it  would  seem  that 
they  communicated  their  writings  and  discoveries  to  each  other.  When 
the  former  devised  this  machine,  Archimedes  we  are  told  demonstrated 
and  fully  explained  its  properties  ;  for  Conon  himself  was  not  fortunate  in 
his  demonstrations.  (Bayle.)  From  this  circumstance  the  name  of  its  in¬ 
ventor  was  in  time  forgotten,  and  it  eventually  became  known  as  the  Ar- 
cliimedian  screw  ;  but  probably  not  till  long  after  the  death,  both  of  its 
author  and  illustrator. 

Similar  instances  are  not  uncommon  in  modern  times ;  they  have  in  fact, 
always  occurred.  Thus,  the  instrument  known  as  Hadley’s  Quadrant  was 
really  invented  by  Godfrey  of  Philadelphia.  The  compass  was  known 
before  Flavio  Gioia,  although  the  Fleur  de  Lis,  by  which  he  designated 
the  north  in  compliment  to  his  sovereign,  is  used  to  this  day.  Gunpowder 
was  used  ages  before  Schwartz  was  born — and  these  continents  bear  the 
name  of  Vespucci,  not  that  of  Columbus  or  Behaim. 

As  Conon  died  before  Archimedes,  (see  Bayle)  and  probably  in  Egypt, 
it  is  very  possible  (supposing  it  originated  with  the  former)  that  it  was 
first  introduced  into  Europe  by  the  latter  ;  a  circumstance  quite  sufficient 
to  connect  his  name  permanently  with  it  there.  Atheneus  mentions  par¬ 
ticularly  its  application  by  him  to  raise  water  from  the  hold  of  the  ship, 
which  was  built  under  his  directions  for  Hiero ;  and  if  an  observation  of 
the  same  author  can  be  relied  on,  it  is  evident  that  he  was  the  first  to 
make  it  known  to  Grecian  mariners  ;  for  he  asserts,  that  they  held  his 
memory  in  great  estimation,  for  having  enabled  them  to  carry  off  the  wa¬ 
ter  from  the  holds  of  their  vessels  by  it. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  men  of  science  should  ever  be  found 
among  the  flatterers  of  despots  ;  yet  the  obsequiousness  of  Conon  has  been 
imitated  in  modern  as  in  ancient  times.  Custom  may  yet,  in  some  degree 
sanction  or  rather  screen  the  practice  from  reproach ;  but  the  period  is, 
we  believe,  rapidly  approaching  when  it  will  be  subjected  to  general  de¬ 
rision,  as  not  only  injurious  to  the  reputation  of  scientific  men  themselves, 
but  to  science  and  the  world  at  large.  Our  sentiments  on  this  subject  may 
be  reprobated  by  some  persons,  and  approved  of  by  few, — still  we  believe 
they  are  such  as  conduce  to  the  general  welfare  of  our  race,  and  such  as  will 
one  day  universally  prevail,  and  believing  this,  we  express  them  without  he¬ 
sitation — others  may  condemn  them  as  out  of  place  here,  but  in  our  opinion 
the  evils  they  deprecate  will  not  be  removed  until  they  are  generally  de¬ 
nounced  in  works  devoted  to  the  arts.  Nay,  we  would  introduce  such 
sentiments  into  school  books,  that  children  may  not  be  taught  to  worship  a 
man  on  account  of  his  titles,  but  to  revere  virtue  and  admire  well  culti- 


144 


Flatterers  of  Despots 


[Book  I 


vated  talents  wherever  they  are  found.  *  We  might  as  well  (says  Seneca) 
commend  a  horse  for  his  splendid  trappings,  as  a  man  for  his  pompous  ad 
ditions.’ 

Let  any  unsophisticated  mind  peruse  the  dedications  of  European  works, 
in  almost  all  departments  of  science,  for  the  last  two  centuries,  and  he 
will  find  every  attribute  of  the  Deity  blasphemously  lavished  on  the  vilest 
of  princes,  and  on  titled  dolts,  with  a  degree  of  ardor  and  apparent  sin¬ 
cerity,  that  is  as  loathsome  as  the  grossest  practices  of  heathen  idolatry.  At 
the  same  time,  these  individuals  who  thus  idolize,  sometimes  an  idiot,  at 
others  an  infant,  and  often  a  brute,  affect  pity  for  the  ignorance  and  super¬ 
stition  of  ancient  pagans  and  modern  savages. 

But  why  this  display  of  servile  adulation  1  Formerly  to  obtain  bread: 
in  later  times  to  procure  title,  hereditary  title. 

If  there  is  one  class  of  men,  whose  extensive  knowledge  of  nature, 
and  the  sublimity  of  whose  studies  should  lead  them  thoroughly  to  des¬ 
pise  the  tinsel  and  trappings  of  courts,  and  the  unnatural,  and  to  the 
great  mass,  degrading  distinctions  in  European  society,  it  is  astronomers  ; 
men  whose  researches  are  preeminently  calculated  to  ennoble  the  mind, 
whose  labors  have  elicited  the  highest  admiration  of  their  talents,  and 
whose  discoveries  have  opened  sources  of  intellectual  pleasures  so  refined, 
that  pure  intelligences  might  rejoice  in  them.  That  such  men  should  stoop 
to  lay  at  the  feet  of  ignorant  and  sensual  despots,  their  fame,  their  learning, 
and  in  some  degree  the  science  of  which  they  are  the  conservators,  and 
accept  from  those,  who  are  immeasurably  their  inferiors,  what  are  prepos¬ 
terously  named  titles  of  honor ,  i.  e.  puerile  and  artificial  distinctions, 
which,  while  they  profess  to  advance  those  who  are  already  in  the  fore¬ 
most  ranks  of  society — really  lower  and  degrade  them — titles,  relics  of 
times  when  men  were  advanced  but  a  few  steps  from  the  savage  state,  and 
conferred  by  ceremonies  which  are  the  very  essence  of  buffoonery, — is 
truly  one  of  the  most  lamentable  facts  connected  with  the  history  of  mo¬ 
dern  science. 

Learned  men  by  thus  connecting  themselves  with  the  state,  consummate 
an  unholy,  an  unnatural  alliance,  and  subject  even  science  herself  (al¬ 
though  they  may  not  intend  it)  to  politicians  to  speculate  on.  They  in  a 
measure,  commit  suicide  on  their  fame,  by  thus  supporting  political  insti¬ 
tutions,  that  can  only  exist  by  silencing  the  throbbings  and  stifling  the  aspi¬ 
rations  of  the  general  mind  after  knowledge  ;  institutions,  which,  like  the 
old  errors  in  philosophy,  are  destined  to  be  exploded  forever.  It  will,  we 
think,  one  day  appear  strangely  incongruous,  that  some  of  the  brightest 
luminaries  of  science  should  have  turned  to  royal  despots  for  factitious  rank; 
as  if  they,  in  whose  fair  fame  the  world  feels  an  interest,  could  descend  from 
their  radiant  spheres  to  move  as  satellites  around  such,  with  an  increase 
of  lustre  !  Who  can  behold  without  sorrow,  these  men  rendering  homage 
by  kneeling  and  other  more  disgusting  mummeries,  to  individuals  who  are 
not  only  their  inferiors  in  every  attribute  that  adorns  humanity,  but  often  the 
most  atrocious  of  criminals,  and  sometimes  mere  insensates ;  to  beg  a  por¬ 
tion  of  honor,  and  a  title  to  use  it !  When  the  world  becomes  free  and 
enlightened,  such  examples  will  be  adduced  as  illustrations  of  the  vaga¬ 
ries  and  inconsistencies  of  the  human  mind  ;  and  patents  of  nobility  and 
hereditary  titles  of  honor,  especially  from  such  sources,  will  be  looked 
upon  as  satires  on  science,  on  the  age,  and  on  the  intellect  of  man. 

These  titles  form  the  most  conspicuous  feature  in  that  system  of  impo¬ 
sition  by  which  the  European  world  has  too  long  been  deluded  and  de¬ 
based  ;  and  in  a  political  point  of  view,  the  friends  of  man’s  inalienable 
rights,  and  of  the  amelioration  of  his  condition,  will  always  regret,  that 


Chap.  16.] 


145 


Too  often  found  among  Men  of  Science. 

scientific  men  should  have  lent  their  example,  to  sustain  distinctions  that 
are  a  curse  to  the  world.  This  conduct  of'  theirs,  perhaps  more  than  any 
other  cause,  tends  to  uphold  despotism  on  the  earth.  Of  their  influence  in 
this  respect,  modern  despots  are  fully  aware,  and  which  they  evince  by 
their  anxiety  to  enlist  in  their  train,  every  man  eminent  in  any  department 
of  the  arts  or  of  science ;  and  many  of  these,  it  is  to  be  deplored,  they  too 
often  tickle  with  a  feather,  or  amuse  with  a  trinket,  while  they  put  a  bridle 
m  their  lips  and  yoke  them  to  their  cars. 

The  lust  after  titles  and  distinctions,  incident  to  monarchical  govern¬ 
ments,  is  in  the  political  and  moral  world,  what  the  scrofula,  or  ‘  king’s 
evil  is  in  the  physical :  It  destroys  the  healthy  and  natural  organization 
of  society,  taints  its  fairest  features  with  hereditary  disease,  and  renders 
the  whole  corrupt.  The  wisdom  of  the  fathers  of  our  republic  was  not 
more  conspicuous  than  their  virtue,  when  they  denounced  such  titles  and 
distinctions  as  forever  incompatible  with  the  constitution.  Sweep  them 
from  the  earth  and  man  in  the  eastern  hemisphere  would  become  a  regene¬ 
rated  being.  Nations  would  no  longer  be  kept  in  commotion  and  dread, 
nor  their  resources  be  consumed  by  political  and  military  gladiators  ;  nor 
would  the  abominable  boast  of  one  people  in  conquering  and  plundering 
another  be  deemed  creditable  ;  but  when  peace  and  virtue,  science  and 
the  arts,  would  alone  confer  honor,  and  their  most  distinguished  cultivators 
be  deemed  the  most  noble. 

Plato  was  no  worshipper  of  Dionysius,  nor  Solon  of  Croesus  ;  and 
when  the  talented  but  unprincipled  Archelaus  of  Macedon,  drew  numer¬ 
ous  philosophers  around  him,  by  his  wealth  and  the  honors  he  conferred 
on  them,  Socrates  refused  even  to  visit  him  as  loqg,  said  he,  as  bread 
was  cheap  and  water  plenty  at  Athens. 

Although  the  ancient  world  confirmed  the  name  given  to  one  of  the 
constellations  by  Conon,  the  modern  one  refused  to  sanction  a  similar  at¬ 
tempt  to  designate  the  remotest  planet  in  our  system,  after  the  name  of  a 
king  who  was  remarkable  for  his  lack  of  intelligence — a  bigot — and  who,  to 
preserve  his  prerogative,  shed  blood  as  water.  Yet  to  that  man,  and  to 
his  son  and  successor,  who,  if  he  possessed  more  intelligence  than  the  pa¬ 
rent,  was  the  grossest  sensualist  of  the  age,  and  contact  with  whom  was 
pollution,  did  some  of  the  votaries  of  science  kneel  as  to  ‘the  fountains 
of  honor!’  and  to  receive  a  portion  of  it  at  their  hands!  while  a  me¬ 
chanic,  to  whose  glory  it  will  ever  be  mentioned,  could  duly  appreciate 
the  offered  bauble  and  reject  it,  if  not  with  disdain.  James  Watt,  the  ma¬ 
thematical  instrument  maker  of  Glasgow,  the  great  improver  of  the  steam- 
engine,  who  conferred  more  benefits  on  his  country  than  all  the  monarchs 
that  ever  ruled  over  it,  and  all  the  statesmen  and  warriors  which  it  ever 
produced — refused  a  title.  And  who  ever  regretted  that  Milton  was  not 
a  knight,  or  Shakespeare  a  marquis,  or  Franklin  a  lord  ;  or  that  some  of 
the  greatest  poets  and  philosophers,  philanthropists  and  mechanicians,  that 
ever  lived,  are  known  to  us  simply  as  such,  without  having  had  their 
names  bolstered  up  with  preposterous  appendages?  And  who  ever  sup¬ 
posed  they  were  less  happy  without  them,  less  vigorous  and  successful  in 
their  researches ;  less  respected  by  contemporaries,  or  less  revered  by 
posterity? 

Long  after  these  remarks  were  written,  M.  Arago’s  Memoir  of  Watt, 
reached  this  country,  and  on  perusing  it,  we  could  not  but  smile  at  the  dis¬ 
appointment  expressed  by  the  great  French  philosopher,  that  his  friend 
was  not  made  a  peer.  “When  I  inquired  into  the  cause  of  this  neglect, 
[he  observes,]  what  think  you  was  the  response  ?  Those  dignities  of 
which  you  speak,  I  was  told,  are  reserved  for  naval  and  military  officers  ; 

19 


146 


A  large  Ship  built  by  Archimedes 


[Book  L 

for  influential  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  for  members  of  the 
aristocracy.  ‘  It  is  not  the  custom ,’  and  I  quote  the  very  phrase,  to  grant 
these  honors  to  scientific  and  literary  men,  to  artists  and  engineers.”  He 
adds,  “so  much  for  the  worse  for  the  peerage.”  Well  be  it  so.  In  our 
humble  opinion,  it  is  so  much  the  better  for  the  memory  of  Watt.  What 
had  such  a  man  to  do  in  a  house  that  presses  like  an  incubus  on  the  ener¬ 
gies  of  his  country,  and  the  claims  to  a  seat  in  which,  are  too  often  such 
as  are  disgraceful  to  our  common  nature]  An  infinitely  higher  honor 
awaits  him  ;  for  both  Watt  and  his  illustrious  eulogist  are  destined  to  oc¬ 
cupy  distinguished  stations  in  that  Pantheon,  which  is  yet  to  be  erected, 
whose  doors  will  be  opened  only  to  the  BENEFACTORS  OF  MAN¬ 
KIND. 


There  are  several  interesting  particulars  mentioned  by  Atheneus,  respect¬ 
ing  the  magnificent  ship  named  the  ‘  Syracusan/  which  was  built  under  the 
directions  of  Archimedes,  and  to  which  we  have  alluded.  From  the  follow¬ 
ing  brief  description,  it  will  be  perceived,  that  for  richness  of  decoration ; 
real  conveniencies  and  luxuries,  (for  even  that  of  a  library  was  not  over¬ 
looked,)  she  rivalled,  if  she  did  not  excel,  our  justly  admired  packets  and 
steam  ships. 

Three  hundred  carpenters  were  employed  in  building  this  vessel,  which 
was  completed  in  one  year.  The  timber  for  the  planks  and  ribs  were 
obtained  partly  from  Mount  Etna,  and  partly  from  Italy  ;  other  materials 
from  Spain,  and  hemp  for  cordage  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Rhone.  She 
was  every  where  secured  with  large  copper  nails,  [bolts]  each  of  which 
weighed  ten  pounds  and  upwards.  At  equal  distances  all  round  the  ex¬ 
terior  were  statues  of  Atlas,  nine  feet  in  height,  supporting  the  upper 
decks  and  triglyphs;  besides  which  the  whole  outside  was  adorned  with 
paintings;  and  environed  with  ramparts  or  guards  of  iron,  to  prevent  an 
enemy  from  boarding  her.  She  had  three  masts  ;  for  two  of  these,  trees 
sufficiently  large  were  obtained  without  much  difficulty,  but  a  suitable  one 
for  the  mainmast,  was  not  procured  for  some  time.  A  swine-herd  acci¬ 
dentally  discovered  one  growing  on  the  mountains  of  Bruttia.  She  was 
launched  by  a  few  hands,  by  means  of  a  helix,  or  screw  machine  invented 
by  Archimedes  for  the  purpose,  and  it  appears  that  she  was  sheathed  with 
sheet  lead.a  Twelve  anchors  were  on  board,  four  of  which  were  of  wood, 
and  eight  of  iron.  Grappling  irons  were  disposed  all  round,  which  by 
means  of  suitable  engines  could  be  thrown  into  enemies’  ships.  Upon 
each  side  of  this  vessel  were  six  hundred  young  men  fully  armed,  and  an 
equal  number  on  the  masts  and  attending  the  engines  for  throwing  stones. 
Soldiers,  [modern  marines]  were  also  employed  on  board,  and  they  were 
supplied  with  ammunition,  i.  e.  stones  and  arrows,  ‘by  little  boys  that 
were  below,’  [the  powder  monkies  of  a  modern  man  of  war,]  who  sent 
them  up  in  baskets  by  means  of  pulleys.  She  had  twenty  ranges  of  oars. 
Upon  a  rampart  was  an  engine  invented  by  Archimedes,  which  could 
throw  arrows  and  stones  of  three  hundred  pounds,  to  the  distance  of  a 
6tadium,  [a  furlong]  besides  others  for  defence,  and  suspended  in  chains 
■of  brass. 

She  seems  to  have  been  what  is  now  called  ‘  a  three  decker/  for  there 
were  *  three  galleries  or  corridors/  from  the  lowest  of  which,  the  sailors 
went  down  by  ladders  to  the  hold.  In  the  middle  one,  were  thirty  rooms, 
in  each  of  which  were  four  beds  ;  the  floors  were  paved  with  small  stones 

“European  ships  were  sheathed  with  sheet  lead  in  the  17th  century,  at  which  lime 
also  wooden  sheathing  was  in  vogue.  See  Colliers’  Diet.  Vol.  i.  Art.  England. 


for  Hiero,  two  centuries  B.  C. 


147 


Chap.  Ib.J 


of  different  colors,  (mosaics)  representing  scenes  from  Homer’s  Iliad 
The  doors,  windows  and  ceilings  were  finished  with  ‘  wonderful  art,’  and 
embellished  with  every  kind  of  ornament.  The  kitchen  is  mentioned  as 
on  this  deck  and  next  to  the  stern,  also  three  large  rooms  for  eating.  In 
the  third  gallery  were  lodgings  for  the  soldiers,  and  a  gymnasium  or 
place  of  exercise.  There  were  also  gardens  in  this  vessel,  in  which 
various  plants  were  arranged  with  taste  ;  and  among  them  walks,  propor¬ 
tioned  to  the  magnitude  of  the  ship,  and  shaded  by  arbors  of  ivy  and 
vines,  whose  roots  were  in  large  vessels  filled  with  earth.  Adjacent  to 
these  was  a  room,  named  the  ‘  apartment  of  Venus,’  the  floor  of  which 
was  paved  with  agate  and  other  precious  stones  :  the  walls,  roof  and 
windows  were  of  cypress  wood,  and  adorned  with  vases,  statues,  paint¬ 
ings,  and  inlaid  with  ivory.  Another  room,  the  sides  and  windows  of 
which  were  of  box  wood,  contained  a  library  ;  the  ceilings  represented 
the  heavens,  and  on  the  top  or  outside  was  a  sun  dial.  Another  apart¬ 
ment  was  fitted  up  for  bathing.  The  water  was  heated  in  three  large 
copper  cauldrons,  and  the  bathing  vessel  was  made  of  a  single  stone  of 
variegated  colors.  It  contained  sixty  gallons.  There  were  also  ten  sta¬ 
bles  placed  on  both  sides  of  the  vessel,  together  with  straw  and  corn  for  the 
horses,  and  conveniences  for  the  horsemen  and  their  servants.  At  certain 
distances,  pieces  of  timber  projected,  upon  which  were  piles  of  wood, 
ovens,  mills,  and  other  contrivances  for  the  services  of  life. 

At  the  ship’s  head  was  a  large  reservoir  of  fresh  water,  formed  of  plank 
and  pitched.  Near  it  was  a  conservatory  for  fish,  lined  with  sheet  lead, 
and  containing  salt  water ;  although  the  well  or  hold  was  extremely 
deep,  one  man,  Atheneus  says,  could  pump  out  all  the  water  that  leaked 
into  her,  by  a  screw  pump  which  Archimedes  adapted  to  that  purpose. 
There  were  probably  other  hydraulic  machines  on  board,  for  the  plants, 
oathing  apparatus,  and  kitchen,  &c.  The  upper  decks  were  supplied 
with  water  by  pipes  of  earthenware  and  of  lead ;  the  latter,  most  like¬ 
ly,  extending  from  pumps  or  other  engines  that  raised  the  liquid ;  for  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  machines  analogous  to  forcing  pumps  were  at 
that  time  known. 

The  ‘  Syracusan’  was  laden  with  corn  and  sent  as  a  present  to  the 
King  of  Egypt,  upon  which  her  name  was  changed  to  that  of  the  ‘  Alex¬ 
andria.’  Magnificent  as  this  vessel  was,  she  appears  to  have  been  sur¬ 
passed  by  one  subsequently  built  by  Ptolemy  Philopater ;  a  description 
of  which  is  given  by  Montfaucon,  in  the  fourth  volume  of  his  antiquities. 


For  the  Spiral  Pump  of  Wirtz,  see  the  end  of  the  3d  Book 


148 


Chain  Pump. 


[Book  1. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Chain  Pump— Not  mentioned  by  Vitruvius — Its  supposed  origin — Resemblance  between  it  and 
the  common  pump — Not  used  by  the  Hindoos,  Egyptians,  Greeks  or  Romans — Derived  from  China — 
Description  of  the  Chinese  Pump  and  the  various  modes  of  propelling  it — Chain  Pump  from  Agricola — 
Paternoster  Pumps — Chain  Pump  of  Besson — Old  French  Pump  from  Belidor — Superiority  of  the  Chi¬ 
nese  Pump — Carrieij  by  the  Spaniards  and  Dutch  to  their  Asiatic  possessions — Best  mode  of  mailing 
and  using  it — Wooden  Chains — Chain  Pump  in  British  ships  of  war — Dampier — Modern  improvements 
— Dutch  Pump — Cole’s  Pump  and  experiments — Notice  of  Chain  Pumps  in  the  American  Navy — De¬ 
scription  of  those  in  the  United  States  Ship  Independence — Chinese  Pump  introduced  into  America  by 
Van  Braam — Employed  in  South  America — Recently  introduced  into  Egypt — Used  as  a  substitute  for 
Water  Wheels — Peculiar  feature  in  Chinese  ship  building — Its  advantages. 

The  chain  pump,  although  not  described  by  Vitruvius,  is  introduced  at 
this  place,  because  it  seems  to  be  the  connecting  link  between  the  chain  of 
pots  and  the  machine  of  Ctesibius.  Some  writers  suppose  it  to  be  derived 
from  the  former  ;  nor  is  the  supposition  improbable.  Numerous  local  cir¬ 
cumstances  would  frequently  prevent  the  chain  of  pots  from  being  used 
in  a  vertical  position,  and  when  its  direction  deviated  considerably  from 
the  perpendicular,  some  mode  of  protecting  the  loaded  vessels  while  as¬ 
cending  rugged  banks,  &c.  became  necessary.  An  open  trough  or  wood¬ 
en  gutter  through  which  they  might  glide,  was  a  simple  and  obvious  de¬ 
vice,  and  one  that  would  occur  to  most  people  ;  but  such  a  contrivance 
could  not  have  been  long  in  use  before  the  idea  must  have  been  suggested, 
that  pieces  of  plank  or  any  solid  substance  which  would  occupy  the  entire 
width  of  the  gutter,  might  be  substituted  for  the  pots,  since  they  would 
obviously  answer  the  same  purpose  by  pushing  the  water  before  them 
when  drawn  up  by  the  chain.  If  this  was  the  process  by  which  the  transi¬ 
tion  of  the  chain  of  pots  into  the  chain  pump  was  effected,  there  can  be 
little  doubt,  that  old  engineers  soon  perceived  the  advantages  of  covering 
the  top  of  the  gutter,  and  converting  it  into  a  tube  ;  as  the  machine  could 
then  be  used  with  equal  facility,  in  a  perpendicular,  as  in  any  other 
position. 

It  may  be  deemed  of  little  consequence  to  ascertain  the  circumstances 
which  led  to  the  invention  of  the  chain  pump  ;  yet  a  knowledge  of  the 
period  tohen  this  took  place  would  be  of  more  than  usual  interest,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  analogy  between  it  and  the  ordinary  pump,  and  of  the  rela¬ 
tionship  that  appears  to  exist  between  them.  The  introduction  of  a  tube 
through  which  water  is  raised  by  pallets  or  pistons,  is  so  obvious  an  ap¬ 
proach  to  the  latter,  that  it  becomes  desirable  to  ascertain  which  of  them 
bears  the  relation  of  parent  to  the  other,  or  which  of  them  preceded  the 
other.  But  to  what  ancient  people  are  we  to  look  for  its  authors  1  Not 
to  the  Hindoos,  or  the  Egyptians,  for  it  is  incredible  that  either  of  these 
people  should  have  lost  it,  if  it  was  ever  in  their  possession.  Its  cheap 
and  simple  construction — its  efficiency  and  extensive  application,  would 
certainly  have  induced  them  to  retain  it  in  preference  to  others  of  less 
value.  Nor  does  it  appear  to  have  been  known  to  the  Greeks  ;  for  their 
navigators  would  never  have  erqployed  the  screw  as  a  ship  pump,  (as 
Atheneus  says  they  did,)  if  they  had  been  acquainted  with  this  machine. 
Of  all  hydraulic  tube  machines,  the  screw  seems  the  most  unsuitable 
for  such  a  purpose.  It  requires  to  be  inclined  at  an  angle  that  is  not  only 
inconvenient  but  generally  unattainable  in  ships.  But  if  the  Greeks  had 


Chain  Pump. 


149 


Chap.  17.J 


the  chain  pump,  the  Romans  would  have  received  it  from  them;  whereas, 
from  the  silence  of  Vitruvius,  it  is  clear  that  his  countrymen  were  not  ac 
quainted  with  it.  As  an  engineer,  he  would  have  been  sensible  of  its 
value,  and  would  have  preferred  it  in  many  cases,  in  raising  water  from 
coffer-dams,  docks,  &c.  to  the  tympanum  and  noria,  which  he  informs  us 
were  employed  in  such  cases.a  Arch.  Book  v,  Cap.  12.  Moreover,  if  it 
was  employed  by  the  Romans,  it  would  have  been  preserved  in  use,  as 
well  as  other  machines  for  the  same  purpose,  either  in  Europe  or  in 
their  African  or  Asiatic  possessions ;  but  we  have  no  proof  of  its  use  at 
all  in  any  of  the  latter,  nor  yet  in  the  former,  till  comparatively  modern 
times. 

But  if  the  origin  and  improvement  of  the  chain  pump  is  due  to  one 
nation  more  than  another,  to  whom  are  we  indebted  for  itl  To  a  people 
as  distinguished  for  their  ingenuity  and  the  originality  of  their  inventions, 
as  for  their  antiquity  and  the  peculiarity  of  many  of  their  customs  ;  and 
who  by  their  system  of  excluding  all  foreigners  from  entering  the  country 
have  long  concealed  from  the  rest  of  the  world  many  primitive  contrivan¬ 
ces,  viz.  the  Chinese.  This  singular  people  appear  to  have  had  little 
or  no  communication  with  the  celebrated  nations  of  antiquity,  a  cir¬ 
cumstance  to  which  their  ignorance  of  the  chain  pump  may  be  attribut¬ 
ed.  This  machine  has  been  used  in  China  from  time  immemorial,  and 
as  connected  with  their  agriculture,  has  undergone  no  change  what¬ 
ever.  The  great  requisites  in  their  husbandry  “  are  manure  and  wa¬ 
ter,  and  to  obtain  these,  all  their  energies  are  devoted.”  Of  such  im¬ 
portance  is  this  instrument  to  irrigate  the  soil,  that  every  laborer  is  in 
possession  of  one ;  its  use  being  “  as  familiar  as  that  of  a  hoe  to  every 
Chinese  husbandman,”  “  an  implement  to  him  not  less  useful  than  a  spade 
to  an  European  peasant.”  It  is  worthy  of  remark  too,  that  they  often  use 
it,  in  what  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  its  original  form,  viz.  as  an  open 
gutter  ;  a  circumstance  which  serves  to  strengthen  the  opinion  of  its  origin 
and  great  antiquity  among  them.  Like  the  peculiarity  of  their  compass, 
which  with  them  points  to  the  south,  it  is  a  proof  of  their  not  having  received 
it  from  other  people.  “  The  Chinese  [observes  Staunton]  appear  indeed 
to  have  strong  claims  to  the  credit  of  having  been  indebted  only  to  them¬ 
selves  for  the  invention  of  the  tools,  necessary  in  the  primary  and  neces¬ 
sary  arts  of  life  ;  these  have  something  peculiar  in  their  construction,  some 
difference,  often  indeed  slight;  but  always  clearly  indicating  that,  whether 
better  or  worse  fitted  for  the  same  purposes  as  those  in  use  in  other  coun¬ 
tries,  the  one  did  not  serve  as  a  model  for  the  other.”b 

But  the  general  form  of  chain  pumps  in  China  is  that  of  a  square 
tube  or  trunk  made  of  plank  ;  and  of  various  dimensions  acccording  to 
the  power  employed  to  work  them.  Those  that  are  portable,  with  one 
of  which  every  peasant  is  furnished,  are  commonly  six  or  seven  inches  in 
diameter,  and  from  eight  to  ten  feet  in  length.  Some  are  even  longer,  for 
Van  Braam,  who  was  several  years  in  China,  and  who,  as  a  native  of  Hol¬ 
land,  was  a  close  observer  of  every  hydraulic  device,  when  speaking  of  them, 
remarks,  that  “  they  use  them  to  raise  water  to  the  height  of  ten  or  twelve 
feet;  a  single  man  -works  this  machine,  and  even  carries  it  wherever  it  is 
wanted,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  remark  several  times  in  the  province  of 
Quangtong  near  Vampou.”c  A  small  wheel  or  roller  is  attached  to  each 
end  of  the  trunk,  over  which  an  endless  chain  is  passed.  Pallets,  or 


a  It  was  preferred  by  the  architect  of  Black  Friars  Bridge,  London,  to  raise  the  water 
from  the  Caissons. 

b  Embassy  to  China.  Lon.  1798.  Vol.  iii,  102. 
c  Embassy  of  the  Dutch  E.  I.  Company.  Lon.  1798.  Vol.  i.  75. 


150 


Chinese  Chain  Tump. 


[Book  I 


square  pieces  of  plank,  fitted  so  as  to  fill  (like  the  piston  of  a  commor 
pump)  the  bore  of  the  tube,  are  secured  to  the  chain.  When  the  machine 
is  to  be  used,  one  end  of  the  trunk  is  placed  in  the  water,  and  the  other 
rests  on  the  bank  over  which  it  is  to  be  raised.  The  upper  wheel  or  roller 
is  put  in  motion  by  a  crank  applied  to  its  axle,  and  the  pallets  as  they  ascend 
the  trunk,  push  the  water  that  enters  it  before  them,  till  it  is  discharged 
above.  In  machines  of  this  description  one  half  of  the  chain  is  always 
outside  of  the  tube  and  exposed  to  view,  but  in  others  the  trunk  is  divided 
by  a  plank,  so  as  to  form  two  separate  tubes,  one  above  another,  and  hence 
the  chain  rises  in  the  lower  one  and  returns  down  the  upper.  These 
pumps  are  represented  as  exceedingly  effective,  delivering  a  volume  of 
water  equal  to  the  bore  of  the  trunk.  Whenever  a  breach  occurs  in  one 
of  their  canals,  or  repairs  are  to  be  made,  hundreds  of  the  neighboring 
peasants  are  summoned  to  the  work,  and  in  a  few  hours  will  empty  a  large 
section  of  it  by  these  machines. 

When  a  pump  is  intended  to  raise  a  great  quantity  of  water  at  once,  it 
is  made  proportionably  larger,  and  is  moved  by  a  very  simple  tread  wheel  j 
or  rather  by  a  series  of  wooden  arms  projecting  from  various  parts  of  a 
lengthened  axle,  which  imparts  motion  to  the  chain,  as  represented  in  the 
figure. 


No.  64.  Chinese  Chain  Pump. 

These  arms  are  shaped  like  the  letter  T,  and  the  upper  side  of  each  is 
made  smooth  for  the  foot  to  rest  on.  The  axle  turns  upon  two  upright 
pieces  of  wood,  kept  steady  by  a  pole  stretched  across  them.  The  ma¬ 
chine  being  fixed,  men  treading  upon  the  projecting  arms,  and  supporting 
themselves  upon  the  beam  across  the  uprights,  communicate  a  rotary  mo¬ 
tion  to  the  chain,  the  pallets  attached  to  which  draw  up  a  constant  and 
copious  stream  of  water.  Another  mode  of  working  them,  which  Staun¬ 
ton  observed  only  at  Chu-san,  was  by  yoking  a  buffalo,  or  other  animal,  to 
a  large  horizontal  cog  wheel,  working  into  a  vertical  one,  fixed  on  the 


I 


Chap.  17.]  'Paternoster  Pumps.  151 

same  shaft  with  the  wheel  that  imparts  motion  to  the  chain,  as  represent¬ 
ed.  in  figures  49  and  54.a  The  description  of  this  machine  by  Staunton  is 
similar  to  that  previously  given  by  the  missionaries,  and  they  .enumerate  the 
various  modes  of  propelling  it  which  he  has  mentioned.1*  But  Nieuhoff, 
with  the  characteristic  sagacity  of  his  countrymen,  noticed  either  these,  or 
some  other  machines  for  the  same  purpose,  propelled  by  wind.  When 
speaking  of  the  populous  city  of  Caoyeu,  and  its  environs,  he  observes, 
“  they  boast  likewise  of  store  of  windmills,  whose  sails  are  made  of  mats. 
The  great  product  of  the  country  consists  of  rice,  which  the  peasant 
stands  obliged  to  look  after  very  narrowly,  lest  it  perish  upon  the  ground 
by  too  much  moisture,  or  too  much  heat  and  drought.  The  windmills, 
therefore,  are  to  draw  out  the  water  in  a  moist  season,  and  to  let  it  in  as 
they  think  fit.”  That  part  of  the  country,  he  continues,  is  “  full  of  such 
mills.”  Several  of  them  are  represented  in  a  plate,  but  without  showing 
the  pumps  moved  by  them.0 

These  were  very  likely  to  elicit  the  notice  of  a  Dutchman ;  for  draining 
mills,  worked  by  ho-rses  and  wind,  have  been  used  in  Holland  since  the 
14th  century.  They  consisted  however  principally  of  the  noria  and 
chain  of  pots. 

It  is  uncertain  wlien  the  chain  pump  was  first  employed  in  Europe  ; 
whether  it  was  made  known  by  Marco  Paulo,  Ibn  Batuta,  or  subsequent 
ravelers  in  China,  or  was  previously  developed  and  introduced  into  use, 
independently  of  any  information  from  abroad.  An  imperfect  machine  is 
described  by  several  old  authors.  This  was  a  common  pump  log,  or 
wooden  cylinder  placed  perpendicularly  in  a  well ;  its  upper  end  reach¬ 
ing  above  the  level  to  which  the  water  was  to  be  raised,  and  having  a 
lateral  spout,  as  in  ordinary  pumps,  for  the  discharge.  A  pulley  was  se¬ 
cured  to  one  side  of  the  log  near  the  lower  orifice,  and  a  drum  or  wheel 
above  the  upper  one.  One  end  of  a  rope  was  let  down  the  cylinder,  and 
after  being  passed  over  the  pulley  was  drawn  up  on  the  outside,  and  both 
ends  were  then  spliced  or  united  over  the  drum.  To  this  rope,  a  number 
of  leathern  bags  or  stuffed  globular  cushions  were  secured  at  regular  dis¬ 
tances.  The  diameter  of  each  was  equal  to  the  bore  of  the  cylinder.  Ribs 
were  nailed  across  the  periphery  of  the  drum,  and  between  these,  the 
cushions  were  so  arranged  as  to  fall,  in  order  to  prevent  the  rope  from 
slipping.  When  the  drum  was  put  in  motion,  the  cushions  entered  in  suc¬ 
cession  the  lower  orifice  of  the  pump,  (which  was  two  or  three  feet  below 
the  surface  of  the  water,)  and  pushed  up  the  liquid  before  them,  till  it  es¬ 
caped  through  the  spout. 

Machines  of  this  description  were  formerly  employed  in  mines  ;  chains 
of  iron  being  substituted  for  the  ropes,  and  sometimes  globes  of  metal  in 
place  of  the  cushions.  The  latter  are  figured  by  Kircher  in  his  Mundus 
Subterraneus,  Tom.  ii,  194.  Among  the  earliest  of  modern  authors 
who  have  described  these  pumps  is  Agricola.  He  has  given  five  differ¬ 
ent  figures  of  them,  but  they  differ  merely  in  the  apparatus  for  working 
them,  according  to  the  power  employed,  whether  of  men,  animals,  or  water. 
The  following  cut.,  No.  65  is  from  his  ‘  De  Re  Metallica.’  It  exhibits  two 
separate  views  of  the  lower  end  of  the  pump,  showing  the  mode  of  attach¬ 
ing  the  pulley,  and  the  passage  of  the  rope  and  cushions  over  it.  From  the 
resemblance  of  the  chains  or  ropes  and  cushions,  to  the  rosary ,  or  string 
of  beads  on  which  Roman  catholics  count  their  prayers,  these  machines 


»  Staunton,  Vol.  iii,  315.  •>  Duhalde’s  China.  Paris,  1735.  Tom.  ii,  66,  67. 
c  Ogilvy’s  Translation.  Lon.  1673,  pp.  34,  85 — and  Histoire  Generate.  Amsterdam, 
1749.  Tom.  viii,  81, 82. 


152 


Chain  Tump  from  Agricola ..  [Book  I. 

be  can  a  known  as  ‘Paternoster  pumps.’  For  the  same  reason  they  are 
named  Chapelet  by  the  French,  in  common  with  the  chain  of  pots. 


No.  65.  Chain  Pump  from  Agricola. 


The  next  author  who  describes  these  pumps,  that  has  fallen  in  our  way, 
is  Besson.  Plate  50,  of  his  ‘  Theatre  Des  Instrumens,’  is  a  representation 
of  a  double  one.  Two  cylinders  are  placed  parallel  to  each  other,  so  that 
the  chain  passes  through  both.  It  is  shown  as  worked  by  wind.  A  ver¬ 
tical  shaft  with  sails  is  secured  under  the  dome  of  an  open  tower ;  a  cog 
wheel  on  the  lower  end  of  the  shaft  turns  a  trundle  or  pinion  which  is  fix¬ 
ed  on  the  horizontal  axle  of  the  drum,  that  carries  the  chain.  Thus,  when 
the  wind  turned  the  sails,  water  was  raised  through  one  of  the  cylinders, 
and  when  their  motion  was  reversed  by  change  of  the  wind,  the  liquid  was 
elevated  in  the  other.  Instead  of  stuffed  cushions,  as  in  the  preceding 
figure,  pistons,  resembling  somewhat  those  of  fire  engines,  or  forcing 
pumps,  i.  e.  double  cupped  leathers  are  shown,  (‘  Coquilles  fond  contrc 
fond,' )  the  earliest  instance  of  their  use  that  we  have  met  with.  Besson, 
who  appears  to  claim  the  addition  of  the  second  cylinder  as  an  improve¬ 
ment  of  his  own,  was  a  French  mathematician  and  mechanician,  and 
spent  a  great  part  of  his  life  in  mechanical  researches  ;  in  the  prose¬ 
cution  of  which  he  visited  foreign  countries.  His  *  Theatre’  contains 
such  devices  as  he  collected  abroad  as  well  as  those  invented  by  himself. 
It  was  published  at  Lyons,  with  commentaries,  after  his  decease,  by 
Beroald,  but  the  privilege  to  print  was  accorded  to  himself,  ten  years  pre¬ 
vious  to  the  date  of  its  publication,  i.  e.  in  1568.“ 

Kircher  also  figures  the  chain  pump  with  two  cylinders.  The  imper¬ 
fect  mechanism  and  enormous  friction  of  these  old  machines  confined 
their  application  to  a  limited  extent  in  Europe  during  the  16th  and  17th 
centuries.  Desaguliers  left  them  unnoticed  ;  and  at  the  time  Switzer 
wrote  (1729)  they  had  been  discontinued  in  England.  “  I  might  (he  ob¬ 
serves)  from  Bockler  and  others,  have  produced  almost  an  infinite  number 

“  Bayle,  in  his  dictionary,  says  Beroald  was  twenty-two  years  of  age  when  he  publish¬ 
ed  “some  commentaries  on  the  mechanics  of  James  Besson;  but  he  had  scarce  tried 
his  fortune  that  way,  when  he  ran  after  the  philsopher’s  stone." 


Old  French  Chain  Pump. 


153 


Chap.  17.] 


of  drafts  of  engines,  which  are  placed  under  the  terms  Budromia  and 
Hydrotechnema,  k.c.  the  first  signifying  the  methods  of  raising  water  by 
buckets ;  and  the  other  by  globes  or  figures  of  any  regular  shape,  fixed 
to  a  rope,  which  rope  being  fastened  at  each  end,  and  passing  through  an 
elm  or  other  pipe,  which  reaches  from  the  bottom  of  a  well  to  the  height 
to  which  the  water  ict  to  be  conveyed,  brings  up  the  water  with  it ;  but 
these  kind  of  engines  being  out  of  date ,  I  shall  pass  over  them.”a  Belidor 
has  described  one  that  was  used  in  the  ship  yards  and  docks  at  Marseilles, 
which  is  represented  in  No.  66.  The  lower  pulley  was  dispensed  with  ; 
and  the  face  of  the  pallets  or  pistons,  which  were  hemispheres  of  wood, 
were  leathered.  It  was  worked  by  two  galley  slaves,  who  were  relieved 
every  hour. 


No.  66.  Old  French  Chain  Pump. 


Such  appears  to  have  been  the  general  construction  of  the  chain  pump 
in  Europe,  until  an  increasing  intercourse  with  the  Chinese  led  to  the  in¬ 
troduction  of  the  machine  as  made  by  that  people.  The  credit  of  this 
is,  we  believe,  due  to  the  Dutch.  From  the  peculiar  location  of  Holland 
with  regard  to  the  sea,  hydraulic  engines  have  at  all  times  been  of  too 
much  importance  to  escape  the  examination  of  her  intelligent  travelers. 
But  it  perhaps  will  be  said,  there  is  no  essential  or  very  obvious  distinction 
between  the  old  chain  pump  of  Europe  and  that  of  China  :  admitting  this, 
still  there  must  have  been  something  peculiar  either  in  the  construction  or 
mode  of  working  the  latter,  to  have  produced  the  superior  results  ascrib¬ 
ed  to  them ;  and  to  have  elicited  the  admiration  of  the  Jesuits  and  all  the 
early  travelers  in  China.  No  stronger  proof  of  their  superiority  need  be 
adduced,  than  the  fact  of  their  being  carried,  in  the  17th  century  from 
China  to  Manilla  by  the  Spaniards ,  and  to  Batavia  by  the  Dutch)3  Hence 
they  were  previously  unknown  in  those  parts  of  Asia,  as  much  so  as  in 
Holland  and  Spain.  Navarrette  mentions  them  with  great  praise  :  he 
thought  there  was  not  a  better  invention  in  the  world  to  draw  water  from 
wells  and  tanks.c  And  Gamelli  (ir»  1695)  describes  them  as  machines, 
which,  in  his  opinion,  Chinese  ingenuity  alone  could  invent/1  Montanus 
mentioned  them  as  novel.  He  describes  one  as  an  “  engine  made  of  four 
square  plank,  holding  great  store  of  water,  which  with  iron  chains,  they 


*  Hydrostaticks,  313.  b  Histoire  £J6n6rale,  Tom.  viii,  81.  c Ibid.  dIbid,  Torn,  vii,  267 

20 


154 


Chain  Pumps  m  Ships. 


[Book  L 


hale  up  like  buckets.”"1  How  such  intelligent  men  as  the  Jesuits  undoubt¬ 
edly  were,  could  use  such  language,  if  an  effective  chain  pump  was  then 
known  in  Europe,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive. 

Although  the  Chinese  pump  has  been  mentioned  by  all  travelers,  no 
one  has  entered  sufficiently  into  details,  to  enable  a  mechanic  to  realize  the 
construction  of  the  chain — mode  of  fixing  the  pallets — where  they  are 
attached  to  it,  (at  the  centre,  or  on  one  side,) — nor  how  they  are  car¬ 
ried  over  the  wheels  or  rollers.  One  cause  of  the  superiority  of  these 
oriental  machines  over  those  of  Europe,  was  the  small  degree  of  fric¬ 
tion  from  the  rubbing  of  the  pallets,  when  passing  through  the  trunk ;  wood 
sliding  readily  over  wood,  when  both  are  wet :  another  was  the  accuracy 
with  which  the  working  parts  were  made.  The  experience  of  ages,  and  the 
immense  number  of  workmen  constantly  employed  in  fabricating  them, 
through  every  part  of  the  empire,  had  brought  them  to  great  perfection :  but 
the  position  in  which  they  are  worked,  also  contributed  to  increase  the  quan¬ 
tity  of  water  raised  by  them,  for  except  in  particular  locations,  they  are  al¬ 
ways  inclined  to  the  horizon,  as  shown  in  No.  64.  Nowit  has  been  ascer¬ 
tained  that  to  construct  and  use  a  chain  pump  to  the  best  advantage,  the  dis¬ 
tance  between  the  pallets  should  be  equal  to  their  breadth,  and  the  inclination 
of  the  trunk  about  24°,  21'.  When  thus  arranged,  according  to  Belidor,  it 
produces  a  maximum  effect.5  The  author  just  named  speaks  of  one  at 
Strasburgh,  the  chain  of  which  was  made  of  wood,  which  being  light 
and  flexible,  was  very  efficient,  requiring  much  less  labor  to  work  it  than 
those  in  which  the  chains  were  iron.  This  leads  us  to  a  remark  which 
we  do  not  recollect  to  have  seen  in  any  English  work,  viz.  that  in  most 
if  not  in  all  the  Chinese  smaller  pumps,  the  chains  are  of  that  material. 
One  of  them  is  thus  described  by  the  Jesuits  :  “  Une  machine  hydraulique, 
dont  le  jeu  est  aussi  simple  que  la  composition.  Elle  est  composee  d'une 
chaine  de  hois,  ou  d’une  sorte  de  chapelet  de  petites  planches  quarrees  de 
six  ou  sept  pouces,  qui  sont  comme  enfilee  parallelement  a  d’egales  dis¬ 
tances.  Cette  chaine  passe  dans  un  tube  quarre,”  &c.c 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  17th  century,  chain  pumps  were  used  in 
British  men-of-war.  In  Dampier’s  Voyage  to  New  Holland  in  the  ‘Roe¬ 
buck,’  a  national  vessel,  he  mentions  one.  This  ship  on  returning  home 
sprung  a  leak  near  the  Island  of  Ascension,  and  the  water  poured  in  so 
fast,  he  relates,  that  “  the  chain  pump  could  not  keep  her  free — I  set  the 
hand  pump  to  work  also,  and  by  ten  o’clock,  sucked  her — I  wore  the  ship 
and  put  her  head  to  the  southward,  to  try  if  that  would  ease  her,  and  on 
that  tack  the  chain  pump  just  kept  her  free.”  English  ships  of  war  now 
carry  four  of  those  pumps,  and  three  common  ones,  all  fixed  in  the  same 
well ;  whereas  it  would  appear  from  Dampier,  that  they  had  formerly  but 
one  of  each.  “  In  the  afternoon,  (he  observes,)  my  men  were  all  employed 
pumping  with  both  pumps.”  Shortly  afterwards  the  ship  foundered/1  The 
vessels  of  Columbus  were  furnished  with  pumps ;  and  so  were  those  of 
Magalhanes  ;  but  these  were  probably  the  common  instruments  referred  to 
above  as  ‘  hand  pumps.’e 

In  Dampier’s  time  chain  pumps  were  very  imperfect.  The  chain,  and 
the  wheel,  which  carried  it,  were  inaccurately  and  badly  made  ;  hence 
when  the  machine  was  worked,  the  former  was  constantly  liable  to  slip 
over  the  latter ;  and  the  consequent  violent  jerks,  from  the  great  weight 
of  the  water  on  the  pallets,  often  burst  the  chain  asunder,  and  under  cir- 

“  Atlas  Chinensis,  translated  by  Ogilvy.  Lon,  1671,  page  675. 

b  Arch.  Hydraulique,  Tom.  i,  363.  c  Histoire  Generate,  Tom.  viii,  82,  and  Duhalde 
Tom.  ii,  66.  d  Dampier’s  Voyages,  Vol.  iii,  191,  193. 

'Irving’s  Columbus  Vol  ii,  127,  and  Burney’s  Voyages,  Vol.  i,  112. 


Chap.  17.] 


155 


British  Chain  Bump, 


cumstances  which  rendered  it  difficult  and  sometimes  impossible  to  repair 
it.  These  defects,  which  in  some  cases  led  to  the  loss  of  vessels  and  of  hu¬ 
man  life,  at  length  excited  the  attention  of  European  mechanics,  and  in 
the  following  century,  numerous  projects  were  brought  forward  to  im¬ 
prove  the  chain  pump,  or  to  supersede  it.  In  1760,  Mr.  Abbot  invented  a 
ship  pump,  which  was  represented  as  of  a  very  simple  construction,  and 
which  threw  “  five  hundred  hogsheads  of  water  in  a  minute ;  [!]  the 
handle  by  which  it  is  worked,  is  in  the  manner  of  a  common  winch, 
which  turns  with  the  utmost  facility  either  to  the  right  or  the  left.”a  In  the 
following  year,  the  States  of  Holland  granted  to  M.  Liniere,  “  an  exclusive 
privilege  for  twenty-five  years,  for  a  pump,  which  upon  trial  on  board  a 
Dutch  man-of-war,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  commissioners  of  the  ad¬ 
miralty,  being  worked  by  three  men,  raised  from  a  depth  of  twenty-two 
feet,  four  tons  of  water  in  a  minute,  that  is,  240  tons  of  water  in  an  hour.”b 
In  1768,  Mr.  Cole  introduced  some  considerable  improvements  in  English 
ship  pumps.  An  experiment  made  in  that  year  is  very  interesting,  as  it 
shows  the  imperfections  of  the  old  ones,  especially  the  enormous  amount 
oi  friction  to  which  they  were  subject.  “  Lately,  a  chain  pump  on  a  new 
construction  was  tried  on  board  his  Majesty’s  ship  Seaford,  in  Block 
House  Hole,  wljich  gave  great  satisfaction.  There  were  present,  Admiral 
Sir  John  Moore,  a  number  of  sea  officers  and  a  great  many  spectators 
The  event  of  the  trial  stands  thus  : 


The  New  Bump ,  Mr.  Cole’s  : 
Four  men  pumped  out  one  ton  of 
water  in  43^-  seconds. 

Two  men  pumped  out  one  ton  in 
55  seconds.” 


The  Old  Bump : 

Seven  men  pumped  out  one  ton 
in  76  seconds. 

Four  men  pumped  out  one  ton 
in  55  seconds. 

Two  men  could  not  move  it.”c 


The  chain  in  Cole’s  pump  was  made  like  a  watch  chain,  or  those  which 
communicate  motion  to  the  pistons  of  ordinary  fire  engines,  l.  e.  every 
other  link  was  formed  of  two  plates  of  iron,  whose  ends  lapped  over 
those  of  a  single  one,  and  secured  by  a  bolt  at  each  end.  These  bolts 
formed  a  joint  on  which  they  moved  ;  but  instead  of  their  ends  being 
riveted,  one  was  formed  into  a  button  head,  and  a  slit  made  through  the 
other,  for  the  admission  of  a  spring  key,  so  that  they  could  be  taken  out 
at  pleasure.  By  this  device,  whenever  a  link  or  bolt  was  broken  or  worn 
out,  another  one,  from  a  store  of  them  kept  on  hand  for  the  purpose,  could 
be  supplied  in  a  few  moments.  In  some  experiments,  the  chain  was  pur¬ 
posely  separated,  and  dropped  into  the  well  in  a  ship’s  hold,  whence  it 
was  taken  up,  repaired,  and  the  pump  again  set  to  work  in  two  minutes. 
Chains  similar  to  these  had  been  previously  employed  by  Mr.  Mylne  in 
the  pumps  that  raised  the  water  from  the  caissons  at  Black  Friars  Bridge. 

The  pistons  were  formed  of  two  plates  of  brass  or  iron,  having  a  diskof 
thick  leather  between  them,  of  the  same  diameter  as  the  bore  of  the  pump, 
i  he  edges  of  the  leathers,  when  wet,  do  not  bear  hard  against  the  sides  of 
the  pump  ;  indeed  it  is  not  necessary  that  they  should  even  touch ;  for  the 
water  that  escapes  past  one,  js  received  into  the  next  compartment  below ; 
and  w  hen  a  rapid  motion  is  imparted  to  the  pistons,  the  inertia  of  the  mov¬ 
ing  column  prevents  in  a  great  measure  any  from  descending.  The  wheel 
which  carries  the  chain  is  generally  made  like  the  trundles  in  mills,  viz. 
two  t  in  iron  disks  or  rings  are  secured  about  eight  or  nine  inches  apart, 
upon  the  axle,  and  are  united  by  several  bolts  at  their  circumference.  The 


*  London  Magazine  for  1760,  p.  321  b  Ibid.  1762,  p.  283.  c  Ibid.  1768,  p.  499. 


156 


Chain  Pumps 


[Book  I 


distance  between  these  bolts  is  such  that  the  pistons  fall  in  between 
them,  and  are  carried  round  by  them.  Sometimes  however,  the  links 
have  hooks,  which  take  hold  of  the  bolts.  A  lower  wheel  is  now 
dispensed  with,  and  the  end  of  the  pump  slightly  curved  towards  the 
descending  chain,  to  facilitate  the  entrance  of  the  pistons.  These  ma¬ 
chines  are  generally  worked  in  ships  of  war  by  means  of  a  long  crank 
attached  to  the  axle,  at  which  a  number  of  men  can  work.  In  some  ves¬ 
sels  they  are  moved  by  a  capstan.*  The  pump  cylinders  are  of  iron,  and 
sometimes  of  brass,  the  latter  being  inclosed  within  and  protected  by 
wooden  ones. 


No.  67.  Chain  Pump  in  the  U.  S.  Ship  Independence. 


For  the -following  facts  connected  with  the  use  of  the  chain  pump  in 
the  United  States  Navy,  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Hart,  Naval  Constructor 
in  the  New-York  Navy  Yard.  The  first  United  States  ship  of  war, 
which  had  one,  was  the  ‘  Boston built  at  Boston,  in  1799.  Mr.  Hart’s 
father  made  the  pump.  The  chain  was  formed  of  common  ox  chains, 
and  the  wheel  which  carried  it  was -of  wood,  having  forked  pieces  of  iron 
driven  into  its  periphery,  between  which  the  chain  was  received  :  the  cyl¬ 
inders  were  common  pump  logs  of  six  inches  bore.  This  imperfect  ma¬ 
chine  was  replaced  the  following  year,  by  one  formed  after  a  French 
model,  the  chain  and  cylinders  being  of  copper.  In  1802,  the  Frigate  Con¬ 
stitution  had  two  similar  ones  placed  in  her  ;  and  about  the  same  time, 
they  were  adopted  in  other  public  vessels ;  but  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years  were  discontinued  generally,  either  from  the  prejudice  of  the 
seamen,  or  from  the  increased  labor  and  expense  of  repairing  the  pis¬ 
tons.  In  ordinary  pumps,  a  single  box  or  piston  only,  has  to  be  re-leath- 


»The  vessels  of  the  exploring  expedition  sent  out  by  the  British  admiralty,  under  the 
command  of  Capt.  Owen,  had  their  chain  pumps  fitted  to  work  by  the  capstan,  under 
the  impression  that  it  was  a  more  economical  mode  than  the  crank,  of  applying  per¬ 
sonal  labor.  ‘  Narrative  of  Voyages  to  explore  the  shores  of  Africa,  Arabia  and  Mada¬ 
gascar,  in  1821.’  Vol  i,  p.  14.  N.York  Ed.  1833. 


in  American  Ships. 


157 


Chap.  17.] 


ered ;  but  in  the  chain  pump,  from  thirty  to  fifty  have  to  be  renewed 
when  worn  out.  The  chain  pumps  in  the  British  sloop  of  war  Cyane 
were  taken  out  when  she  was  captured,  and  common  pumps  put  in 
their  place.  Recently  a  change  of  opinion  respecting  these  pumps  has 
taken  place,  for  within  a  few  years  they  have  to  a  limited  extent  been  re¬ 
introduced  into  the  navy.  In  1837,  the  Independence  was  furnished  with 
two  of  them  ;  and  in  1S38,  the  same  number  were  placed  in  the  Ohio  • 
both  vessels  still  retain  the  ordinary  pumps. 

A  description  of  one  of  those  on  board  the  Independence,  which  is  now 
fitting  for  sea  in  this  harbor,  will  give  a  correct  idea  of  them  all.  See  No.  67. 

Two  copper  cylinders,  seven  inches  diameter,  and  about  twenty-two 
feet  long,  extend  from  the  surface  of  the  main  gun-deck  to  the  well.  The 
one  in  which  the  chain  descends,  is  continued  ten  or  twelve  inches  above 
the  deck  to  prevent  the  water  that  is  raised,  from  returning  through  it 
again  to  the  well.  A  horizontal  wrought  iron  shaft  is  placed  between  the 
cylinders  and  supported  by  a  stout  frame  on  which  its  journals  turn.  On 
this  shaft,  a  strong  cast  iron  wheel,  two  feet  in  diameter,  is  secured,  having 
twelve  arms  radiating  like  the  spokes  of  a  carriage  wheel  from  the  hub.  A 
(No.  67)  represents  two  of  these  arms  with  a  portion  of  the  shaft.  A  re- 
.  cess  is  formed  at  the  extremities  to  receive  the  chain,  and  prevent  it  from 
slipping  off  on  either  side.  Figs.  1  and  2,  represent  the  links.  They  are 
of  copper,  seven  inches  long,  one  and  a  half  inch  wide,  and  one  quarter 
of  an  inch  thick,  and  are  similar  to  those  in  Cole’s  pumps.  The  pallets  or 
pistons  are  formed  on  the  middle  of  every  alternate  link ;  that  is,  on  those 
which  are  made  of  a  single  piece.  A  circular  plate  about  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  thick,  is  cast  (see  fig.  1,)  of  a  diameter  rather  less  than  the  bore  of 
the  cylinders.  Another  loose  plate  of  the  same  dimensions  (fig.  3,)  has 
an  opening  in  its  centre  to  allow  it  to  pass  over  the  link  and  lay  upon  the 
other.  Between  these,  a  disk  of  leather  is  introduced,  i.  e.  a  circular 
piece  just  like  fig.  3,  but  of  a  diameter  equal  to  the  bore  of  the  cylinder. 
This  is  first  placed  on  the  fixed  plate  in  fig.  1,  then  fig.  3  is  laid  over  it, 
and  to  secure  the  whole,  a  key  or  wedge  is  driven  through  a  slit  in  the 
link,  just  above  the  surface  of  fig.  3,  and  thus  compresses  the  leather  be¬ 
tween  them.  When  the  pumps  are  used,  long  cranks  are  applied  to  each 
end  of  the  shaft,  so  that  fifteen  or  twenty  men  can  be  engaged  at  the  same 
time  in  working  them.  In  the  Independence ,  these  cranks  extend  across  the 
deck,  and  thereby  interrupt  the  passage  way.  They  should  in  all  public 
vessels  be  arranged,  if  possible,  ‘  fore  and  aft.’  The  arrows  show  the  di¬ 
rection  of  the  chain. 

The  introduction  of  the  chain  pump  into  ships  is  probably  due  to  the 
Chinese,  as  they  use  it  in  their  sea  junks;  and  it  is  not  likely  that  this  ap¬ 
plication  of  it  is  of  recent  date  among  them.a  The  early  missionaries 
thought  that  buckets  only  were  employed  in  raising  bilge  water  from 
the  holds.  It  is  not  much  used  we  believe  in  the  French  navy.  In  the 
Dictionnaire  de  Trevoux,  it  is  named  the  English  pump. 

The  Chinese  chain  pump  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  by 
Andre  Everard  Van  Braam,  who  was  several  years  chief  of  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company  in  China,  and  who  settled  in  South  Carolina  at  the 
close  of  the  revolutionary  war.  In  1794,  he  was  appointed  second  in  the 
Dutch  embassy  to  Pekin,  and  in  1796,  he  returned  and  settled  near  Phila¬ 
delphia.  In  his  account  of  the  embassy,  a  translation  of  which  was  pub¬ 
lished  at  London  in  1798,  and  dedicated  by  him  to  General  Washington, 
and  to  which  we  have  heretofore  referred — he  remarks,  speaking  of  the 


6  ‘The  Chinese,’  by  J.  F.  Davis,  vol.  ii,  290 


158 


Chinese  Ship-building. 


[Book  J 


Chinese  pumps,  “  I  have  introduced  the  use  of  them  into  the  United 
States  of  America,  where  they  are  of  great  utility  in  risers,  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  the  little  labor  they  require.”  (Yol.  i,  74.)  We  are  not  aware 
that  they  are  much  used  in  this  country  at  the  present  time.  The  chain 
pump  is  employed  in  the  diamond  districts  of  Brazil.  M.  Mawe,  in  his 
Travels,  has  figured  and  described  it  as  used  there.  It  has  also  been  re¬ 
cently  introduced  into  Egypt,  where  it  is  more  likely  to  become  domi¬ 
ciliated,  than  the  atmospheric  and  forcing  pump,  which  Belzoni  endeavored 
in  vain  to  establish  ;  although  St.  John  seems  to  think  even  it  is  rather 
too  complex  for  the  present  state  of  the  mechanic  arts  in  the  land  of  the 
Pharaohs.  “  Windmills  for  raising  water,  and  chain  pumps,  have  been 
introduced  into  Egypt ;  but  as  these  are  machines  which  require  some  re¬ 
gard  to  the  principles  of  good  workmanship,  they  are  by  no  means  fitted 
for  general  use.”  Egypt  and  Mohammed  Ali,  vol.  i,  14. 

The  chain  pump,  as  well  as  the  screw,  noria,  chain  of  pots,  &c.  has 
been  adopted  as  a  first  mover.  Placed  perpendicularly  on  the  side  of  a 
precipice,  or  wherever  a  small  stream  of  water  can  be  conveyed  into  its 
upper  orifice,  and  can  escape  from  its  lower  one,  the  motion  of  the  chain 
is  reversed  by  the  weight  of  the  liquid  column  acting  on  the  pistons.  A 
wheel  similar  to  the  upper  one  is  fixed  below,  over  which  the  chain  also 
passes ;  and  from  the  axle  of  either  wheel  the  power  may  be  taken.  A 
patent  for  this  application  of  the  chain  pump  was  granted  in  England, 
in  1784. 

There  is  another  device  of  the  Chinese,  which  is  worthy  of  imitation  : 
and  considering  the  increased  security  it  offers  to  floating  property,  and 
the  additional  safety  of  the  lives  of  navigators,  it  is  surprising  that  it  has 
not  been  adopted  by  Americans  and  Europeans — viz.  the  division  of  the 
holds  of  ships  by  water-tight  partitions.  The  Chinese  divide  the  holds 
of  their  sea  vessels  into  about  a  dozen  distinct  compartments  with  strong 
plank ;  and  the  seams  are  caulked  with  a  cement  composed  of  lime,  oil, 
and  the  scrapings  of  bamboo.  This  composition  renders  them  imper¬ 
vious  to  water,  and  is  greatly  preferable  to  pitch,  tar  and  tallow,  since  it  is 
said  to  be  incombustible.  This  division  of  their  vessels  seems  to  have 
been  well  experienced  ;  for  the  practice  is  universal  throughout  the  em¬ 
pire.  Hence  it  sometimes  happens  that  one  merchant  has  his  goods  safely 
conveyed  in  one  division,  while  those  of  another,  suffer  considerable  da¬ 
mage  from  a  leak  in  the  compartment  in  which  they  are  placed.  A  ship 
may  strike  against  a  rock  and  yet  not  sink,  for  the  water  entering  by  the 
fracture  will  be  confined  to  the  division  where  the  injury  occurs.  To  the 
adoption  of  a  similar  plan  in  European  or  American  merchantmen,  beside 
the  opposition  of  popular  prejudice  and  the  increased  expense,  an  objec¬ 
tion  might  arise  from  the  reduction  it  would  occasion  in  the  quantity  of 
freight,  and  the  increased  difficulty  of  stowing  bulky  articles.  It  remains 
to  be  considered  how  far  these  objections  ought  to  prevail  against  the 
greater  security  of  the  vessel,  crew  and  cargo.  At  any  rate,  such  objec¬ 
tions  do  not  apply  to  ships  of  war,  in  which  to  carry  very  heavy  burdens, 
2s  not  an  object  of  consideration.  Staunton’s  Embassy,  vol.  ii,  136. 


Chap.  18.] 


Ancient  America. 


159 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


On  the  hydraulic  works  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America :  Population  of  Anahuac— Ferocity  of  the 
Spanish  invaders — Subject  of  ancient  hydraulic  works  interesting — Aqueducts  of  the  Toltecs — Ancient 
Mexican  wells— Houses  supplied  with  water  by  pipes— Palace  of  Motezuma— Perfection  of  Mexican 
works  in  metals— Cortez— Market  in  ancient  Mexico— Hydraulic  works— Fountains  and  jets  d’eau— No- 
ria  and  other  machines— Palenque :  its  aqueducts,  hieroglyphics,  &c.— Wells  in  ancient  and  modern 
Yucatan— Relics  of  former  ages,  and  traditions  of  the  Indians.  Hydraulic  works  of  the  Peruvians: 
Customs  relating  to  water— Humanity  of  the  early  Incas— Aqueducts  and  reservoirs— Resemblance  of 
Peruvian  and  Egyptian  customs— Garcilasso— Civilization  in  Peru  before  the  times  of  the  Incas— Giants 
—Wells— Stupendous  aqueducts,  and  other  monuments— Atabalipa— Pulleys— Cisterns  of  gold  and  sil¬ 
ver  in  the  houses  of  the  Incas— Temples  and  gardens  supplied  by  pipes— Temple  at  Cusco:  its  water 
works  and  utensils — Embroidered  cloth — Mauco  Capac. 


It  has  been  a  subject  of  regret,  that  we  have  been  unable  to  obtain  any 
specific  information,  respecting  the  employment  of  machines  to  raise 
water  on  the  American  continents,  previous  to  the  visit  of  Europeans  in 
the  15th  and  16th  centuries.  And  yet  there  can,  we  think,  be  scarcely  a 
doubt,  that  in  those  countries  where  civilization  and  the  arts  had  made 
considerable  progress,  as  Peru,  Chili,  Guatimala,  and  Mexico,  such  ma¬ 
chines  had  long  been  in  use.  Unfortunately,  accounts  of  those  countries 
by  early  European  writers,  contain  little  else  than  details  of  the  success¬ 
ful  villany  of  those  savage  adventurers,  who,  under  the  cloak  of  religion, 
and  by  the  most  revolting  perfidy,  robbed  the  natives  of  their  indepen¬ 
dence,  their  property,  and  myriads  of  them  of  their  lives. 

It  is  impossible  to  reflect  on  the  great  population  of  ancient  Anahuac — 
the  progress  which  the  natives  had  made  in  the  arts — the  separation  of 
trades  and  professions — their  extensive  manufactures — the  splendor  of 
their  buildings — their  laws — the  rich  produce  of  their  highly  cultivated 
fields — the  freedom  and  prosperity  of  the  republics  of  Tlascala,  and  the 
comparative  general  happiness  of  the  inhabitants ;  with  the  utter  desola¬ 
tion  brought  on  them  and  their  country  by  the  Spaniards — without  feeling 
emotions  of  unmitigated  indignation.  No  one  can  read  even  Solis,  the 
advocate  of  Cortez  and  the  palliator  of  his  conduct,  without  being  thrilled 
with  horror  at  the  uniform  treachery,  cruelty,  and  blasphemy  of  that  man 
His  watchword  of  ‘  the  Holy  Ghost,’  while  slaughtering  the  natives  on  one 
occasion  like  sheep,  conveys  but  an  imperfect  idea  of  his  ferocity  and  in¬ 
difference  to  their  sufferings,  and  of  the  disgusting  affectation  of  promoting 
Christianity,  under  which  he  pretended  to  act.  ‘Religion,’  says  Solis,  ‘was 
always  his  principal  care.’  The  Spaniards  affected  to  shudder  at  the  san¬ 
guinary  gods  of  the  Mexicans,  which  required  human  sacrifices — while 
they  immolated  in  cold  blood,  hecatombs  of  the  natives  to  the  demons 
they  themselves  worshipped — viz.  avarice  and  dominion — until  the  land 
was  filled  with  slaughter,  and  whitened  with  the  bones  of  their  victims. 
It  is  said,  that  “  in  seventeen  years,  they  destroyed  above  six  millions 
of  them.”  No  romance  ever  equalled  in  horror  the  tragedies  per¬ 
formed  by  Almagro,  Valdivia,  Cortez  and  Pizarro — and  yet  these  men 
have  been  held  up  as  examples  of  heroism,  and  our  youth  have  been 
taught  to  admire,  and  of  course  to  emulate  ‘  the  glory  of  Cortez.’ 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  people,  who,  in  remote  times,  in¬ 
habited  the  southern  continent  and  Mexico,  remains  of  some  of  whose 


160 


Hydraulic  Works 


[Book  I 


works,  rival  in  magnitude  those  of  Egypt  and  India,  and  many  of 
them,  (the  roads  and  aqueducts  particularly,)  equalled  in  utility  the 
noblest  works  of  Greece  and  Rome — were  not  without  hydraulic  en¬ 
gines  ;  and  had  descriptions  of  them  been  preserved,  they  would  have 
furnished  more  interesting,  and  perhaps  more  certain  data,  respecting  the 
peopling  of  America,  and  of  the  origin  of  the  Toltec  and  Astec  races, 
than  any  others  derived  from  the  useful  arts.  From  the  analogy  there  is 
between  some  of  the  arts,  manners,  and  customs  of  the  ancient  people  of 
Mexico  and  South  America,  and  those  of  Asia,  we  might  suppose  that  the 
swape,  bucket  and  windlass,  noria,  and  chain  of  pots,  and  perhaps  the 
chain  pump  were  known  to  them ;  but  of  this  we  have  met  with  no  direct 
proof.  Were  the  fact  established,  that  they  were  in  possession  of  these 
machines,  it  would  greatly  tend  to  prove  their  Asiatic  origin  in  post¬ 
diluvian  times  ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  if  lacking  these,  they  had  others 
peculiar  to  themselves,  such  a  fact  would  be  one  of  the  most  interesting 
circumstances  connected  with  the  early  history  of  these  continents  ;  and 
might  be  adduced  to  sustain  the  hypothesis  of  those  who  consider  this 
hemisphere  as  having  been  uninterruptedly  occupied  by  man,  from  times 
anterior  to  Noah’s  flood ;  and  consequently  many  of  the  machines,  arts, 
and  productions  of  the  inhabitants  peculiar  to  themselves. 

The  Toltecs,  we  are  informed,  introduced  the  cultivation  of  maize  and 
cotton  ;  they  built  cities,  made  roads,  and  constructed  those  great  pyramids 
which  are  yet  admired ;  and  of  which  the  faces  are  very  accurately  laid 
out ;  they  could  found  metals,  and  cut  the  hardest  stone — they  knew  the 
use  of  hieroglyplhcal  painting,  and  they  had  a  solar  year,  more  perfect 
than  that  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  “Few  nations  (says  Humboldt) 
moved  such  great  masses  as  were  moved  by  the  Mexicans,”  proofs  of 
which  are  still  found  among  the  ruins  of  their  temples.  The  calender 
stone,  and  the  sacrifice  stone,  in  the  great  square  at  Mexico,  containing 
282  and  353  cubic  feet ;  a  carved  stone  dug  up,  which  wras  upwards  of 
22feet  in  length,  19  feet  in  breadth,  and  about  10  deep — are  examples;  and 
the  colossal  statue  of  the  Goddess  Teoyaomiqui ,  is  another.4  And  what  is 
more  to  our  purpose,  remains  of  aqueducts,  of  surprising  magnitude  and 
workmanship,  are  found  throughout  Chili,  Mexico,  and  Peru. 

Nor  had  these  arts  been  lost  at  the  period  of  the  Spanish  invasion.  At 
that  time,  agriculture,  artificial  irrigation,  and  many  other  of  the  mechanic 
arts,  especially  those  which  relate  to  the  metals,  appear  to  have  been  in 
a  more  advanced  state,  than  they  have  ever  been  in  Spain,  during  any 
subsequent  period.  When  Grijalva  and  his  companions  landed  in  Yuca¬ 
tan,  (in  1518)  they  were  astonished  at  the  cultivation  of  the  fields,  and  the 
beauty  of  the  edifices — as  well  as  at  the  ornaments,  &c.  in  gold,  which  the 
natives  possessed,  the  value  of  the  workmanship  often  ‘  exceeding  that  of 
the  metal.'  Tlascala,  (says  Solis,)  was  at  that  period,  “  a  very  populous 
city  the  houses  were  built  of  stone  and  brick,  their  roofs  were  flat  and 
surrounded  with  galleries.  The  Tlascalans,  says  Herrera,  had  baths,  bow¬ 
ers,  and  fountains ,  and  whenever  a  new  house  was  finished,  they  had  feasts 
and  dancing,  &c.  like  the  house  warming  of  old  in  Europe.  Every  house 
in  Zempoala  had  a  garden  with  water.  Ancient  wells  are  still  in  use  in 
Mexico,  some  of  which  are  two  and  three  hundred  feet  in  depth.  Water 
is  drawn  from  them  to  irrigate  the  soil. 

The  city  of  Cholula  was  located  in  a  delightful  plain  ;  it  contained 
20,000  inhabitants,  and  the  number  in  its  suburbs  was  greater.  The 

•  Clavigero  says,  columns  of  stone  of  one  piece,  80  feet  long,  and  20  feet  in  circum¬ 
ference,  were  extant  in  his  time,  in  the  edifices  of  Mictlan.  Mexico,  Vol.  i,  420. 


in  Ancient  Mexico. 


161 


Chap.  18.]  * 

Spaniards  compared  it  to  Valladolid  for  its  beauty  and  magnificence. 
It  was  a  great  emporium  of  merchandise.  Strangers  from  distant  parts  of 
the  continent  flocked  to  it.  Solis  says,  the  streets  were  wide  and  well  laid 
out;  the  buildings  larger  and  of  better  architecture  than  those  of  Tlascala, 
and  the  inhabitants  were  principally  merchants  and  mechanics.  Cortez 
himself,  after  entering  this  city,  thus  speaks  of  it  in  a  letter  to  Charles  V. 
“  The  inhabitants  are  better  clothed  than  any  we  have  hitherto  seen.  Peo¬ 
ple  in  easy  circumstances  wear  cloaks  above  their  dress;  these  cloaks 
differ  from  those  of  Africa,  for  they  have  pockets,  though  the  cut,  cloth 
and  fringes  are  the  same.  The  environs  of  the  city  are  very  fertile  and 
well  cultivated.  Almost  all  the  fields  may  he  watered ;  and  the  city  is 
much  more  beautiful  than  all  those  in  Spain  ;  for  it  is  well  fortified,  and 
built  on  level  ground.  I  can  assure  your  highness,  that  from  the  top  of  a 
mosque  (temple)  I  reckoned  more  than  four  hundred  towers,  all  of  mosques. 
The  number  of  inhabitants  is  so  great  that  there  is  not  an  inch  of  ground 
uncultivated.”  When  the  Spaniards  reached  Tezcuco,  they  found  it  as 
large  again  as  Seville.  It  rivalled  in  grandeur  and  extent  Mexico  itself, 
and  was  of  a  much  more  ancient  date  than  that  capital.  Herrera  says, 
the  streets  were  very  regular,  and  that  fresh  water  was  brought  in  pipes 
from  the  mountains  to  every  house.  The  principal  front  of  the  buildings 
extended  on  the  borders  of  a  spacious  lake,  where  the  causeway  that  lea 
to  Mexico  began.  It  was  from  this  causeway,  which  was  built  of  stone 
and  lime,  that  the  Spaniards  first  beheld  the  distant  capital,  with  its  towers 
and  pinnacles  in  the  midst  of  the  lake;  and  on  the  8th  November,  1519, 
Cortez  and  his  myrmidons  entered  that  city,  which  then  contained  a  great¬ 
er  population  than  New-York  does  at  present ;  for  it  had  between  three 
and  four  hundred  thousand  inhabitants. 

When  the  Spaniards  entered  the  gates,  through  a  bulwark  of  stone 
supported  by  castles,  they  beheld  a  spacious  street  with  houses  uniformly 
built,  and  the  windows  and  battlements  filled  with  spectators.  They 
were  received  into  one  of  Motezuma’s  houses,  which  had  been  built  by 
his  father.  This  building,  Solis  remarks,  vied  in  extent,  with  the  principal 
palaces  of  emperors  in  Europe  ;  and  had  the  appearance  of  a  fortress, 
with  thick  stone  walls  and  towers  upon  the  flanks.  The  streets  of  the  city 
were  straight,  as  if  drawn  by  a  line  ;  and  the  public  buildings,  and  houses 
of  the  nobility,  which  made  up  the  greatest  part  of  the  city,  were  of  stone 
and  well  built.  The  palace  of  Motezuma  was  so  large  a  pile  that  it 
opened  with  thirty  gates  into  as  many  different  streets.  The  principal 
front  took  up  one  entire  side  of  a  spacious  parade,  and  was  of  black,  red 
and  white  jasper,  well  polished.  Over  the  gates  were  the  arms  or  sym¬ 
bolical  figures  of  Motezuma  or  his  predecessors,  viz.  a  griffin,  being  half 
an  eagle  and  half  a  lion  ;  the  wings  extended  and  holding  a  tiger  in  its 
talons.  The  roofs  of  the  buildings  were  of  cypress,  cedar,  and  other 
odoriferous  woods,  and  were  ornamented  with  carvings  of  “  different 
foliages  and  relievos.”  But  without  referring  to  the  splendor  of  this  un¬ 
fortunate  monarch’s  court,  his  luxurious  mode  of  living,  his  treasures,  the 
chair  of  burnished  gold  in  which  he  was  carried  to  meet  Cortez,  the  jew¬ 
els  of  gold,  pearls,  and  precious  stones,  that  adorned  his  person  and  those 
of  his  attendants,  and  the  “shoes  of  hammered  gold,”  that  were  bound  to 
his  feet  and  legs  with  straps,  like  the  Roman  military  sandals  ;  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  notioe  the  market  of  the  city  for  the  sale  of  merchandise,  in 
order  to  realize  a  tolerably  correct  idea  of  the  state  of  the  arts  among  the 
Mexicans.  Nothing  excited  the  surprise  of  the  Spaniards  so  much  as 
this  market  both  as  regarded  the  quantity,  variety,  and  quality  of  the 
goods  sold,  and  the  order  which  prevailed. 

21 


162 


Mechanic  Arts  of  the  Mexicans!  [Book  I, 

The  Mexican  works  of  gold  and  silver,  sent  by  Cortez  to  Charles  V. 
says  Clavigero,  “  filled  the  goldsmiths  of  Europe  with  astonishment.” 
“  Some  of  them  were  inimitable.”  Among  others,  there  were  Jishes  having 
scales  alternately  of  gold  and  silver — a  parrot  with  moveable  head ,  tongue, 
and  wings — an  ape  with  moveable  head  and  feet,  and  having  a  spindle 
in  its  hand,  in  the  attitude  of  spinning.  Vol.  i,  413. 

Cortez,  in  a  letter  to  Charles  V.  dated  October  1520,  says,  “  the  market 
place  is  twice  as  large  as  that  of  Seville  and  surrounded  with  an  immense 
portico,  under  \yhich  are  exposed  for  sale  all  sorts  of  merchandise,  eata¬ 
bles,  ornaments  made  of  gold,  silver,  lead,  pewter,  precious  stones,  bones, 
shells,  and  feathers  ;  delft  ware,  leather,  and  spun  cotton.  We  find  hewn 
stone,  tiles,  and  timber  fit  for  building.  There  are  lanes  for  game,  others 
for  roots  and  garden  fruits.  There  are  houses  where  barbers  shave  the 
head,  (with  razors  made  of  obsidian,)  and  there  are  houses  resembling  our 
apothecary  shops,  where  prepared  medicines,  unguents,  and  plasters  are 
sold.  The  market  abounds  with  so  many  things,  that  I  am  unable  to  name 
them  all  to  your  highness.  To  avoid  confusion,  every  species  of  mer¬ 
chandise  is  sold  in  a  separate  lane.  Every  thing  is  sold  by  the  yard,  (by 
measure)  but  nothing  has  hitherto  been  seen  to  be  weighed  in  the  market. 
In  the  midst  of  the  great  square,  is  a  house,  which  I  shall  call  Vaudencia 
in  which  ten  or  twelve  persons  sit  constantly  for  determining  any  disputes 
which  may  arise  respecting  the  sale  of  goods.  There  are  other  persons 
who  mix  continually  with  the  crowd,  to  see  that  a  just  price  is  asked. 
We  have  seen  them  break  the  false  measures,  which  they  had  seized  from 
the  merchants.” 

Solis  has  recorded  some  facts,  which  are  too  interesting  to  mechanics  to 
be  omitted.  “  There  were  rows  of  silversmiths,  who  sold  jewels  and 
chains  of  extraordinary  fashion  ;n  several  figures  of  beasts  in  gold  and 
silver,  wrought  with  so  much  art,  as  raised  the  wonder  of  our  artificers  ; 
particularly  some  skillets  with  moving  handles,  that  were  so  cast;  besides 
other  works  of  the  same  kind,  with  mouldings  and  relievos,  without  any 
signs  of  a  hammer  or  graver.”  Herrera,  speaking  of  these,  observes, 
“  some  things  were  cast,  and  others  wrought  with  stones,  to  such  perfec¬ 
tion,  that  many  of  them  have  surprised  the  ablest  goldsmiths  in  Spain,  for 
they  could  never  conceive  how  they  had  been  made  ;  there  being  no  sign 
of  a  hammer,  or  an  engraver,  or  any  other  instrument  used  by  them.” 
They  brought  to  the  fair,  (continues  Solis)  all  the  different  sorts  of  cloth, 
made  throughout  .this  vast  empire,  of  cotton  and  rabbits’  fur,  which  the 
women  of  this  country,  enemies  to  idleness,  spun  extremely  fine,  being  very 
dexterous  in  this  manufacture.  They  had  also  drinking  cups  exquisitely 
made  of  the  finest  earth,  different  in  color,  and  even  in  smell ;  and  of  this 
kind,  they  had  all  sorts  of  vessels,  necessary  either  for  the  service  and  or¬ 
nament  of  a  house. 


a  These,  which  were  worn  round  the  neck,  were  doubtless  similar  to  those  known  as 
Panama  chains ;  which  certainly  are  extraordinary  specimens  of  workmanship.  They 
may  sometimes  he  met  with  at  our  jewellers,  who  buy  them  for  the  purity  of  the  gold. 
It  is  said  that  the  mode  of  making  them  has  never  been  discovered,  and  that  the 
secret  is  still  preserved  among  the  Indians  of  Panama.  We  have  examined  one  which 
came  from  Carthagena,  the  length  of  which,  had  it  been  cut,  was  eight  feet  two  inches; 
its  section,  which  was  hexagonal,  did  not  exceed  one  twentieth  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
<Jt  was  formed  of  one  or  more  fine  wires,  which  seemed  to  have  been  woven  or  interlaced 
like  the  platting  of  a  whip  handle.  When  a  single  thread  was  examined  by  a  micro¬ 
scope,  it  was  found  to  be  composed  of  several  smaller  wires,  which  separate,  were  scarce¬ 
ly  perceptible  to  our  unaided  vision.  The  weight  of  the  chain  was  eleven  penny¬ 
weights,  and  it  appeared  to  be  as  flexible  as  a  piece  of  twine,  certainly  far  more  so 
than  any  chain  formed  of  links.  No  end  of  a  wire  could  be  detected,  and  not  a  particlo 
of  solder  was  used. 


Chap.  18.]  Ancient  Aqueducts.  163 

No  oner  can  doubt,  that .  a  people,  thus  far  advanced  in  civilization 
and  the  useful  arts,  were  in  possession  of  machines  of  some  kind  or 
other  for  raising  water.  Indeed  the  location  and  great  population  of 
some  of  their  cities  required  a  familiar  knowledge  of  hydraulic  opera¬ 
tions  to  supply  them  with  water;  and  hence  it  would  seem  as  if  they  had 
cultivated  this  department  of  the  arts  equally  with  others,  for  some  of 
their  aqueducts  would  have  done  honor  to  Greece  and  Rome.  Nearly  all 
the  ancient  cities  of  Mexico  were  supplied  by  them.  We  have  already 
remarked  that  Tlascala  was  furnished  with  abundance  of  baths  and  foun¬ 
tains— that  every  house  in  Zempoala  had  water— that  Tezcuco  had 
an  aqueduct,  from  which  every  dwelling  was  supplied  by  a  pipe,  as 
in  modern  cities;  and  we  may  add,  Iztaclapa,  which  contained  about  ten 
thousand  houses,  had  its  aqueduct  that  conveyed  water  from  the  neighbor-  . 
mg  mountains,  and  led  it  through  a  great  number  of  well  cultivated  »ar-  ' 
dens.  In  the  city  of  Mexico,  there  were  several  aqueducts.  That  of  Cha- 
pultcpee  was  the  work  of  Motezuma,  and  also  the  vast  stone  reservoir 
connected  with  it.  When  the  Spaniards  besieged  the  city  they  destroyed 
this  aqueduct.  Cortez  in  his  first  letter  to  Charles  V.  mentions  the  sprin- 
ot  A  mile  o,  near  Churubusco,  of  which  the  waters  were  conveyed  to  the 
city  “  in  two  large  pipes,  well  moulded  and  as  hard  as  stone,  but  the  wa¬ 
ter  never  ran  in  more  than  one  of  them  at  the  same  time.”  We  still  per¬ 
ceive,  says  Humboldt,  the  remains  of  this  great  aqueduct,  which  was  con¬ 
structed  with  double  pipes,  one  of  which  received  the  water,  while  they 
were  employed  in  cleansing  the  other ;  but  this  aqueduct,  he  says,  was  in¬ 
terior  to  the  one  at  Tezcuco  :  of  it,  he  observes,  “  we  still  admire  the 
traces  of  a  great  mound,  which  was  constructed  to  heighten  the  level  of 
the  water.”  The  gardens  of  Motezuma  were  also  adorned  and  nourish¬ 
ed  with  streams  and  fountains,  and  appear  to  have  rivalled  those  of  Asiatic 
monarchs  in  splendor.  And  among  the  hieroglyphical  ornaments  of  the 
pyramid  of  Xochicalco,  are  heads  of  crocodiles  spouting  water,  a  proof 
that  ancient  Americans  were  acquainted  with  that  property  of  liquids 
by  which  they  find  their  level ;  and  applied  it  not  merely  to  fountains 
and  jets  dean,  but  to  convey  water  through  pipes  to  their  dwellings. 

We  cannot  reflect  on  the  progress  which  the  ancient  inhabitants  of 
Mexico  had  made  in  the  arts,  and  the  magnitude  and  excellence  of  some 
of  their  hydraulic  works,  without  regretting  that  no  particular  accounts  of 
their  devices  for  raising  water  have  been  preserved.  Of  one  thing  how- 
ever  we  may  be  sure,  that  no  people  ever  constructed  such  works  as  they 
did,  tor  the  irrigation  of  land,  and  the  supply  of  cities,  who  had  not  pre- 
vious  y  experienced  the  inefficiency  of  machines  for  those  purposes  ;  nor 
could  their  agriculture  have  been  carried  to  the  extent  it  was,  without  the 
aid  of  them  in  times  of  drought. 

‘  The  machines  called  norias  (says  Humboldt)  are  essential  to  Mexican 
agriculture.’®  Does  it  not  follow  then  that  these,  or  others  for  the  same 
purpose,  were  equally  essential,  before  the  conquest,  when  the  population 
ot  the  country  was  so  much  greater,  and  agriculture  more  extensively 
practised  There  is  no  doubt,  he  observes,  that  all  the  country  from  the 
• 1  Tfr  l*PaloaPan  “  was  better  inhabited  and  better  cultivated  than  it  now 
is.  1  he  swape  (guimbelette)  is  quite  common  in  Mexico.  Tt  is  there 
used  as  in  this  country  for  raising  water  from  wells  of  moderate  depth.  A 
friend  just  returned  from  a  tour  in  Texas,  informs  us,  that  among  the 
oos hattie  tribe  of  Indians  on  the  Trinity  river,  and  in  all  the  settlements, 
whether  Indian,  Creole,  or  modern  Mexican  ;  in  populous  villages  or  at 

i 


•  New  Spain,  translated  by  Black,  Vol.  ii.  458. 


i 


164 


Palenque. 


[Book  1 


solitary  wigwams,  the  ‘  well  pole’  or  swape  is  almost  always  to  be  seen. 
In  wells  of  considerable  depth,  the  pulley  and  double  chain  with  two 
buckets  are  adopted  ;  and  the  chain  of  pots  and  noria  are  extensively  used 
in  raising  water  for  irrigation,  being  moved,  as  in  Spain,  by  oxen  or  mules. 
As  these  are  the  only  devices  for  raising  water  that  are  now  in  use,  ex¬ 
cept  the  common  pump  to  a  very  limited  extent,  and  the  ordinary  mode 
of  drawing  it  from  mines,  by  buckets  worked  by  animals,  the  question  oc¬ 
curs,  were  they  or  any  of  them  in  use  previous  to  the  conquest!  The 
pump  excepted,  we  should  suppose  they  were  ;  but  as  before  remarked, 
we  have  no  direct  evidence  to  establish  the  fact.  As  the  Mexicans  were 
collected  in  villages  and  accustomed  to  cultivate  the  soil,  at  least  400  years 
before  the  conquest,  and  subsequent  to  that  event,  the  great  mass  of  the 
farmers  have  been  and  are  Indians,  who  adhere  with  “  extraordinary  ob¬ 
stinacy”  to  the  customs  of  their  ancestors,  it  seems  natural  to  suppose  that 
they  (like  the  agricultural  classes  of  all  other  countries)  would  retain  some 
of  the  old  modes  of  raising  water ;  but  as  those  above  named  are  said  to  be 
the  only  ones  practised,  it  is  probable  that  some  of  them  at  least  were 
known  to  the  inhabitants  of  old. 

Palenque 'is  about  thirty  miles  from  Tobasco.  It  is  surrounded  by 
dense  forests,  and  overgrown  with  the  vegetation  of  past  ages.  Of  its 
founders  and  inhabitants  nothing  is  known,  nor  yet  of  the  period  when 
they  flourished.  The  remains  of  this  city  have  been  traced  over  an  ex¬ 
tent  of  twenty-four  miles ,  and  consist  of  massive  edifices,  of  a  novel  and 
very  chaste  style  of  architecture.  These  are  accurately  laid  out  to  the 
four  cardinal  points  of  the  compass,  and  are  built  of  hewn  stone.  There 
are  temples,  palaces,  and  tombs  ornamented  with  the  richest  sculptures 
and  bas  reliefs,  extensive  excavations,  subterranean  passages,  bridges, 
dikes,  aqueducts,  &c.  all  indicative  of  a  powerful  and  highly  civilized 
people.  Dupaix  and  his  companions,  who  were  sent  out  in  1805  by 
Charles  IV.  of  Spain,  to  examine  and  report  on  these  buildings,  after 
three  weeks  intense  labor  in  cutting  down  trees  which  grew  over  them, 
were  enabled  to  examine  fifteen  edifices,  which  elicited  their  wonder  and 
admiration.  Mr.  Waldeck,  a  late  traveler,  who  has  spent  several  years 
in  examining  and  collecting  evidences  of  early  American  civilization,  cut 
down  a  tree,  (that  was  growing  over  an  ancient  building  at  Palenque)  the 
concentric  circles  in  a  section  of  which/indicated  a  growth  of  973  years  ! 
But  how  many  centuries  had  elapsed  from  the  ruin  and  desertion  of  the 
city,  and  for  the  accumulation  of  soil  over  it,  ere  this  tree  took  root,  can 
only  be  conjectured.  The  sculptures  on  the  walls  are  surprisingly  per¬ 
fect,  and  among  them  are  hieroglyphics  which  are  supposed  to  have  pho¬ 
netic  power.  Men  and  women  are  represented  clothed  in  figured  gar¬ 
ments,  indicating  the  manufacture  of  flowered  stuffs;  and  various  relics, 
which  have  been  disinterred,  as  toys,  vessels,  ornaments  of  dress,  &c. 
prove  considerable  progress  in  other  branches  of  the  useful  arts.  But  ex¬ 
tensive  as  these  ruins  are,  and  pregnant  with  information  of  thrilling  in¬ 
terest,  Palenque  is  like  Mitla,  the  partner  of  its  glory  and  of  its  degrada¬ 
tion,  a  ‘  city  of  the  dead.’  Not  a  voice  is  heard  in  it,  or  around  it,  but  the 
hissing  of  serpents,  the  buzzing  of  insects,  the  gibbering  of  monkeys,  and 
the  screeching  of  wild  birds. 

There  is  one  circumstance  respecting  the  ancient  cities  and  people  of 
Yucatan  which  relates  to  our  subject,  that  is  deserving  of  attention.  It  is 
this — from  the  geographical  position  and  physical  features  of  the  country, 
wells  have  always  been  of  primary  importance.  During  the  greater 
part  of  the  year  the  inhabitants  have  no  other  resource  for  fresh  water; 
and  this  must  necessarily  have  been  the  case,  ever  since  the  present  or- 


165 


C.iap.  18.J  Ancient  ivories  of  the  Peruvians. 

ganization  of  these  continents  took  place.  In  those  remote  a^es,  then, 
during  which  the  country  was  occupied  by  a  numerous  and  civilized  peo¬ 
ple,  wells  must  have  been  very  common  ;  and  as  they  are  not,  like  struc- 
*nrej’ereCte<^  °n  sur^ace>  subject  to  decay,  or  obnoxious  to  destruction, 
^discovery  and  examination  of  some  of  them  is  greatly  to  be  desired. 
Who  can  tell  what  stores  of  treasure  are  buried  in  them  ;  what  specimens  of 
art;  what  means  for  tracing  the  history,  and  also  the  revolutions,  through 
.  die  ancient  people  of  America  have  passed ;  their  origin,  progress, 
and  disappearance  ?  If  Palenque  and  its  sister  cities  were-  destroyed  by 
war,  then  it  is  almost  certain  that  the  inhabitants  would  have  recourse  to 
wells  for  the  secretion  of  their  treasures,  both  public  and  private ;  a  prac¬ 
tice  that  has  been  followed  in  all  ages  and  by  all  people. 

Relics  of  former  ages,  which  have  been  found  (more  or  less  numerous) 
over  both  continents,  incontestibly  prove  that  civilized  people  flourished 
iere  in  former  ages ;  and  that  they  and  their  progeny  have  disappeared, 
as  if  by  some  general  and  sudden  calamity  they  had  been  swept  off  the 
stage  of  life,  to  a  man.  It  would  seem  too,  as  if  a  long  period  of  deathlike 
stillness  had  succeeded,  (like  that  after  the  deluge)  so  that  all  knowledge 
of  them  had  perished,  when  another  race  appeared  and  took  possession 
of  the  soil.  These  were  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Indians,  who,  in 
their  turn  are  rapidly  becoming  extinct,  without  our  being  able  to  tell  who 
they  were,  whence  they  came,  or  when  they  first  made  their  appearance. 
We  see  no  reason  to  doubt  their  tradition  respecting  the  great  Megalonyx 
and  Mastodon  of  the  western  prairies,  having  been  contemporary  with  their 
forefathers,  since  the  discovery  of  the  bones  of  these  animals  corroborate  in 
•some  degree  the  truth  of  it.  Nor  is  it  at  all  improbable  that  their  ac¬ 
counts  of  the  voracious  and  enormous  Piasd,  ‘  the  bird  that  devours  men,’ 
is  fabulous ;  a  figure  of  which  is  cut  on  the  face  of  a  smooth  and  perpen¬ 
dicular  rock,  at  an  elevation  which  no  human  art  can  now  reach ;  near  the 
mouth  of  a  small  stream,  named  the  Piasa,  which  enters  the  Mississippi 
between  Alton  and  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois.  See  Family  Mae-  1837 
Vol.  iv,  101.  J  5' 


ON  THE  HYDRAULIC  AND  OTHER  WORKS  OF  THE  ANCIENT  PERUVIANS. 


Molina,  in  his  ‘  Natural  and  civil  History  of  Chili'  observes  that  previous 
to  the  invasion  of  the  Spaniards,  the  natives  practised  artificial  irrigation,  by 
conveying  water  from  the  higher  grounds  in  canals  to  their  fields."  Herrera 
says,  many  of  the  vales  were  exceedingly  populous  and  well  cultivated, 
having  trenches  of  water.’  The  Peruvians  carried  the  system  to  a  oreat 
extent.  “  How  must  we  admire  (says  Humboldt)  the  industry  and  activity 
displayed  by  the  ancient  Mexicans  and  Peruvians  in  the  irrigation  of  arid 
lands  .  In  the  maritime  parts  of  Peru,  I  have  seen  the  remains  of  walls 
along  which  water  was  conducted  for  a  space  of  from  5  to  6000  metres* 
from  the  foot  of  the  Codilleras  to  the  coast.  The  conquerors  of  the  16th 
century  destroyed  these  aqueducts,  and  that  part  of  Peru  has  become 
like  1  ersia,  a  desart,  destitute  of  vegetation.  Such  is  the  civilization  car¬ 
ried  by  the  Europeans  among  a  people,  whom  they  are  pleased  to  call 
barbarous.  Ihese  people  had  laws  for  the  protection  of  water,  very 
similar  to  those  of  Greece,  Rome,  Egypt,  and  all  the  older  nations  ;  for 
those  who  conveyed  water  from  the  canals  to  their  own  land  before  their 
turn,  were  liable  to  arbitrary  punishment.  Several  of  the  ancient  Amer¬ 
ican  customs  respecting  water,  were  identical  with  those  of  the  oldest 


“  New  Spain.  Black’s  Trans.  Vol.  ii,  46,  and  Frezier’s  Voyage  to  the  South  Seas,  213. 


166 


Agriculture  and  Irrigation 


[Book  L 


nations.  They  buried  vessels  of  water  with  the  dead.3  The  Mexicans 
worshipped  it.b  The  Peruvians  sacrificed  to  rivers  and  fountains.®  The 
Mexicans  had  Tlcdoc  their  god  of  water. d  Holy  water  was  kept  in  their 
temples®  They  practised  divination  by  water/  The  Peruvians  drew 
their  drinking  water  from  deep  wells, &  and  for  irrigation  in  times  of 
drought,  they  drew  it  from  pools,  and  lakes,  and  rivers. 

The  annals  of  the  world  do  not  furnish  brighter  examples  of  national 
benevolence,  than  the  early  history  of  Peru.  The  wars  of  the  incas 
were  neither  designed  nor  carried  on,  to  gratify  ambition  or  the  lust  of  con¬ 
quest,  but  to  extend  to  the  brutalized  people  by  whom  they  were  sur¬ 
rounded,  the  advantages  of  civilized  life ;  to  introduce  agriculture  and  all 
its  attending  blessings,  among  hordes  of  savages,  that  were  sunk  in  the 
lowest  depths  of  bestiality.  But  that  which  sheds  a  peculiar  glory  over 
the  ancient  Peruvians,  was  their  systematic  and  persevering  efforts  to 
achieve  their  conquests  without  the  effusion  of  blood.  In  reading  their 
history,  the  mind  is  not  only  relieved  from  those  horrible  details  of  car¬ 
nage  that  constitutes  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  historic  pages  of  other  na¬ 
tions,  but  the  most  agreeable  emotions  are  excited  by  the  benevolent  and 
generally  successful  endeavors  of  this  people,  to  overcome  their  foes  by 
reason — by  exhibiting  to  them  the  advantages  of  regulated  society,  and  by 
invitations  to  embrace  them.  This  policy  was  in  accordance  with  the  in¬ 
junctions  of  their  first  king,  whose  precepts  they  greatly  reverenced.  He 
taught  them  to  overcome  their  enemies  “  by  love — by  the  force  of  bene¬ 
fits”  and  hence  we  find  that  when  they  were  successful,  they  neither 
robbed  the  inhabitants  of  their  land,  their  liberty,  nor  their  lives  but  used 
their  influence  and  superior  knowledge  to  ameliorate  their  condition.  And 
when  these  efforts  failed,  and  active  warfare  was  the  only  resource,  they, 
conscious  of  the  wickedness  of  conquering  men  by  their  destruction, 
and  that  those  could  never  be  good  subjects  who  ‘  obeyed  from  fear,’ 
uniformly  besieged  them,  till  the  latter  became  convinced  of  their  own  ina¬ 
bility  to  resist,  and  of  the  policy  of  acceding  to  the  terms  of  their  pow¬ 
erful  invaders. 

In  this  manner  the  ‘  children  of  the  sun’  extended  their  conquests  over 
a  large  part  of  the  southern  continent ;  and  in  no  part  of  the  world  were 
provinces  more  loyal,  or  a  people  more  attached  to  their  institutions  and 
to  their  princes  ;  nor  was  there  ever  a  people  more  humane.  The  con¬ 
duct  of  some  of  the  incas,  when  at  the  head  of  their  armies,  in  endur¬ 
ing  the  taunts  and  scoffs  of  their  ignorant  and  imbecile  foes  with  philo¬ 
sophic  forbearance,  is  truly  admirable,  and  might  be  contrasted  with  that  of 
Christian  warriors  ;  but  then  their  object  was  not  to  acquire  fame  by  the 
destruction  of  their  species,  but  to- benefit  them,  even  at  the  risk  of  their 
reputation.  If  ever  offensive  wars  were  justifiable,  those  of  the  early 
incas  certainly  were,  since  their  object  was  the  extension  of  human  hap¬ 
piness,  and  which  they  carried  on  in  a  corresponding  spirit  of  humanity. 
In  neither  sacred  nor  profane  history  can  such  examples  be  found. 

Agriculture  was  the  first  object  to  which  their  attention  was  directed  ; 
hence  we  find  engineers  and  other  artists  immediately  sent  into  the  subdued 
countries,  or  rather,  among  their  new  friends,  to  introduce  the  arts  of 
ploughing  and  cultivating  the  soil,  &c.  And  as  large  tracts  of  land  were 
destitute  of  vegetation  for  want  of  water ,  mention  is  constantly  made  of 
aqueducts  and  reservoirs  among  the  earliest  of  works  undertaken.  In 
some  districts,  rain  was,  and  still  is,  unknown.  “  For  the  space  of  seven 


a  Purchas’s  Pilgrim.  1080.  b  Ibid.  966.  cIbid.  1070.  d  Ibid.  986.  e  Ibid.  987.  r Ibid 
994.  s  Ibid.  1064. 


167 


Chap.  18.]  of  the  Peruvians. 

hundred  leagues  along  the  coast  (says  Garcilasso)  it  did  never  rain.” 
Contrivances  to  obtain  and  distribute  water,  were  therefore,  with  the  in- 
cas  as  with  the  early  kings  of  Egypt,  the  most  important  and  constant  ob¬ 
jects  of  their  care.  Nor  does  it  appear  that  the  Egyptians  were  more 
assiduous  in  this  kind  of  labor  than  the  people  of  Peru.  Examples  are 
mentioned  of  the  latter  having  conveyed  small  streams  through  a  space 
of  sixty  miles,  to  irrigate  a  few  acres  of  land. 

There  are  several  points  of  resemblance  between  these  two  people ; 
some  of  which  are  to  be  attributed  to  both  countries  being,  in  a  great 
measure,  destitute  of  rain.  The  first  inca,  like  Osiris,  taught  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  to  cultivate  the  land ;  to  construct  reservoirs  and  aqueducts;  to  make 
ploughs,  harrows,  and  shoes  for  their  own  feet — such  shoes,  says  Garci¬ 
lasso,  *  as  they  now  wear.’  The  wife  of  Manco  Capac,  like  Isis,  taught 
the  women  to  spin,  to  weave,  and  to  make  their  own  garments.  Some 
of  their  fables,  too,  resemble  those  of  the  Egyptians  respecting  Isis.  Ac¬ 
cording  to  one,  “  the  maker  of  all  things  placed  in  heaven  a  virgin,  the 
daughter  of  a  king,  holding  a  bucket  of  water  in  her  hand,  for  the  refresh¬ 
ment  of  the  earth.”  Both  people  erected  stupendous  structures  and  sta¬ 
tues  of  cut  and  polished  stone,  which  they  wrought  without  iron  ;  both 
shaved  the  head,  and  both  embalmed  the  dead. 

As  we  have  no  where  met  with  any  distinct  notice  of,  or  even  allusion 
to,  any  Peruvian  machine  for  raising  water,  we  insert  some  notices  of  their 
wells  and  aqueducts,  &c.  from  Garcilasso’s  “  Royal  Commentaries  of 
Peru.”  The  reader  can  then  judge,  whether  a  people  who  devised  and 
constructed  hydraulic  works  of  immense  magnitude  for  the  distribution 
of  water,  were  without  some  machines  for  raising  it ;  and  especially, 
when,  at  certain  seasons,  they  obtained  it  from  deep  wells.  The  inca 
- Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  was  a  native  of  Cusco.  His  mother  was  a  Peru¬ 
vian  princess ;  but  his  father,  whose  name  he  bore,  was  one  of  the  Spanish 
conquerors.  He  was  born  (he  informs  us)  eight  years  after  the  Spaniards 
became  masters  of  the  country,  i.  e.  in  the  year  1539,  and  was  educated 
by  his  mother  and  her  relatives,  in  the  Indian  manner,  till  he  was  twenty 
years  old.  In  1560  he  was  sent  to  Spain,  where  he  wrote  his  Commen¬ 
taries.  These  were  translated  into  English  by  Sir  Paul  Ricaut,  and  pub¬ 
lished  in  one  volume,  folio,  London,  1688. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Peru,  Chili,  and  other  parts  of  the 
southern  continent,  were  inhabited  by  a  refined,  or  partially  refined  peo¬ 
ple,  centuries  before  the  time  of  Manco  Capac,  the  first  inca ;  and  that  a 
long  period  of  barbarism  had  intervened,  induced,  perhaps,  by  revolutions 
similar  to  those  which,  in  the  old  world,  swept  all  the  once  celebrated 
nations  of  antiquity  into  oblivion.  The  ancient  Peruvians  had  a  tradition 
respecting  the  arrival  of  giants,  who  located  themselves  on  the  coast,  and 
who  dug  wells  of  immense  depth  through  the  solid  rock  ;  which  wells, 
as  well  as  cisterns,  still  remain.  When  Mayta  Capac,  the  fourth  inca, 
reduced  the  province  of  Tiahuanacu,  he  found  colossal  pyramids  and  other 
structures,  with  gigantic  statues,  of  whose  authors  or  uses,  says  Garcilasso, 
“  no  man  can  conjecture.”  The  ruins  of  these  are  still  extant,  in  one  of 
the  districts  of  Buenos  Ayres.  In  the  same  province,  the  writer  just 
named  mentions  a  monolithic  temple,  which,  from  the  description,  equals 
any  of  those  of  Egypt.  These  ancient  buildings  were  supposed  by  the 
Peruvians  to  have  furnished  models  for  the  Temple,  Palace,  and  Fortress 
at  Cusco,  which  the  first  incas  erected.  Acosta,  in  examining  some  of 
these  buildings  in  Tiahuanacu,  was  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  how  they 
could  have  been  erected;  so  large,  well  cut,  and  closely  jointed  were  the 
stones.  “  I  measured  one  myself,  (he  observes)  which  was  thirty  feet  in 


168 


Aqueducts 


[Book  1 


length,  eighteen  in  breadth,  and  six  feet  in  thickness  ;”  and  in  the  For¬ 
tress  of  Cusco  were  stones,  he  says,  much  larger.  But  what  adds  to  our 
surprise,  many  of  these  stones  were  taken  from  quarries  at  from  five  to 
fifteen  leagues  distance  from  the  buildings. 

There  is  much  uncertainty  respecting  Manco  Capac.  Who  he  was, 
and  from  what  country  he  came,  are  equally  unknown.  According  to 
their  Quippus  or  historical  cords,  and  the  opinion  of  the  inca  who  was  uncle 
to  Garcilasso,  and  who  communicated  to  the  latter  all  the  knowledge  of 
their  ancestors  then  extant,  he  made  his  appearance  in  Peru  about  400 
years  before  the  invasion  of  the  Spaniards.  It  is  said  he  was  whiter  than 
the  natives,  and  was  clothed  in  flowing  garments.  Awed  by  his  presence, 
they  received  him  as  a  divinity,  became  subject  to  his  laws,  and  practised 
the  arts  he  introduced.  He  founded  Cusco,  and  extended  his  influence 
to  all  the  nations  around.  He  taught  them  agriculture  and  many  useful 
arts,  especially  that  of  irrigating  land.  His  son  succeeded  him,  and  with¬ 
out  violence  greatly  extended  the  limits  of  the  kingdom ;  prevailing  with 
the  natives,  it  is  said,  by  a  peaceable  and  gentle  manner,  “  to  plough,  and 
manure,  and  cultivate  the  soil.”  His  successors  pursued  the  same  mode, 
and  with  the  same  success.  The  fifth  inca,  we  are  informed,  constructed 
aqueducts,  bridges  and  roads  in  all  the  countries  he  subdued.  When  the 
sixth  inca  acquired  a  new  province,  he  ordered  the  lands  to  be  “  dressed 
and  manured  the  fens  to  be  drained,  “  for  in  that  art  [draining]  they 
were  excellent,  as  is  apparent  by  their  works,  which  remain  to  this  day  : 
and  also  they  were  [then]  very  ingenious  in  making  aqueducts  for  carrying 
water  into  dry  and  scorched  lands,  such  as  the  greatest  part  of  that  coun¬ 
try  is  :  they  always  made  contrivances  and  inventions  to  bring  their  water. 
These  aqueducts,  though  they  were  ruined  after  the  Spaniards  came  in, 
yet  several  reliques  and  monuments  of  them  remain  unto  this  day.” 

The  seventh  inca,  Viracocha,  constructed  some  water  works,  which,  in 
their  beneficial  effects,  perhaps  equalled  any  similar  undertakings  in  any 
other  part  of  the  world.  “  He  made  an  aqueduct  12  feet  in  depth,  and 
120  leagues  in  length  :  the  source  or  head  of  it  arose  from  certain  springs 
on  the  top  of  a  high  mountain  between  Parcu  and  Picuy,  which  was  so 
plentiful  that  at  the  very  head  of  the  fountains  they  seemed  to  be  rivers 
This  current  of  water  had  its  course  through  all  the  country  of  the  Ru- 
canas,  and  served  to  water  the  pasturage  of  those  uninhabited  lands,  which 
are  about  18  leagues  in  breadth,  watering  almost  the  whole  country  of 
Peru.” 

“  There  is  another  aqueduct  much  like  this,  which  traverses  the  whole 
province  of  Cuntisuyu,  running  above  150  leagues  from  south  to  north. 
'Its  head  or  original  is  from  the  top  of  high  mountains,  the  which  waters 
falling  into  the  plains  of  the  Qucchuas,  greatly  refresh  their  pasturage, 
when  the  heats  of  the  summer  and  autumn  have  dried  up  the  moisture  of 
the  earth.  There  are  many  streams  of  like  nature,  which  run  through 
•divers  parts  of  the  empire,  which  being  conveyed  by  aqueducts,  at  the 
charge  and  expense  of  the  incas,  are  works  of  grandeur  and  ostentation, 
and  which  recommend  the  magnificence  of  the  incas  to  all  posterity  ;  for 
these  aqueducts  may  well  be  compared  to  the  miraculous  fabricks  which 
have  been  the  works  of  mighty  princes,  who  have  left  their  prodigious 
monuments  of  ostentation  to  be  admired  by  future  ages ;  for,  indeed,  we 
ought  to  consider  that  these  waters  had  their  source  and  beginning  from 
vast,  high  mountains,  and  were  carried  over  craggy  rocks  and  inaccessible/ 
passages  ;  and  to  make  these  ways  plain,  they  had  no  help  of  instruments 
forged.of  steel  or  iron,  such  as  pickaxes  or  sledges,  but  served  themselves 
only  with  one  stone  to  break  another.  Nor  were  they  acquainted  with 


in  Ancient  Peru. 


169 


Chap.  18.] 

the  invention  of  arches,  to  convey  the  water  on  the  level  from  one  preci 
pice  to  the  other,  but  traced  round  the  mountain  until  they  found  ways 
and  passages  at  the  same  height  and  level  with  the  head  of  the  springs. 

“  The  cisterns  or  conservatories  which  they  made  for  these  waters,  at 
the  top  of  the  mountain,  were  about  twelve  feet  deep ;  the  passage  was 
broken  through  the  rocks,  and  channels  made  of  hewn  stone,  of  about  two 
yards  long  and  about  a  yard  high  ;  which  were  cemented  together,  and 
rammed  in  with  earth  so  hard,  that  no  water  would  pass  between,  to 
weaken  or  vent  itself  by  the  holes  of  the  channel. 

“  The  current  of  water  which  passes  through  all  the  division  of  Cunti- 
fiyu  I  have  seen  in  the  province  of  Quechua ,  which  is  part  of  that  divis¬ 
ion,  and  considered  it  an  extraordinary  work,  and  indeed  surpassing  the 
description  and  report  which  hath  been  made  of  it.  But  the  Spaniards 
who  were  aliens  and  strangers,  little  regarded  the  convenience  of  these 
works,  either  to  serve  themselves  in  the  use  of  them,  or  keep  them  in  re¬ 
pair,  nor  yet  to  take  so  much  notice  of  them,  as  to  mention  them  in  their 
histoiies,  but  rather  out  of  a  scornful  and  disdaining  humor,  have  suffered 
them  to  run  into  ruine,  beyond  all  recovery.  The  same  fate  hath  befallen 
the  aqueducts  which  the  Indians  made  for  watering  their  corn  lands,  of 
which  two  thirds  at  least  are  wholly  destroyed,  and  none  kept  in  repair, 
unless  some  few  which  are  so  useful  that  without  them  they  cannot  sus¬ 
tain  themselves  with  bread,  nor  with  the  necessary  provisions  of  life. 
All  which  works  are  not  so  totally  destroyed,  but  that  there  still  remains 
some  ruines  and  appearances  of  them.” 

1  he  last  who  was  independent,  and  by  far  the  worst  of  the  incas,  was 
Atahualpa  or  Atabalipa,  the  13th  from  Manco  Capac.  He  treacherously 
slew  his  brother  and  murdered  nearly  all  his  relations.  Gareilasso’s 
mother  and  a  few  others  escaped.  He  was  strangled  by  Pizarro  in  May 
1533,  after  having  purchased  his  life  of  that  monster,  by  filling  the  room  of 
his  prison  with  gold  and  silver  vessels,  and  ingots,  to  a  line  chalked  round 
the  wall,  at  the  height  of  about  seven  feet  from  the  ground.  This  room 
was  twenty-five  feet  by  sixteen. 

That  the  P eruvians  had  wells  in  the  remotest  times  has  already  been  no¬ 
ticed  ;  and  when  the  Spaniards  invaded  their  country,  great  quantities 
of  treasures  were  thrown  into  them.  The  discovery  of  these  wells 
may  yet  bring  to  view  numerous  specimens  of  their  works  in  the 
metals.  We  have  not  met  with  any  intimation  of  their  manner  of  raising 
water,  whether  by  a  simple  cord  and  vessel,  by  means  of  a  pulley,  or 
a  windlass,  or  any  other  machine.  ’Tis  true  that  Garcilasso,  when  describ¬ 
ing  the  various  pendants  which  they  wore  in  their  ears,  mentions  rings 
as  large  “  as  the  frame  of  a  pulley,  for  they  were  made  in  the  form  of 
those  with  which  we  draw  up  pitchers  from  a  well,  and  of  that  compass,  that 
in  case  it  were  beaten  straight,  it  would  be  a  quarter  of  a  yard  long  and 
a  finger  in  thickness,”  but  in  this  passage  we  understand  him  to  refer  to 
the  Spanish  method  of  drawing  water  ;  and  this  is  probable,  for  in  anoth¬ 
er  part  of  his  work,  when  speaking  of  the  large  stones  used  in  the  public 
buildings  at  Cusco,  he  says  the  workmen  had  neither  cranes  nor  pulleys. 
Still  it  is  possible  that  he  referred  to  the  mode  his  countrymen  employed. 

There  are  conclusive  proofs  however,  in  some  extracts  that  are  too  in¬ 
teresting  to  be  omitted,  that  the  ancient  Peruvians  were  well  acquainted 
with  the  management  and  distribution  of  water  through  pipes  ;  and  of 
making  and  laying  the  latter ;  and  what  is  singular,  both  the  sources  of 
the  water  and  the  direction  of  the  tubes  under  ground  were  kept  secret, 
as  was  the  custom  with  some  people  of  Asia.  “  In  many  of  the  houses 
of  the  incas)  \yere  great  cisterns  of  gold,  in  which  they  bathed  themselves, 

22 


170 


easterns  and  Pipes  in  Cusco. 


[Book  I 


with  cocks  and  pipes  of  the  same  metal,  for  conveyance  of  the  water.’"1 
Some  interesting  particulars  are  also  given  by  Garcilasso  respecting  the 
supply  of  Cusco  with  water.  Speaking  of  a  certain  street,  he  says,  “  near 
thereunto  are  two  pipes  of  excellent  water,  which  pass  under  ground,  but 
by  whom  they  were  laid  and  brought  thither,  is  unknown,  for  want  of 
writings  or  records  to  transmit  the  memory  of  them  to  posterity.  Those 
pipes  of  water  are  called  silver  snakes ,  because  the  whiteness  of  the  wa¬ 
ter  resembled  silver ;  and  the  windings  or  the  meanders  of  the  pipes  were 
like  the  coils  and  turnings  of  serpents.”  In  the  fortress  of  Cusco  was  “a 
fountain  of  excellent  water,  which  was  brought  at  a  far  distance  under 
ground,  but  where  and  from  whence  the  Indians  do  not  know  ;  for  such 
secrets  as  these  were  always  reserved  from  common  knowledge  in  the 
breasts  of  the  inca  and  of  his  counsel.”  The  lake  Chinchiru  near  Cusco, 
contained  good  water,  and  “  by  the  munificence  of  the  inca  was  fur¬ 
nished  with  several  pipes  and  aqueducts,”  to  convey  water  into  lower 
grounds,  which  were  used  till  -rendered  useless  by  neglect  of  the  Span¬ 
iards.  “  Afterwards,  in  the  year  1555  and  56,  they  were  repaired  by  my 
lord  and  father  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  he  being  the  mayor  of  that  city,  and 
in  that  condition  I  left  them.” 

In  describing  the  temple  and  gardens  at  Cusco,  he  observes,  “  there 
were  five  fountains  of  water,  which  ran  from  divers  places  through  pipes 
of  gold.  The  cisterns  were  some  of  stone,  and  others  of  gold  and  silver, 
in  which  they  washed  their  sacrifices,  as  the  solemnity  of  the  festival  ap¬ 
pointed.  In  my  time  there  was  but  one  of  these  fountains  remaining, 
which  served  the  garden  of  a  convent  with  water ;  the  others  were  lost, 
either  for  want  of  drawing  or  cleansing,  and  this  is  very  probable,  be¬ 
cause,  to  my  knowledge,  that  which  belonged  to  the  convent  was  lost  for 
six  or  seven  months,  for  want  of  which  water  the  whole  garden  was  dried 
up  and  withered,  to  the  great  lamentation  of  the  convent  and  the  whole 
city  ;  nor  could  any  Indian  understand  how  that  water  came  to  fail,  or  to 
what  place  it  took  its  course.  At  length  they  came  to  find  that  on  the 
west  side  of  the  convent  the  water  took  its  course  under  ground,  and 
fell  into  the  brook  which  passes  through  the  city  ;  which  in  the  times  of 
the  incas  had  its  banks  kept  up  with  stones,  and  the  bottom  well  paved, 
that  the  earth  might-not  fall  in;  the  which  work  was  continued  through 
the  whole  city,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  league  without ;  which  now  by  the 
carelessness  and  sloth  of  the  Spaniards  is  broken,  and  the  pavement  dis¬ 
placed  ;  for  though  the  spring  commonly  yields  not  water  very  plentiful¬ 
ly,  yet  sometimes  it  rises  on  a  sudden  and  makes  such  an  incredible  inun¬ 
dation  that  the  force  of  the  current  hath  disordered  the  channel  and  the 
bottoms.” 

“  In  the  year  1558  there  happened  a  great  eruption  of  water  from  this 
fountain,  which  broke  the  main  pipe  and  the  channel,  so  that  the  fury  of 
the  torrent  took  another  course  and  left  the  garden  dry ;  and  now  by  that 
abundance  of  rubbish  and  sullage  which  comes  from  the  city,  the  channel 
is  filled  up,  and  not  so  much  as  any  mark  or  signal  thereof  remains.  The 
friars,  though  at  length  they  used  all  the  diligence  imaginable,  yet  they 
could  not  find  the  ancient  channel,  and  to  trace  it  from  the  fountain  head 
by  way  of  the  pipes,  it  was  an  immense  work,  for  they  were  to  dig 
through  houses  and  deep  conveyances  under  ground,  to  come  at  it,  for  the 
head  of  the  spring  was  high.  Nor  could  any  Indian  be  found  that  could 
give  any  direction  herein,  which  discouraged  them  in  their  work,  and  in 
the  recovery  of  the  others  which  anciently  belonged  to  the  temple. 
Hence  we  may  observe  the  ignorance  and  inadvertisement  of  those  In¬ 
dians,  and  how  little  the  benefit  of  tradition  availed  amongst  them ;  for 


Chap.  18.] 


'Peruvian  works  in  Metals. 


171 


though  it  be  only  forty-two  years  at  this  day  since  those  waters  forsook 
their  course  ;  yet  neither  the  loss  of  so  necessary  a  provision  as  water, 
which  was  the  refreshment  of  their  lives,  nor  of  that  stream  which  sup¬ 
plied  the  temple  of  the  sun,  their  god,  could  by  nature  or  religion  con¬ 
serve  in  them  the  memory  of  so  remarkable  a  particular.  The  truth  is, 
that  it  is  probable  that  the  undertakers  or  master- workmen  of  those  water 
works  did  communicate  or  make  known  to  the  priests  only,  the  secret  con¬ 
veyances  of  those  waters ;  esteeming  every  thing  which  belonged  to  the 
honor  and  service  of  the  temple  to  be  sacred,  that  it  was  not  to  be  re¬ 
vealed  to  common  ears,  and  for  this  reason  perhaps  the  knowledge  of  those 
waters  might  dye  and  end  with  the  order  of  priests.” 

“  At  the  end  of  six  or  seven  months  after  it  was  lost,  it  happened  that 
some  Indian  boys  playing  about  the  stream,  discovered  an  eruption  of  wa¬ 
ter  from  the  broken  pipe ;  of  which  they  acquainting  one  the  other,  at 
length  it  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Spaniards,  who,  judging  it  to  be 
the  water  of  the  convent  that  had  been  lost  and  diverted  from  its  former 
course,  gave  information  thereof  unto  the  friars,  who  joyfully  received 
the  good  news,  and  immediately  labored  to  bring  it  again  into  direct 
conveyance,  and  conduct  it  to  their  garden.  The  truth  is,  the  pipes  lying 
very  deep  were  buried  with  earth,  so  that  it  cost  much  labor  and  pains  to 
to  reduce  it  to  its  right  channel ;  and  yet  they  were  not  so  curious  or  in¬ 
dustrious  as  to  trace  the  fountain  to  the  spring  head.  That  garden  which 
now  supplies  the  convent  with  herbs  and  plants,  was  the  garden  which  in 
the  times  of  the  incas  belonged  to  their  palace,  called  the  garden  of  gold 
and  silver  ;  because,  that  in  it  were  herbs  and  flowers  of  all  sorts,  lower 
plants  and  shrubs,  and  taller  trees,  made  all  of  gold  and  silver  ;  together 
with  all  sorts  of  wild  beasts  and  tame,  which  were  accounted  rare  and 
unusual.  There  were  also  strange  insects,  and  creeping  things,  as  snakes, 
serpents,  lizards,  camelions,  butterflies,  and  snails ;  also  all  sorts  of  strange 
birds,  and  every  thing  disposed,  and  in  its  proper  placb  with  great  care, 
and  imitated  with  much  curiosity,  like  the  nature  and  original  of  that  it 
represented.  There  was  also  a  mayzall,  which  bears  the  Indian  wheat  of 
an  extraordinary  bigness,  the  seed  whereof  they  call  quinia.  Likewise 
plants  which  produce  lesser  seeds,  and  trees  bearing  their  several  sorts  of 
fruit,  all  made  of  gold  and  silver,  and  excellently  representing  them  in 
their  natural  shapes.  In  the  palace  also,  they  had  heaps  or  piles  of  billets 
and  faggots  made  of  gold  and  silver,  rarely  well  counterfeited.  And  for 
the  greater  adornment  and  majesty  of  the  temple  of  their  god  the  sun, 
they  had  cast  vast  figures  in  the  forms  of  men  and  women  and  children, 
which  they  laid  up  in  %nagazines  or  large  chambers,  called  pirra ;  and 
every  year,  at  the  principal  feasts,  the  people  presented  great  quantities 
of  gold  and  silver,  which  were  all  employed  in  the  adornment  of  the  tem¬ 
ple.  And  those  goldsmiths  whose  art  and  labor  was  dedicated  to  the  sun, 
attended  to  no  other  work,  than  daily  to  make  new  inventions  of  rare  work¬ 
manship  out  of  those  metals.  In  short  they  made  all  sorts  of  vessels  or 
utensils  belonging  to  the  temple,  of  gold  and  silver,  such  as  pots,  and  pans, 
and  pails,  and  fire  shovels,  and  tongs,  and  every  thing  else  of  use  and  ser¬ 
vice,  even  their  very  spades  and  rakes  of  the  garden  were  made  of  the 
like  metal.”a 

Tl  he  author  of  1  Italy,  with  sketches  of  Spain  and  Portugal,’  Phil. 
1834,  enumerating  some  of  the  curiosities  in  the  museum  of  Madrid,  re- 

a  The  mission  of  Messrs.  James,  Bowdich  and  Hutchinson,  sent  by  the  British  go 
L®fr?ent  t0  ^ f°un(l  hie  king  and  all  his  attendants  literally  oppressed  with  em 
bellishments  of  solid  gold,  with  which  their  persons  were  nearly  covered.  ‘  Even  the 
most  common  utensils  were  composed  of  that  metal.’ 


J72 


Original  Inhabitants  of  Peru. 


[Book  1 


marks :  “  what  pleased  me  most,  was  a  collection  of  Peruvian  vases  ;  a 
polished  stone  which  served  the  incas  for  a  mirror ;  and  a  linen  mantle, 
which  formerly  adorned  their  copper  colored  shoulders,  as  finely  woven 
as  a  shawl,  and  flowered  in  very  nearly  a  similar  manner ;  the  colors  as 
fresh  and  vivid  as  if  new.”  Yol.  ii,  211. 

It  is  difficult  after  perusing  the  history  of  this  interesting  people,  to  re¬ 
concile  the  state  of  the  arts  among  them  at  the  Spanish  invasion,  with  the 
opinion,  that  Manco  Capac  arrived  from  Asia  at  so  late  a  period  as  the 
12th  century.  If  he  was  the  enterprising  and  intelligent  man  that  he  is 
represented'  to  have  been,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  he  was,  it 
is  impossible  that  as  an  Asiatic ,  he  could  have  been  ignorant  of  the  saw, 
the  auger,  files,  of  fitting  wooden  handles  to  hammers,  of  nails,  scissors, 
the  crane,  windlass,  pulley,  the  arch,  iron,  &c  :  or  having  a  knowledge  of 
these  things,  that  he  should  not  have  introduced  them,  or  at  least  some  of 
them.  But  if  the  Peruvians  were  also  ignorant  of  the  swape,  noria, 
or  chain  of  pots,  the  objections  to  such  an  opinion  are  greatly  strengthen¬ 
ed.  From  what  part  of  the  eastern  world  could  such  a  man  have  come 
without  having  a  knowledge  of  these  machines,  and  yet  be  acquainted,  as 
he  was,  with  all  the  essential  features  of  oriental  agriculture  %  Machines 
too,  of  the  utmost  importance  in  Peru,  where  rain  was  generally  unknown, 
and  water  scarce  and  valuable  as  in  Egypt  itself — and  machines  more 
necessary  than  any  other,  in  furthering  the  objects  he  had  in  view 
While  a  doubt  remains  respecting  their  employment,  we  should  sup 
pose  that  he  really  was,  as  surmised  by  Garcilasso,  a  native,  who  by 
the  superiority  of  his  understanding,  and  by  a  subtile  deportment  (the  more 
effectually  to  carry  out  his  measures)  persuaded  the  people  that  he  came 
from  the  sun.  Indeed,  the  state  of  the  useful  arts  generally  among  them 
in  the  loth  century,  implies  that  they  had  not  had  any  permanent  connec¬ 
tion  with  Asiatics  for  many  ages  ;  but  that  they  were  gradually  recovering 
a  knowledge  of  the  arts,  which  in  very  remote  times  had  been  practised 
by  nations  then  extinct ;  and  hence  the  paucity  of  their  tools  and  the 
peculiarity  of  some  of  their  devices,  as  their  quippus  or  historical  cords, 
their  modes  of  computation,  &c.  Moreover,  neither  the  Mexicans  nor 
Peruvians  had  reduced  the  lower  animals  to  subjection,  at  any  rate  not 
for  agricultural  purposes ;  and  though  they  had  neither  the  horse,  the  ass, 
nor  ox  ;  yet  the  former  had  the  buffalo,  an  animal  that  has  been  used 
from  the  remotest  ages  to  plough  the  soil.  This  circumstance  alone  is 
sufficient  to  show  that  they  did  not  derive  their  knowledge  of  agriculture 
from  Asia,  within  the  time  generally  supposed,  if  at  all. 

Who  can  reflect  on  the  civilized  people,  that  in  remote  ages  inhabited 
these  continents,  without  mourning  over  their  extinction,  and  the  loss  of 
every  record  respecting  them  1  A  people,  whose  very  existence  would 
have  been  unknown,  had  not  some  relics  of  their  labors  (like  the  organic 
remains  of  animals  whose  species  are  extinct)  yet  resisted  the  corroding 
effects  of  time.  When  we  examine  the  ruins  of  their  temples,  their  cities, 
and  other  monuments  of  their  progress  in  the  arts,  our  disappointment 
amounts  to  distress,  that  the  veil  which  conceals  them,  is  not,  and  perhaps 
cannot  be  removed.  Strange  as  it  may  appear,  we  are  almost  as  ignorant 
of  the  mysterious  Palenque,  and  hundreds  of  other  cities,  equally  and 
some  of  them  perhaps  much  more  ancient — as  of  the  builders  of  Babel — • 
and  we  know  about  as  little  of  their  early  inhabitants  as  if  they  had  been 
located  on  another  planet. 


END  OF  THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


BOOK  II. 


\ 


MACHINES  FOR  RAISING  WATER  BY  THE  PRESSURE  OF  THE 

ATMOSPHERE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

on  machines  that  raise  water  by  atmospheric  pressure— Principle  of  their  action  formerly  unknown— 
Suction  a  chimera— Ascent  of  water  in  pumps  incomprehensible  without  a  knowledge  of  atmospherie 
pressure— Phenomena  in  the  organization,  habits,  and  motions  of  animals— Rotation  of  the  atmosphere 
with  the  earth— Air  tangible— Compressible— Expansible— Elastic— Air  beds— Ancient  beds  and  bed¬ 
steads— Weight  of  air— Its  pressure— Examples— American  Indians  and  the  air  pump— Boa  Constrictor 
—Swallowing  oysters— Shooting  bullets  by  the  rarefaction  of  air— Boy’s  sucker— Suspension  of  Hies 
against  gravity  Lizards  Frogs — Walrus — Connection  between  all  departments  of  knowledge — Suck 
ing  fish— Remora— Lampreys— Dampier— Christopher  Columbus  at  St.  Domingo — Ferdinand  Columbus 
—Ancient  fable— Sudden  expansion  of  air  bursting  the  bladders  of  fish— Pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on 
liquids. 

With  the  last  chapter  we  concluded  our  remarks  on  machines  em¬ 
braced  in  the  first  general  division  of  the  subject,  (see  page  8)  and  now 
proceed  to  those  of  the  second  ;  viz.  such  as  raise  water  by  means  of  the 
weight  or  pressure  of  the  atmosphere.  These  form  a  very  interesting 
class — they  are  genuine  philosophical  instruments,  and  as  such  may  serve 
to  exhibit  and  illustrate  some  of  the  most  important  truths  of  natural  phi¬ 
losophy.  The  principle  upon  which  their  action  depends  was  formerly  un¬ 
known,  and  even  now,  a  person,  however  ingenious,  while  ignorant  of  the 
nature  and  properties  of  the  atmosphere,  would  be  utterly  unable  to  ac¬ 
count  for  the  ascent  of  water  in  them.  Having  no  idea  of  the  cause  of 
this  ascent,  except  the  vague  one  of  suction,  he  would  feel  greatly  embar¬ 
rassed  if  required  to  explain  it.  And  when  informed  that  there  really  is 
no  such  thing  in  nature  as  suction,  but  that  it  is  a  mere  chimera,  having  no 
existence  except  in  the  imagination,  the  task  would  be  attended  with  in¬ 
superable  difficulties.  Perhaps  he  would  have  recourse  to  a  common 
pump,  to  trace,  if  possible,  the  operation  in  detail ;  if  so,  he  would  natural- 
ly  begin  with  the  first  mover,  or  the  pump  handle,  and  would  look  for 
some  medium,  by  which  motion  is  transmitted  from  it,  to  the  water  in  the 
well  ;  but,  however  close  the  scrutiny  might  be  made,  he  would  be  una¬ 
ble  to  detect  any ;  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  while  a  connection  between 
them,  i.  e.  between  the  mover  and  the  object  moved,  could  not  be  discov¬ 
ered,  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  satisfactorily  to  account  for  the  phe¬ 
nomenon.  If  “a  body  cannot  act  where  it  is  not  present,”  as  the  sucker 
of  a  pump,  on  water  at  a  distance  from  it,  how  could  such  a  person  ac- 
count  foi  the  ascent  of  that  water  in  obedience  to  the  movements  of  the 
sucker?  And  how  could  he  explain  the  process  by  which  it  was  effected, 


174 


Ascent  of  Water  in  Pumps  incomprehensible  [Book  IL 

while  he  could  find  no  apparent  communication  between  them  \  The  fact  is 
it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  point  out  any  closer  connection  between 
the  pump  rod  and  the  water  in  the  well,  than  between  a  walking  cane  in 
the  hands  of  a  pedestrian,  and  water  under  the  surface  of  the  ground 
over  which  he  stepped  ;  nor  could  he  assign  a  conclusive  reason,  why  the 
liquid  should  not  ascend  and  accompany  the  movements  of  the  latter  as 
well  as  of  the  former. 

He  could  perceive  no  obvious  or  adequate  cause  for  the  elevation  of 
water  through  the  pipe  of  a  pump,  there  being  no  apparent  force  applied 
to  it,  or  in  the  direction  of  its  ascent,  no  vessel  or  moveable  pallet  going 
down,  as  in  the  preceding  machines,  to  convey  or  urge  the  liquid  up — and 
hence  he  could  no  more  comprehend  how  the  movements  of  a  pump  box 
(sucker)  above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  should  induce  water  in  a  well 
to  rush  up  towards  it,  than  he  could  explain  how  the  waving  of  a  magi¬ 
cian’s  wand  should  cause  spirits  to  appear. 

Long  familiarity  with  the  atmospheric  pump,  makes  it  hard  for  us,  at  the 
present  day,  to  realize  the  difficulties  formerly  experienced  in  accounting 
for  the  ascent  of  water  in  it.  Suppose  the  cause  yet  unknown  and  un¬ 
thought  of — it  certainly  would  puzzle  us  to  explain  how  a  piece  of  leath¬ 
er  (the  sucker)  moving  up  and  down  in  a  vertical  tube,  whose  lower  ori¬ 
fice  is  in  water,  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  below  it,  should  conjure 
that  water  up.  Such  a  result  is  opposed  to  all  experience  and  observa¬ 
tion  in  other  departments  of  the  arts ;  nor  is  there  any  thing  like  it,  in  the 
machines  we  have  examined  in  the  preceding  book.  The  mechanism  by 
which  motion  is  transmitted  from  them  to  the  water,  is  obvious  to  the 
senses — a  tangible  medium  of  communication  is  established  between  the 
force  that  works  them  and  the  water  they  raise ;  whereas  in  the  pump,  an 
invisible  agent  is  excited,  whose  effects  are  as  surprising  as  its  mode  of 
operation  is  obscure.  ’Tis  true,  a  tube  (the  pump  pipe)  is  continued  from 
the  place  where  the  sucker  moves  to  the  water,  but  it  remains  at  rest,  or 
is  immoveable,  and  therefore  cannot  transmit  motion  from  one  to  the  other; 
it  is  merely  a  channel  through  which  the  water  may  rise — it  does  not 
raise  it. 

But  if,  in  order  to  establish  a  connection  between  the  sucker  and  water, 
the  former  were  made  to  descend  through  the  pump  into  the  latter,  still 
the  difficulty  would  not  be  overcome.  The  sucker  in  that  case  would  act 
much  like  one  of  those  buckets,  used  in  some  wells,  which  has  an  opening 
in  its  bottom  to  admit  the  water,  and  covered  by  a  flap  to  prevent  its 
return.  (The  sucker  is  in  fact,  merely  a  small  bucket  of  this  kind,  and  is 
so  named  in  some  countries.)  In  both  cases  the  water  would  be  raised 
which  entered  through  the  valves — the  bucket  would  bring  up  all  it  con¬ 
tained,  and  the  sucker  all  that  passed  through  it  into  the  pump ;  so  far  the 
operation  of  both  is  clear,  and  as  regards  the  raising  of  the  water  above 
the  valves,  would  be  the  same  ;  but  it  is  the  ascent  of  a  column  of  water 
behind,  the  sucker  that  requires  explanation — a  liquid  column  that  follows 
it  as  closely  through  every  turn  of  the  tube,  as  if  it  were  a  rope,  having 
its  fibres  at  one  end  fastened  to  the  sucker  and  pulled  up  by  it.  What 
is  it  that  makes  this  water  ascend  against  a  law  of  its  nature — against 
gravity  1  Were  the  cohesion  of  its  particles  such  that  it  could  be  raised 
by  a  force  applied  only  to  its  upper  end,  then  indeed  the  difficulty  would  be 
diminished ;  but  in  that  case,  it  would  follow  that  a  similar  column  would 
ascend  after  a  bucket  when  drawn  out  of  an  open  well  ;  and  further,  that 
a  traveler  might  then  make  use  of  a  liquid  walking  stick,  to  assist  him  in 
his  journeying. 

Baffled  thus  in  our  attempts  to  find  a  solution  here,  we  perhaps  would 


Chap.  1.]  Without  a  knowledge  of  Atmospheric  Pressure.  175 

begin  to  think,  that  when  a  liquid  is  raised  in  the  pipe  of  a  pump,  it  must 
be  try  some  force  acting  below,  or  behind  it,  a  force  a  ter  go,  as  it  is  named, 
andot  which  all  the  preceding  machines  are  examples.  Thu?  when  a 
bucket  of  water  is  raised  from  a  well,  the  force  is  applied  oehind  it 
i.e.  to  t.ie  bottom  of  the  bucket,  through  the  cord,  bale,  and  sides,  to  which 
it  is  attached.  It  is  the  same  in  the  screw,  the  force  continually  elevating 
a  portion  of  it  immediately  behind  the  water ;  and  in  the  tympanum,  no"- 
ria,  chain  of  pots,  chain  pump,  &c.  it  is  the  same;  the  vessels  or  pallets 
go  below,  1.  e.  behind  the  liquid  and  urge  it  up  before  them.  It  is  the  same 
in  all  ordinary  motions.  I  wish  to  examine  a  small  object  laying  at  the 
foot  of  my  garden  :  now  I  cannot  by  moving  this  ruler  in  its  direction,  in 
the  manner  of  a  pump  rod,  induce  it  to  move  to  me,  nor  can  it  ever  be  so 
moved,  until  the  force  of  some  other  body  in  motion  behind  it  impel  it  to¬ 
wards  me.  It  is  the  same  in  the  case  of  a  stubborn  boy,  who  not  only  re¬ 
fuses  to  move  as  directed,  but  opposes  the  natural  ihertia  of'  his  body  to 
the  change,  and  therefore  can  only  be  impelled  forward  by  some  force  ap¬ 
plied  directly  or  indirectly  behind  him,  by  dragging  or  pushing  him  along. 
In  this  way,  all  the  motions  in  the  universe,  according  to  some  philoso¬ 
phers,  are  imparted  or  transferred;  those  which  appear  exceptions  bein«- 
considered  modifications  of  it.  Still  however,  the  difficulty  of  establishing 
a  connection  between  the  movements  of  the  sucker  in  the  interior  of  the 
pump  at  one  end,  and  this  force,  whatever  it  might  be,  acting  on  the  wa¬ 
ter,  outside  of  it,  at  the  opposite  end,  would  remain ;  and  we  should  prob¬ 
ably  at  last  impute  this  ascent  of  water  (with  the  ancients)  to  some  inde¬ 
finable  energy  of  nature,  both  fallacious  and  absurd  ;  nor  would  this  be 
surprising,,  for  in  the  absence  of  a  knowledge  of  the  atmosphere  and  of 
its  properties,  there  really  is  as  great  a  mystery  in  the  movements  of  a 
pump  rod  being  followed  by  the  ascent  of  the  liquid,  as  in  any  thing  ever 
attributed  to  the  divining  rod,  or  to  the  wand  of  Abaris. 

In  order  to  understand  the  operation  of  machines  belonging  to  this  part 
of  the  subject,  and  also  the  principle  upon  which  their  action  depends,  we 
must  leave,  for  a  few  moments,  the  consideration  of  pumps  and  pipes,  and  all 
the  contrivances  of  man,  and  turn  our  attention  to  some  of  the  Creator’s  works 
as  they  are  exhibited  in  nature.  This  may  perhaps  be  deemed  a  depar¬ 
ture  from  the  subject ;  it  is  however  so  far  from  being  a  digression,  that  it 
is  essentially  necessary  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  water  ascending  in  this 
class  of  machines,  as  well  as  to  understand  the  philosophy  of  numerous 
natural  as  well  as  artificial  operations,  that  are  performed  by  apparatus 
analogous  to  them  ;  as  the  acts  of  inspiration  and  respiration,  quadrupeds 
drinking,  the  young  of  animals  sucking  their  dams,  children  drawing  nour¬ 
ishment  from  their  mothers’  breasts :  bleeding  by  cupping,  by  leeches, 
or  by  the  more  delicate  apparatus  of  a  musketoe’s  proboscis ;  and  if 
things  ignoble  may  be  named,  the  taking  of  snuff,  smoking  of  cigars  and 
pipes  of  tobacco,  and  also  the  experiments  of  those  peripatetic  philosophers, 
who  perambulate  our  wharves,  and  imbibe  nectar  through  straws  from 
hogsheads  of  rum  and  molasses. 

Every  person  is  aware,  that  the  earth  on  which  we  live  is  of  a  globular 
or  spheroidal  figure,  and  that  it  is  enveloped  in  an  invisible  ocean  of  air  or 
mis,  which  extends  for  a  great  number  of  miles  from  every  part  of  its  sur¬ 
face.  1  his  hollow  sphere  of  air  is  named  the  atmosphere,  and  is  one  of 
the  most  essential  parts  in  the  economy  of  nature.  It  is  the  source  as 
we  as  t  e  t  eatre  of  those  sublime  meteorological  phenomena  which  we 
constant  y  e  lold  and  admire.  It  is  necessary  to  animal  and  to  vegetable 
life,  its  material  is  the  ‘  breath  of  life’  to  all  things  living.  It  is  more- 
*ver  C  ie  Pecul‘ar  element  of  land  animals,  the  scene  of  their  actions,  the 


176 


Compressibility  and  Dilatability  of  Air. 


"Book  II. 

h. 


fluid  ocean  in  which  they  only  can  move,  and  within  which  they  are  al¬ 
ways  immersed.  It  is  to  them,  what  the  sea  is  to  fish  :  remove  them  from 
it,  and  they  necessarily  die.  In  some  respects  nature  has  been  more  fa¬ 
vorable  to  fishes  than  to  us  :  most  of  them  can  ascend  to  the  surface  of 
the  fluid  in  which  they  live,  but  we  can  only  exist  in  the  lowest  depths  of 
the  atmospheric  ocean  that  confines  us  :  if  we  ascend  but  a  little,  our 
energies  begin  to  fail,  and  we  are  compelled  to  descend  to  the  bottom,  the 
place  she  designed  us  to  occupy. 

Possibly,  some  people  may  suppose  that  the  velocity  with  which  the 
earth  shoots  forward  in  her  orbit,  might  sometimes  cause  this  atmosphere 
(which  hangs  as  a  mantle  so  loosely  about  her)  to  be  left  floating,  like  the 
tail  of  a  comet,  behind;  or  be  entirely  separated  from  her,  like  the  cloud  of 
vapor  which  the  impetuous  ball  leaves  at  the  cannon’s  mouth.  Such  how¬ 
ever  is  not  the  fact ;  on  the  contrary,  it  revolves  uniformly  with  the  earth 
on  the  axis  of  the  latter,  and  accompanies  her,  as  a  part  of  herself,  round 
the  sun.  Were  it  indeed  separated  from  her,  but  for  a  moment,  either  by 
an  increase  or  diminution  of  her  velocity,  the  present  organization  of  na¬ 
ture  would  be  destroyed  ;  every  mountain  would  be  hurled  from  its  base  ; 
every  house  on  the  globe  would  be  leveled  ;  and  no  human  being  could 
survive.  Had  the  atmosphere  not  a  rotatory  motion  also,  in  common 
with  that  of  the  earth,  i.  e.  of  the  same  velocity  and  in  the  same  direction, 
a  very  different  state  of  things,  as  regards  the  arts,  would  have  subsisted 
than  those  which  we  behold.  For  example,  aerial  navigation  would  cer¬ 
tainly  have  superseded  nearly  all  traveling  by  land  and  water ;  and  rail¬ 
roads,  and  locomotive  carriages,  and  steamboats,  would  hardly  have  been 
known  ;  for  the  project  of  that  individual  who  proposed  to  visit  distant 
countries,  by  merely  ascending  in  a  balloon,  till  the  rotation  of  the  earth 
on  its  axis  brought  them  under  him,  when  he  intended  to  descend,  would 
have  been  no  visionary  scheme. 

The  air  is  tangible. — Although  the  substance  of  the  atmosphere  is  not 
visible,  it  is  tangible  ;  we  feel  it  when  in  motion  as  wind,  whether  it  be 
gently  disturbed  as  in  the  evening  breeze,  or  by  the  slight  waving  of  a 
lady’s  fan;  or  when  greatly  excited,  as  in  the  hurricane,  or  the  violent  blast 
from  a  bellows’  mouth.  We  also  see  its  effects  when  thus  in  motion,  in 
the  direction  of  smoke,  extinction  of  our  tapers,  slamming  of  doors,  in  the 
beautiful  waving  of  grass,  and  of  the  full  eared  grain  of  the  fields ;  trees 
yielding  to  its  impulse,  buildings  unroofed,  and  sometimes  in  the  prostra¬ 
tion  of  large  tracts  of  forests';  in  windmills,  sailing  of  ships,  and  the  con¬ 
vulsions  into  which  it  throws  the  otherwise  placid  ocean. 

Air  is  compressible. — Indeed  compressibility  and  expansibility  are  pro¬ 
perties  of  all  bodies ;  by  the  abstraction  of  heat,  airs  are  compressed  into 
liquids,  and  liquids  into  solids,  while  an  increase  of  temperature  expands 
solids  into  liquids,  and  these  into  airs.  In  the  common  air  gun,  four  or  five 
gallons  of  the  dense  air  around  us  are  compressed  into  a  pint,  and  by 
further  pressure  they  may  be  squeezed  into  a  few  drops  of  liquid,  which 
a  tea  spoon  might  contain. 

Its  expansibility  or  dilatability  is,  so  far  as  known,  illimitable  ;  the  space 
it  occupies  being  always  in  proportion  to  the  pressure  that  confines  it.  If 
a  collapsed  and  apparently  empty  bladder  be  placed  under  a  receiver, 
and  the  air  around  its  exterior  be  removed,  the  small  portion  within  will 
expand  and  swell  it  out  to  its  natural  shape.  If  it  were  possible  to  with¬ 
draw  the  whole  of  the  air  from  this  room,  and  a  globule  no  larger  than  a  pea 
were  then  admitted,  it  would  instantly  dilate  and  fill  the  room.  The  upper 
strata  of  the  atmosphere  decrease  in  density  as  they  recede  from  the 
earth’s  surface,  on  account  of  the  diminution  of  the  pressure  from  super- 


Air  Beds. 


177 


Chap.  l.J 


incumbent  strata,  and  thus  at  a  certain  height  this  small  globule  of  air 
would  occupy  a  space  equal  to  the  earth  itself!  And  at  the  height  of  four 
or  hve  hundred  miles,  it  has  been  calculated,  that  less  than  a  teacup  full 
of  the  am  we  breathe,  w°uld  fin  a  sphere  equal  in  diameter  to  the  very 
orbti  of  Saturn  .  The  efficiency  of  the  air  pump  in  producing  a  vacuum 
depends  entirely  on  this  property. 

Air  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  whose  elevation  is  between  three  and 
lour  miles,  occupies  twice  the  space  when  carried  to  the  top.  A  quart  of 
it  taken  from  the  summit  would  be  reduced  to  a  pint  if  conveyed  to  the 
bottom.  From  this  expansive  power  of  air  arises  its  elasticity.  This  is 
familiar  to  most  people  ;  for  when  confined  in  flexible  vessels,  as  air  beds 
pillows,  life  preservers,  &c.  as  soon  as  any  weight  or  pressure  imping¬ 
ing  upon  them  is  removed,  the  elasticity  of  the  confined  fluid  pushes  up 
t  e  depressed  part  as  before.  If  air  within  a  bladder  were  not  elastic  the 
impressions  made  by  the  fingers  in  handling  it  would  remain  as  in  a  ball 
of  paste,  and  air  beds  would  retain  the  form  of  bodies  that  reposed  upon 
them,  like  a  founder’s  mould  of  sand  or  plaster.*  Those  extremely  light 


*  Air  be,ds  are  some  persons  suppose,  of  modern  origin.  They  were  known 

between  three  and  four  hundred  years  ago,  as  appears  from  the  annexed  cut,  (No.  68  ) 
copied  from  some  figures  attached  to  the  first  German  translation  of  Vegetius,  A  D 

P11;.  11  ^presents  soldiers  reposing  on  them  in  time  of  war,  with  the  mode  of  infla- 
tmg  them  by  bellows. 


_  wo.  /uicieDi  Air  uea. 

am use^ hi msdf  *w Uh° t he 'g u^s^he invite d^o'h”  1°  ^  Ro“aM-  Hehogabalus  used  tc 
or  beds,  “full  of  wind^whSh  du  by  seating  them  on  large  bags 

ground.  ’  hKh  bemg  made  sudden'y  t0  collapse,  threw  the  guests  on  the 


Dr.  Arnott,  the  author  of  ‘  F.Iempnta  nf  „  r 

static  beds,’  especially  for  invalid^  Thlki 7  ’  a  fewrars  ago,  proposed  ‘  Hydro 

cloth,  and  filled  with  loater  instead  of  L  -Ca5?CI°TTS  bags’  forJned  of  india-rubber 1 

mattress  is  laid,  and  then  the  ordin  irv  p  UPon  °ne  these  a  soft  and  thin 

men  me  ordinary  coverings.  A  person  floats  on  these  beds  as  on 

23 


178 


Pressure 


[Book  IT. 


balls  of  caoutchouc,  which  of  late  years  have  been  introduced  as  parlor 
toys  for  children,  rebound  from  the  objects  they  strike  by  the  spring  of 
the  air  they  contain.  In  the  boy’s  pop  gun,  that  is  formed  of  a  quill,  the 
tiny  pellet  is  sent  on  its  harmless  errand  by  the  elastic  energy  of  the  com¬ 
pressed  fluid.  And  in  the  air  gun,  it  is  the  elasticity  of  the  same  fluid 
that  projects  balls  with  the  force  of  gunpowder.  If  it  were  not  elastic, 
people  when  fanning  themselves  would  feel  it  thrown  against  their  per¬ 
sons  like  water  or  sand.  The  act  of  inhaling  it  would  be  painful,  for  it 
would  enter  the  chest  by  gluts,  while  its  pulsations  in  sound  would  quickly 
destroy  the  membranes  of  the  ear. 

Perhaps  nothing  is  better  calculated  to  expand  our  ideas  of  the  proper¬ 
ties  of  matter,  and  of  the  wonders  of  creation,  than  the  compressibility 
and  dilatability  of  air.  From  the  last  named  quality,  it  is  probable  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  in  nature  as  an  absolute  vacuum  ;  and  the  best  of 
our  air  pumps  can  scarcely  be  said  to  make  even  a  rude  approximation 
to  one  !  Those,  whose  knowledge  of  nature  is  confined  to  impressions 
which  things  make  on  their  senses,  may  suppose  that  the  extremes  of  so¬ 
lidity  may  be  found  in  a  pig  of  lead  and  a  bale  of  spunge ;  although  the 
former  is,  in  all  probability,  as  full  of  interstices  as  the  latter  ;  and  such 
persons  could  with  difficulty  be  made  to  believe,  that  the  entire  mass  of 
matter  (air)  which  Jills  a  space  so  immeasurably  large  as  to  baffle  all  cal¬ 
culation  could  be  compressed  into  a  lady’s  thimble,  and  even  squeezed  in¬ 
to  a  liquid  drop,  so  minute,  as  scarcely  to  be  perceived  at  the  end  of  a 
needle. 

Like  all  other  matter  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  air  has  weight. 
This  property  is  not  naturally  evident  to  our  senses,  but  it  may  easily  be 
rendered  so.  By  accurately  weighing  a  bladder  when  filled  with  air  and 
afterwards  when  empty,  it  will  be  found  heavier  when  full.  This  was 
an  experiment  of  the  ancients,  but  the  moderns  have  ascertained  its  de¬ 
finite  weight.  A  cubic  foot  of  it,  near  the  earth's  surface ,  weighs  about 
lj  ounces  or  part  that  of  water,  a  cubic  foot  of  the  latter  weighing 
1000  ounces  ;  hence  the  expression  “  water  is  800  times  heaver  than  air.” 
The  aggregate  weight  of  the  atmosphere  has  been  calculated  at  up¬ 
wards  of  77  billions  of  tons,  being  equivalent  to  a  solid  globe  of  lead  60 
miles  in  diameter ;  hence  its  pressure ,  for  this  enormous  weight  reposes 
incessantly  upon  the  earth’s  surface,  and  upon  every  object,  animate  or 
inanimate,  solid,  liquid,  or  aeriform.  The  pressure  it  thus  exerts,  (in  all 
places  that  are  not  greatly  elevated  above  the  level  of  the  sea)  is  equal  to 
to  about  15  lbs.  on  every  superficial  square  inch.  Thus  an  ordinary  sized 
person  exposes  so  large  a  surface  to  its  influence,  that  the  aggregate 


water  alone,  for  the  liquid  in  the  bag  adapts  itself  to  the*uneven  surface  of  the  body,  and 
supports  every  part  reposing  upon  it,  with  a  uniform  pressure.  Water  beds  were  how¬ 
ever  known  to  the  ancients,  for  Plutarch  (in  his  life  of  Alexander)  states  that  the  people 
in  the  province  of  Babylon  slept  during  the  hot  months,  “  on  skins  filled  with  water.” 

The  luxury  of  the  ancients  with  regard  to  beds  was  carried  to  a  surprising  ex¬ 
tent.  They  were  of  down,  of  the  wool  of  Miletus,  and  sometimes  stuffed  with  pea 
cock’s  feathers.  The  Romans  had  linen  sheets,  white  as  snow,  and  quilts  of  tieedle 
work,  and  sometimes  of  cloth  of  gold.  Bedsteads  among  the  rich  Greeks  and  Romans 
were  sometimes  of  ivory,  of  ebony,  and  other  rich  woods,  with  inlaid  work,  and  figures 
in  relief.  Some  were  of  massive  silver,  and  even  of  gold,  with  feet  of  onyx.  They 
had  them  also  of  iron.  One  of  that  material  was  found  in  Pompeii.  The  earliest  me¬ 
tallic  bedstead  mentioned  in  history  is  that  of  Og,  king  of  Bashan.  The  Persians  had 
slaves  expressly  for  bed  making,  and  the  art  became  famous  in  Rome.  Golden  beds 
often  formed  part  of  the  plunder  which  the  generals  exhibited  at  their  triumphs.  The 
Athenians  put  Timagoras  their  ambassador  to  Persia  to  death,  for  accepting  presents 
from  die  king,  among  which  was  a  “  magnificent  bed  with  servants  to  make  it."  Plu¬ 
tarch  in  Pelopulas. 


179 


^hap.  1.]  of  the  Atmosphere. 

pressure  which  his  body  sustains  is  not  less  than  14  or  15  tons.  “Not  less 
than  what  1”  once  exclaimed  an  elderly  and  corpulent  lady.  “  Why  how 
can  that  be  1  We  could  neither  talk,  nor  walk,  nor  even  move  ;  and  be¬ 
sides,  sir,  if  that  is  the  case,  why  don’t  we  feel  it  1”  For  a  very  simple 
reason,  though  at  the  first  view  not  a  very  obvious  one.  Air,  as  a  fluid, 
presses  equally  in  every  direction — upwards  as  well  as  downwards — side¬ 
ways  and  every  way.  Its  oomponent  particles  are  so  inconceivably 
minute,  that  they  enter  all  substances,  even  liquids.  Air  is  mixed  up  and 
circulates  with  the  blood  of  all  animals;  it  penetrates  all  the  ramifications 
and  innermost  recesses  of  our  porous  bodies,  and  by  the  pressure  of  its 
superincumbent  strata  is  urged  through  them,  almost  as  freely  as  through 
the  fleece  of  wool  on  a  sheep’s  back,  or  between  the  fibres  and  threads 
of  a  ball  of  silk.  Now,  it  is  this  circulation  through  the  interior  of  our 
bodies  that  balances  its  pressure  without.  If  its  weight  upon  us  were  not 
thus  neutralized,  we  certainly  could  neither  talk  nor  walk  :  the  lips  of  the 
loudest  speaker,  when  once  closed,  could  never  be  opened.  We  should  be 
as  mute  and  immoveable  as  if  enclosed  in  statues  of  lead.  And  we  should 
feel  it,  too — that  is,  for  a  moment ;  for  it  would  as  effectually  crush  us  to 
death,  as  if  we  were  placed  in  mortars,  and  pestles,  each  weighing  14  or 
1 5  tons,  were  suddenly  dropped  upon  us. 

It  is  the  air  within  the  breast  of  the  mother  that  forces  milk  into  an 
infant’s  mouth,  when  the  latter,  by  instinct,  removes  the  external  pressure 
from  the  nipple  by  sucking.  It  is  the  same  with  all  mammiferous  animals. 
The  operation  of  cupping  is  another  illustration  of  the  same  thing :  the 
rarefaction  of  the  air  under' the  cup  produces  a  partial  vacuum  within  it; 
and  as  the  external  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  is  removed  from  that  part 
which  is  under  it,  the  internal  pressure  urges  the  blood  through  the 
wounds.  Were  cupping  instruments  applied  over  the  eyes,  those  organs 
would  be  protruded  from  their  sockets. 

As  it  is  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  upon  which  the  action  of  the 
machines  about  to  be  described  principally  depends,  we  shall  extend  our 
remarks  upon  it. 

Suppose  a  specimen  of  delicate  fillagrane  work,  formed  of  the  finest 
threads  and  plates,  and  of  the  human  form  and  size,  were  sunk  in  water  to 
the  depth  of  34  or  35  feet ;  it  would  then  be  exposed  to  the  same  degree 
of  pressure  to  which  our  bodies  are  subject  from  the  atmosphere ;  and 
when  drawn  up,  it  would  be  found  uninjured,  because  the  water  entering 
into  all  its  cavities,  pressed  just  as  much  against  its  interior  surfaces  as  the 
liquid  around  it  against  the  exterior.  But  if  it  were  enclosed  in  a  skin  or 
flexible  covering,  impervious  to  water,  and  then  sunk  as  before,  the  pres¬ 
sure  of  the  liquid  around  its  exterior  (not  being  balanced  by  any  within) 
would  crush  it  into  a  shapeless  mass.  Just  so  would  it  be  with  our 
bodies,  and  those  of  all  terrestrial  animals,  if  the  air  within  them  did  not 
counteract  the  pressure  without.  And  as  long  as  this  interior  circulation 
remains,  we  can  no  more  feel  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  than  a  fish 
feels  that  of  water  ;  nor  can  we  be  deranged  or  compressed  by  it,  any 
more  than  a  bundle  of  wool  is,  or  a  mass  of  entangled  wire.  It  .  was 
ignorance  of  this  simple  fact — air  in  the  interior  of  bodies  exactly  balancing 
the  exterior  pressure — that  led  the  ancients  astray,  and  induced  one  of  the 
most  sagacious  intellects  that  was  ever  clothed  in  humanity  (Aristotle)  to 
ascribe  this  pressure  to  “  nature’s  abhorrence  of  a  vacuum.” 

Since  the  invention  of  the  air-pump  in  1654,  numerous  experiments 
are  made,  which  demonstrate  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere.  By  it,  this 
pressure  may  be  removed  from  one  part  of  the  body,  while  it  is  left  free 
to  act  with  undimimshed  energy  on  the  opposite  part;  as  when  the  palm 


*80 


Illustrations 


[Book  II. 

of  the  hand  is  held  over  the  aperture  of  an  exhausted  receiver,  the  weight 
or  pressure  of  the  air  on  the  back  being  no  longer  balanced  by  its  action 
on  the  palm,  the  hand  is  irresistibly  held  to  the  vessel.  A  criminal  or 
maniac,  whose  hands  and  feet  are  thus  treated,  would  be  as  effectually 
secured  as  by  fetters  of  iron.  Few  things  are  better  calculated  to  excite 
wonder,  and  even  horror,  in  the  savage  mind,  than  a  part  of  the  body 
being  thus  rendered  helpless,  as  if  spell-bound  by  some  invisible  agent. 
A  few  years  ago,  an  experiment  was  made  with  the  chief  of  a  delegation 
of  Pottawatamies  to  the  seat  of  government,  at  which  the  writer  was 
present.  Although  the  interpreter  previously  endeavored  to  make  them 
understand  the  intended  operation,  it  will  readily  be  supposed  that  such 
an  attempt  must  necessarily  have  been  fruitless.  When  the  receiver  was 
exhausted,  he  was  amazed  to  find  his  hand  immoveable,  and  that,  like 
Jeroboam’s,  “  he  could  not  pull  it  in  again  to  him.”  In  his  endeavors  to 
free  it,  he  rapidly  uttered  the  characteristic  interjections,  ugh  !  ugh  !  and 
at  last  shrieked,  as  if  in  despair  of  being  delivered  from  the  power  of  the 
white  enchanter ;  when  his  attending  warriors  flourished  their  tomahawks 
and  rushed  to  his  rescue,  as  if  roused  by  the  war-whoop. 

It  is  not,  however,  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  the  air-pump,  for 
proofs  of  atmosphere  pressure.  Numerous  operations  daily  occur  in 
common  life  which  equally  establish  it.  When  a  person  washes  his 
hands,  if  he  lock  them  together  so  as  to  bring  the  palms  close  to  each 
other,  and  then  attempt  to  raise  the  central  parts  so  as  to  form  a  cavity 
between  them,  at  the  same  time  keeping  the  extremities  of  the  palms  in 
close  contact,  he  will  feel  the  atmospheric  pressure  very  sensibly  :  if  the 
experiment  be  made  under  water,  the  effect  will  be  more  obvious  still. 
Analogous  to  this  is  the  attempt  to  open  the  common  household  bellows 
when  the  valve  and  nozzle  are  closed.  The  boards  are  then  forced  open 
with  difficulty,  in  consequence  of  the  pressure  of  the  air  on  their  exterior 
not  being  balanced  by  its  admission  within.  If  the  materials  and  joints 
were  made  air-tight,  and  the  orifices  perfectly  closed,  the  strongest  man 
that  ever  lived  could  not  force  them  open.  This  experiment,  we  believe, 
was  familiar  to  the  ancients  ;  for  we  are  indebted  to  them  for  both  the 
olacksmith  and  domestic  bellows.  Another  experiment  of  theirs,  of  a 
similar  kind,  was  with  the  syringe.  When  the  small  orifice  is  closed  with 
the  finger,  the  piston  is  pulled  up  with  difficulty,  on  account  of  the  air 
pressing  on  its  surface  ;  and  the  moment  we  let  go  of  the  handle,  it 
instantly  drives  it  back,  in  whatever  position  the  implement  is  held. 
The  ordinary  syringe  seldom  exceeds  three-fourths  or  one  inch  in  diame¬ 
ter,  and  any  person  can  thus  draw  out  the  piston  ;  but  one  of  six  or  seven 
inches  diameter  would  require  a  giant’s  strength ;  arid  one  of  a  foot  or 
fifteen  inches  would  resist  the  efforts  of  two  or  three  horses. 

Numerous  illustrations  of  atmospheric  pressure  may  be  derived  from 
the  animal  kingdom.  The  boa  constrictor  when  it  swallows  its  prey 
affords  one.  As  soon  as  this  serpent  has  killed  a  goat  or  a  deer,  he  covers 
its  surface  with  saliva  :  this  appears  necessary  to  lay  the  long  hair  of  these 
animals  close,  in  order  to  prevent  air  from  passing  between  the  body  of 
the  victim  and  the  interior  of  the  devourer’s  throat.  After  taking  the 
head  into  his  mouth,  by  a  wonderful  muscular  energy  he  alternately  dilates 
and  contracts  the  posterior  portions  of  his  body,  until  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  forces  into  his  flexible  skin  an  animal  whose  bulk  greatly 
exceeds  that  of  his  own.  But  if  air  were  to  pass  between  the  body  of  the 
victim  and  the  dilatable  gullet  of  the  boa,  while  the  latter  was  making  a 
vacuum  to  receive  it,  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  would  be  neutralized 
as  effectually  as  if  a  gash  were  made  through  his  skin  in  front  of  the  victim 


Jaap.  1.] 


of  Atmospheric  Pressure. 


181 

The  same  process  may  be  witnessed  in  ordinary  snakes,  for  all  serpents 

tiTn  °  Th^11”  Pr6y  Wh°le'  fJihere  iS  n°  masticati°n  to  facilitate  deflati¬ 
on.  Their  upper  jaws  are  loosely  connected  to  the  head  so  that  the 

mouth  can  be  opened  very  wide,  to  admit  larger  animals  than  the  size  of 
the  serpents  would  lead  one  to  suppose. 

Such  examples,  it  must  be  admitted,  are  not  very  familiar  ones  •  but 
there  is  an  experiment  not  much  unlike  them,  that  most  people  have’ wit 
nessed,  and  not  a  few  perform  it  in  their  own  persons  almost  daily  In 
every  age  people  have  been  fond  of  oysters,  and  numbers  of  our  citizens 
often  luxuriate  on  a  finer  and  larger  species  than  those  which  Roman 
epicures  formerly  ^ported  from  Britain.  Now,  when  a  oendeman 
indulges  in  this  food  in  the  ordinary  way,  he  affords  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere.  A  large  one  is  opened  b?  thevesZ 

T  rU  r  u  h  i  alS°  l0°SenS  the  animal  from  sheU>  and  presells  it  on  one’ 
half  of  the  latter.  The  imitator  of  the  boa  then  approaches S  lips  to  Te 

newly  siarn vjcnm,  and  when  they  come  in  contact  with  but  a  portion  of 
it,  he  immediately  dilates  his  chest  as  in  the  act  of  inspiration,  when  the 
air,  endeavormg  to  rush  into  his  mouth  to  inflate  the  thorax,  drives  the 
oyster  before  it,  and  with  a  velocity  that,  is  somewhat  alarming  to  an 
inexperienced  spectator.  If  any  one  should  doubt  this  to  be  effected  by 
atmospheric  pressure,  let  him  fully  inflate  his  lungs  previous  to  attempting 
.hus  to  draw  an  oyster  into  his  mouth,  and  he  will  find  as  much  difficult? 
accomplish  it  as  to  smoke  a  pipe  or  a  cigar  with  his  mouth  open.  * 

tir/l  in  Ph,losoPhlcaJ  ™ode  of  transmitting  oysters  to  the  stomach  is  iden- 
tical  n  principle  with  that  proposed  by  Guerricke  and  Papin,  for  shooting 
bullets  by  the  rarefaction  of  air.”*  A  leaden  ball  wasP  fitted  into  the 
breech  of  a  gun-barrel  and  the  end  being  closed,  a  vacuum  was  produced 
m  front  of  it;  after  which  the  atmosphere  was  allowed  to  act  suddenly  on 

indbafeetWhen  “  thr°Ugh  the  tube  with  the  velocity  of  a  thou- 

sand  feet  in  a  second.  J ust  so  with  the  oyster  :  it  lays  inertly  at  the 

orifice  °f  the  devoured  mouth_a  partial  vacuum  is  male  in  front  of  h 
i/- of  respiration  and  on  dilating  the  chest,  the  atmosphere  drives 
it  in  a  twinkling  down  the  natural  tube  in  the  throat— though  to  be  sure 
vith  a  velocity  somewhat  less  than  that  of  bullets  through  Papin’s  gun’ 
When  two  substances,  impervious  to  air,  are  fitted  so  close  as  to  exclude 
it  from  between  them,  they  are  held  together  by  its  pressure  on  their 

contact8'  pfe  f  ‘”1  f r°P°rtioned  t0  the  extent  oF  the  surfaces  in 

ZHLd  T  m  ^  b6en  »r.°Td  l°gether  60  dose  as  to  be 
tnus  united.  Two  pieces  of  common  window-glass  dipped  in  water  and 

rZeitS  ^  “?  S6parated  WltH  difficulty;  becausPePthe  wateTserves 
to  expel  the  air,  and  prevent  its  entrance.  Glass  grinders  are  frequentlv 
inconvemenced  by  this  circumstance.  If  two  plates  of  glass  were  perl 
fectly  plane  and  smooth,  so  as  wholly  to  exclude  the  air  from  between 
them,  they  would  become  united  as  one.  We  have  heard  or  read  of  in 

actually  o,,e’ and  were  cut  by  a  diam°nd 

leather  about  the'1"^’'  °c  '  An"’’-  a  clrcu,ar  Piece  of  wet  and  thick 
leather  about  the  size  of  a  dollar,  is  another  illustration.  This  when 

may  be  “used  \o  Sm°°tb  T”®  °r  °tlie/  Stone'  of  five  or  lbs-  weight, 

IfoMofthest  four1'36!,"’  .bf  ,means  of  a  strlnS  «»clied  to  the  centre, 
ii  one  ot  these,  tour  inches  in  diameter,  were  applied  to  the  cranium  of  a 

A  1  1  gentleman,  he  might  be  elevated  and  suspended  by  it  Dr! 

recommends  them  to  elevate  depressed  portions  of  fractured  skulls, 


Phil.  Trans.  Abridg.  vol.  i,  496. 


182 


Suspension  of  Flies, 


[Book  II. 


and  for  other  surgical  operations.  Possibly  they  might  be  applied  with 
some  advantage  to  the  soft  and  yielding  skulls  of  infants,  in  order  to  pro¬ 
duce  those  eminences  upon  which  (according  to  phrenologists)  the  habits 
and  character  of  individuals  depend,  as  by  means  of  them  the  most  desira¬ 
ble  organs  of  thought  and  passion  might  be  developed,  and  the  opposite 
ones  depressed. 

The  principle  of  atmospheric  pressure  has  been  introduced  by  the 
great  Parent  of  the  universe  into  every  department  of  animated  and  in¬ 
animate  nature.  Not  only  does  it  perform  an  important  part  in  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  but  the  movements  of  innumerable  animals,  on  land 
and  in  water,  depend  upon  it ;  while  others  are  enabled  by  it  to  protect 
themselves  from  enemies,  and  to  secure  their  food  and  their  prey. 
There  is  something  inexpressibly  pleasing  in  examining  even  the  meanest 
specimens  of  the  Creator’s  workmanship,  (if  such  an  expression  may  be 
allowed)  and  what  is  singular,  the  more  closely  we  search  into  them,  the 
more  proofs  do  we  meet  with  that  the  most  elaborate  and  the  most  effi¬ 
cient  of  our  devices  are  but  rough  copies  of  natural  ones,  which  the  lower 
animals  vary  and  apply,  according  to  circumstances,  with  inimitable  dex¬ 
terity.  Some  of  these  will  be  noticed  here ;  others  will  be  more  appro¬ 
priately  introduced  in  subsequent  chapters. 

The  feet  of  the  common  house-fly  are  constructed  like  the  suckers  above 
named  ;  and  hence  these  insects  are  enabled  to  run  along,  and  even  sleep, 
on  the  ceilings  of  our  rooms,  with  their  bodies  hanging  downwards. 
When  in  an  inverted  position  they  place  a  foot  on  an  object,  they  spread 
out  the  sole,  to  make  it  touch  at  every  part,  so  as  to  exclude  the  air  from 
between ;  and  when  the  weight  of  the  body  tends  to  draw  it  away,  the 
pressure  of  the  external  air  retains  it ;  until  the  fly,  wishing  to  move, 
raises  the  edges  by  appropriate  mechanism,  and  destroys  the  vacuum. 

There  is  not  a  more  interesting  subject  for  the  contemplation  of  mecha¬ 
nics  than  the  movements  of  these  active  little  beings.  To  behold  them 
running  not  only  along  the  under  side  of  a  plate  of  glass,  but  also  up,  and 
more  particularly  down  a  vertical  one,  with  such  perfect  command  over 
their  motions,  is  truly  surprising.  In  the  latter  case,  from  the  rapidity  of 
their  movements,  and  the  fact  that  part  only  of  their  feet  are  in  contact 
with  the  glass  at  the  same  time,  one  might  suppose  the  momentum  of  their 
moving  bodies  would  carry  them  over  the  objects  they  intended  to  reach  ; 
instead  of  which,  they  dart  along  with  a  precision  and  facility  as  if  impelled 
by  volition  alone.  It  is  strange,  too,  how  they  are  enabled  to  produce 
a  sufficient  vacuum  between  their  tiny  feet  and  the  asperities  on  an  ordi¬ 
nary  wall  or  ceiling !  And  with  what  celerity  it  is  done  and  undone  ! 
How  wonderful  and  how  perfect  must  be  the  mechanism  of  these  natural 
air-pumps ;  and  how  harmonious  must  that  machinery  work  by  which  the 
energy  of  the  insect  is  transmitted  to  them  !  Their  movements  when  on 
the  wing  present  another  source  of  pleasing  research.  Let  any  ingenious 
person  witness,  without  admiration  if  he  can,  a  few  of  them  in  a  door- way 
open  to  the  sun :  one  or  two  will  be  found  floating  in  the  centre,  as  if  at 
rest,  until  disturbed  by  the  near  approach  of  another,  when  they  dart  upon 
it,  either  in  play  or  in  anger,  and  drive  it  away ;  then  resuming  their  sta¬ 
tions,  they  remain  as  guards  upon  duty,  till  called  to  eject  other  intruders. 
In  these  combats  they  vary  their  movements  into  every  imaginable  direc¬ 
tion  ;  they  trace  in  the  air  every  angle  and  every  curve,  and  change  them 
with  the  velocity  of  thought.  As  they  are  not  furnished  (like  most  fishes 
and  birds)  with  rudders  in  their  tails,  to  assist  in  thus  changing  their  posi¬ 
tions,  but  effect  it  by  modifying  the  action  of  their  wings,  how  energetic 
must  be  the  force  that  works  these  !  And  what  perfect  command  must 


183 


Chap.  l.J  Lizards,  Frogs,  <$r.  against  Gravity. 

the  insect  possess  over  them  !  It  would  seem  as  if  they  turned  their 
bodies  in  various  directions,  by  diminishing  the  velocity  of  one  wing,  and 
increasing  that  of  the  other ;  and  also  by  varying  the  angle  at  which  they 
strike  the  air,  and  descend  by  closing  them  or  stopping  their  vibrations. 
And  with  what  vigor  and  celerity  must  one  of  these  insects  move  its  deli¬ 
cate  wings  in  order  to  elevate  its  comparatively  heavy  body  !  Yet  this 
movement  is  made  quick  as  the  others.  It  bounds  upwards,  like  a  balloon 
released  from  its  cords  ;  now  sailing  through  a  room,  sweeping  round  our 
heads,  buzzing  at  our  ears,  skimming  over  the  floor,  and  anon  inverting 
its  body  and  resting  on  the  ceiling  !  And  all  this  within  two  or  three 
seconds  of  time,  and  without  any  apparent  exertion  or  fatigue.  Here  is 
a  fruitful  subject  of  inquiry  to  the  machinist  and  aeronaut.  All  the  wonders 
that  the  automatons  of  Maelzel  and  Maillardet  ever  wrought,  are  nothing 
compared  to  those  that  may  yet  be  accomplished  by  studying  the  organi¬ 
zation  and  motions  of  these  living  machines. 

But  there  are  larger  animals  than  flies  that  suspend  themselves  in  an 
inverted  position.  Mr.  Marsden,  in  his  “  History  of  Sumatra,”  (London, 
1811,  p.  119)  mentions  lizards  four  inches  long,  which,  he  observes,  are 
the  largest  reptiles  that  can  walk  in  an  inverted  situation.  One  of  them, 
of  size  sufficient  to  devour  a  cockroach,  runs  on  the  ceiling  of  a  room,  and 
in  that  situation  seizes  its  prey  with  the  utmost  facility.  Sometimes, 
however,  when  springing  too  eagerly  at  a  fly,  they  lose  their  hold,  and 
drop  to  the  floor. 

The  Gecko  of  Java  and  other  countries  is  furnished  with  similar  ap¬ 
paratus  in  its  feet,  by  means'  of  which  it  runs  up  the  smoothest  polished 
walls,  and  even  carries  a  load  with  it,  equal  in  weight  to  that  of  its  own 
body.  Osbeck  mentions  lizards  in  China  that  ran  up  and  down  the  walls 
with  such  agility  as  “  they  can  scarce  be  caught.”  The  tree  frog  of  this 
country  adheres  to  the  leaves  of  trees  by  the  tubercles  on  its  toes  :  a  young 
one  has  sustained  itself  in  an  inverted  position  against  the  under  side  of  a 
plate  of  glass.  From  the  observations  of  E.  Jesse,  author  of  ‘Gleanings 
of  Natural  History’  it  appears  that  common  frogs  can  occasionally  do  the 
same.  His  account  is  very  interesting  :  “  I  may  here  mention  a  curious 
observation  I  made  in  regard  to  some  frogs  that  had  fallen  down  a  small 
area  which  gave  light  to  one  of  the  windows  of  my  house.  The  top  of 
the  area  being  on  a  level  with  the  ground,  was  covered  over  with  some  iron 
bars  through  which  the  frogs  fell.  During  dry  and  warm  weather  when 
they  could  not  absorb  much  moisture,  I  observed  them  to  appear  almost 
torpid ;  but  when  it  rained  they  became  impatient  of  their  confinement, 
and  endeavored  to  make  their  escape,  which  they  did  in  the  following  man¬ 
ner.  The  wall  of  the  area  was  about  five  feet  in  height  and  plas¬ 
tered  and  white-washed  as  smooth  as  the  ceiling  of  a  room ;  upon 
this  surface  the  frogs  soon  found  that  their  claws  would  render  them  little 
or  no  assistance  ;  they  therefore  contracted  their  large  feet  so  as  to  make 
a  hollow  in  the  centre,  and  by  means  of  the  moisture  which  they  had  im¬ 
bibed  in  consequence  of  the  rain,  they  contrived  to  produce  a  vacuum,  so 
that  by  the  pressure  of  the  air  on  their  extended  feet,  (in  the  same  way  that 
we  see  boys  take  up  a  stone  by  means  of  a  piece  of  wet  leather  fastened 
to  a  string)  they  ascended  the  wall  and  made  their  escape.  This  happen¬ 
ed  constantly  in  the  course  of  three  years.” — Phil.  Ed.  1833.  p.  140. 

Innumerable  crustaceous  animals  adhere  to  rocks  and  stones  by  the  same 
principle.  But  it  is  not  the  smaller  inhabitants  of  either  the  land  or  the 
sea,  as  flies,  spiders,  butterflies,  bees,  &c.  some  of  which  scarcely  weigh 
a  grain  ;  or  lizards  and  frogs,  &c.  of  five  or  six  ounces,  which  thus  sustain 
themselves  against  gravity  ;  for  the  enormous  walrus,  that  sometimes  ex- 


184 


Sucking  Fish. 


[Book  II 


ceeds  a  ton  in  weight,  is  furnished  by  the  Creator  with  analogous  apparatus 
in  his  hinder  feet;  and  thus  climbs  by  atmospheric  pressure,  the  glassy  sur¬ 
faces  of  ice-bergs.  How  forcibly  do  these  examples  illustrate  the  intimate 
connection  which  subsists  between  the  various  departments  of  Natural  Phi¬ 
losophy.  A  knowledge  of  one  always  furnishes  a  key  (whether  it  be  used  or 
not)  to  open  some  of  the  mysteries  of  another.  Thus  a  person  who  under¬ 
stands  the  principle  by  which  water  is  raised  in  a  simple  pump,  can  by  it  ex¬ 
plain  some  of  the  most  surprising  facts  in  the  natural  history  of  animals ; 
and  solve  problems  respecting  the  motions  and  organs  of  motions  of  nu¬ 
merous  tribes  of  animated  beings,  which  two  or  three  centuries  ago,  the 
most  enlightened  philosophers  could  not  comprehend.  And  with  a  simple 
pump,  he  can  moreover  determine,  as  with  a  barometer,  the  measurement  of 
all  accessible  heights,  and  with  a  degree  of  accuracy  that,  in  some  cases, 
is  deemed  preferable  to  geometrical  demonstrations. 

When  two  substances  are  brought  together,  at  some  distance  hdow  the 
surface  of  water,  and  so  as  to  exclude  it  from  between  them,  they  are 
then  pressed  together  with  a  force  greater  than  when  in  the  air,  be 
cause  the  weight  of  the  perpendicular  column  of  water  over  them  is 
then  added  to  that  of  the  atmosphere.  Numerous  examples  of  this  com 
bined  pressure  are  also  to  be  found  in  the  natural  world.  By  it,  various 
species  of  fish  adhere  to  rocks  and  stones  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  from 
which  they  cannot  be  separated  except  by  tearing  their  bodies  asunder. 
Some  by  means  of  it  attach  themselves  to  the  bodies  of  others,  and  there¬ 
by  traverse  the  ocean  without  any  expense  or  exertion  of  their  own,  some¬ 
what  like  dishonest  travelers,  who  elude  the  payment  of  their  fare.  There 
are  several  species  of  fishes  known  which  have  a  separate  organ  of  adhe 
sion,  and  there  are  doubtless  many  more  which  have  not  yet  come  under 
the  observation  of  man.  The  most  celebrated  is  the  remora  or  sucking 
fish  of  Dampier  and  other  navigators.  It  is,  in  size  and  shape,  similar  to 
a  large  whiting,  except  that  the  head  is  much  flatter.  “  From  the  head  to 
the  middle  of  its  back,  (observes  Dampier)  there  groweth  a  sort  of  flesh  of 
a  hard  gristly  substance,  like  that  of  the  limpet.  This  excrescence  is  of  a 
flat  oval  form,  about  7  or  8  inches  long,  and  5  or  6  broad,  and  rising  about 
half  an  inch  high.  It  is  full  of  small  ridges  with  which  it  will  fasten  itself 
to  any  thing  that  it  meets  with  in  the  sea.  When  it  is  fair  weather  and 
but  little  wind,  they  will  play  about  a  ship,  but  in  blustering  weather,  or 
when  the  ship  sails  quick,  they  commonly  fasten  themselves  to  the  ship’s 
bottom,  from  whence  neither  the  ship’s  motion,  though  never  so  swift,  nor 
the  most  tempestuous  sea  can  remove  them.  They  will  likewise  fasten 
themselves  to  any  bigger  fish,  for  they  never  swim  fast  themselves,  if  they 
meet  with  any  thing  to  carry  them.  I  have  found  them  sticking  to  a  shark 
after  it  was  hal’d  in  on  deck,  though  a  shark  is  so  strong  and  boisterous  a 
fish,  and  throws  about  him  so  vehemently  when  caught,  and  for  half  an 
hour  together,  that  did  not  the  sucking  fish  stick  at  no  ordinary  rate,  it 
must  needs  be  cast  off  by  so  much  violence.”®  They  are  familiar  to  most 
of  our  seamen.  Other  species  have  a  circular  organ  of  adhesion,  consist¬ 
ing  of  numerous  soft  papillae,  and  placed  on  the  thorax,  instead  of  the 
top  of  the  head,  as  in  the  remora.  In  some  fish  the  ventral  Jins  are  united 
and  are  capable  of  adhesion.  In  the  lamprey  the  mouth  contracts  and 


*  Dampier’s  Voyages,  vi.  edit.  1717,  Vol.  i,  04,  and  Vol.  ii,  part  iii,  p.  110.  In  the 
the  plates  of  Vol.  iii,  is  a  figure  of  one.  Figures  of  the  excrescence  or  sucking  part 
of  the  remora,  and  of  the  feet  of  the  house-fly,  may  be  seen  in  Dr.  Brewster’s  Letters 
on  Natural  Magic. 


Chap.  1.] 


The  Remora. 


185 


acts  as  a  sucker;  while  that  curious  animal  the  cuttle  fish  secures  the  vic- 
tims  that  fall  into  its  fatal  embraces  by  the  suckers  on  its  arms 

ihe  prodigious  pressure  that,  at  great  depths,  unites  these  inhabitants  of 
the  sea  to  their  prey,  led  man  to  employ  them  to  hunt  the  sea  for  his  benefit 
as  well  as  their  own.  Both  the  remora  and  lamprey  tribe  have  been  used 
for  this  purpose  Columbus  when  on  the  coast  of  St.  Domingo  was  greatly 
surprised  on  beholding  the  Indians  of  that  island  fishing  with  them  “  Thev 
had  a  small  fish,  the  flat  head  of  which  was  furnished  with  numerous  suck¬ 
ers,  by  which  it  attached  itself  so  firmly  to  any  object  as  to  be  torn  in 
pieces  rather  than  abandon  its  hold.  Tying  a  long  string  to  the  tail,  the  In¬ 
dians  permitted  it  to  swim  at  large  :  it  generally  kept  near  the  surface  till 
it  perceived  its  prey,  when  darting  down  swiftly  it  attached  itself  to  the 
throat  of  a  fish,  or  to  the  under  shell  of  a  tortoise,  when  both  were  drawn 

up  by  the  fisherman.  Ferdinand  Columbus  saw  a  shark  caught  in  this 
manner.4  ° 

The  same  mode  of  fishing  was  followed  at  Zanguebar,  on  the  eastern 
coast  of  Africa.  The  inhabitants  of  the  coast  when  fishing  for  turtle 
take  a  living  sucking  fish  or  remora ,  and  fastening  a  couple  of  strings  to  it’ 
(one  at  the  head  and  the  other  at  the  tail)  they  let  the  sucking  fish°  down 
into  the  water  on  the  turtle  ground,  among  the  half  grown  or  young  turtle- 
and  when  they  find  that  the  fish  hath  fastened  himself  to  the  back  of  a  tur¬ 
tle,  as  he  will  soon  do,  they  draw  him  and  the  turtle  up  together.  This 
way  of  fishing  as  I  have  heard  is  also  used  at  Madagascar.”1' 

The  remora  was  well  known  to  the  ancients.  History  has  preserved 
a  fabulous  account  of  their  having  the  power  to  stop  a  vessel  under  sail 
by  attaching  themselves  to  her  rudder.  A  Roman  ship  belonging  to  a 
fleet,  it  is  said,  was  thus  arrested,  when  she  “  stoode  stil  as  if  she  had  lien 
at  anker-  not  stirring  a  whit  out  of  her  place.”  There  is  another  illustra¬ 
tion  of  the  enormous  pressure  that  fishes  endure  at  great  depths.  The 
small  volume  of  air  that  is  contained  in  the  bladder,  and  by  the  expansion 
and  contraction  of  which  they  ascend  and  descend,  is  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea  compressed  into  a  space  many  times  smaller  than  when  they  swim 
near  the  surface.  (At  33  feet  from  the  surface  it  occupies  but  one  half.) 
Hence,  it  frequently  occurs  that  when  such  fish  are  suddenly  drawn  up 
(as  the  cod  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland)  the  membrane  bursts,  in  con¬ 
sequence  of  the  diminished  pressure,  and  the  air  rushing  into  the  abdomen, 
forces  the  intestines  out  of  the  mouth.  From  a  similar  cause,  blood  is 
forced  out  of  the  ears  of  divers,  when  the  bell  that  contains  them  is  quickly 
drawn  up.  This  pressure  is  also  evinced  in  the  fact  that  the  timber  of 
foundered  vessels  never  rises,  because  the  pores  become  completely  filled 

rh  ater  ^  tke  pressure  of  the  superincumbent  mass,  and  the  wood 
then  becomes  almost  ‘  heavy  as  iron.’ 

The  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on  liquids  is  equally  obvious.  When 
a  bucket  or  other  vessel  is  sunk  in  water  and  then  raised  in  an  inverted 
position,  the  air  being  excluded  from  acting  on  the  surface  of  the  liquid 
within,  still  presses  on  that  without,  so  that  the  water  is  suspended  in  the 
vessel ;  and  if  the  under  surface  of  the  liquid  could  be  kept  level  and  at 
rest,  water  might  be  transported  in  buckets  thus  turned  upside  down,  as 
effectually  as  in  the  ordinary  mode  of  conveying  it 

•  ^10 experirnent  with  a  goblet  or  tumbler  presents  a  very  neat  illustra¬ 
tion.  One  of  these  filled  with  water,  and  having  a  piece  of  writing  paper 
laid  over  it,  and  held  close  till  the  vessel  be  inverted,  will  retain  the  liquid 

*  *rving  s  Columbus,  Vol.  i,  273.  *>  Dampier’s  Voyages,  Vol.  ii,  part  ii,  108. 

24 


186 


Atmospheric  Pressure  on  Liquids. 


[Book  II 


within  it.  In  this  experiment  the  paper  merely  preserves  the  liquid  sur¬ 
face  level :  it  remains  perfectly  free  and  loose  ;  and  so  far  from  being 
close  to  the  edge  of  the  glass,  it  may,  while  the  latter  is  held  in  a  horizon¬ 
tal  position,  be  withdrawn  several  lines  from  it  without  the  water  escaping ; 
and  it  may  be  pierced  full  of  small  holes  with  the  same  effect. 

If  an  inverted  vessel  be  filled  with  any  material  that  excludes  the  air, 
and  whose  specific  gravity  is  greater  than  that  of  water,  when  lowered 
into  the  latter,  the  contents  will  descend  and  be  replaced  by  the  water. 
A  bottle  filled  with  sand,  shot,  &c.  and  inverted  in  water,  will  have  its 
contents  exchanged  for  the  latter.  As  these  substances,  however,  do  not 
perfectly  Jill  the  vessel,  and  of  course  do  not  exclude  all  the  air,  the 
experiment  succeeds  better  when  the  vessel  contains  heavy  liquids,  as 
mercury,  sulphuric  acid,  &c.  It  is  said  that  negroes  in  the  West  Indies 
often  insert  the  long  neck  of  a  bottle  filled  with  water,  into  the  bung-holes 
of  rum  puncheons,  when  the  superior  gravity  of  the  water  (in  this  case) 
descends,  and  is  gradually  replaced  with  the  lighter  spirit. 

In  the  preceding  examples  and  those  in  subsequent  chapters,  it  will  be 
found  that  wherever  a  vacuity  or  partial  vacuum  is  formed,  the  adjacent 
air,  by  the  pressure  above,  rushes  in  and  drives  before  it  the  object  that 
intervenes,  until  the  void  is  filled.  If  the  nozzle  of  a  pair  of  bellows  be 
closed,  either  by  the  finger  or  by  a  small  valve  opening  outwards  ;  and  a 
short  pipe,  the  lower  end  of  which  is  placed  in  water,  be  secured  to  the 
opening  in  the  under  board  which  is  covered  by  the  clapper ;  then  if  the 
bellows  be  opened,  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  will  drive  the  water 
up  the  pipe  to  fill  the  enlarged  cavity,  and  by  then  closing  the  boards, 
the  liquid  will  be  expelled  through  the  nozzle.  Bellows  thus  arranged 
become  sucking  or  atmospheric,  and  forcing  pumps.  When  the  orifice  of 
a  syringe  is  inserted  into  a  vessel  of  water  and  the  piston  drawn  up,  the 
air  having  no  way  to  enter  the  vacuity  thus  formed  than  by  the  small 
orifice  under  the  surface  of  the  liquid,  presses  the  water  before  it  into  the 
body  of  the  syringe. 

As  every  machine  described  in  this  book,  and  most  of  those  in  the  next 
one,  both  proves  and  illustrates  atmospheric  pressure  on  liquids,  we  need 
not  enlarge  further  upon  it  here.  There  are  however  some  other  parti¬ 
culars  relating  to  it,  which  are  necessary  to  be  known :  first,  that  its 
pressure  is  limited ;  and  secondly,  that  it  varies  in  intensity  at  different 
parts  of  the  earth,  according  to  their  elevation  above  the  surface  of  the  sea. 
These  important  facts  are  clearly  established  in  the  accounts  given  of  the 
discovery  of  the  air’s  pressure,  a  sketch  of  which  can  scarcely  be  out  of 
place  here,  since  it  was  a  pump  that  first  drew  the  attention  of  modern 
philosophers  to  the  subject,  and  which  thereby  became  the  proximate 
cause  of  a  revolution  in  philosophical  research,  that  will  ever  be  consi¬ 
dered  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  science. 


Chap.  2.] 


Discovery  of  Atmospheric  Pressure. 


187 


CHAP  TER  II. 

Discovery  of  atmospheric  pressure— Circumstances  which  led  to  it— Galileo— Torricelli— Beautiful 
experiment  of  the  latter— Controversy  respecting  the  results— Pascal— his  demonstration  of  the  cause 

of  the  ascent  of  water  in  pumps — Invention  of  the  air-pump — Barometer  and  its  various  applications _ 

Intensity  of  atmospheric  pressure  different  at  different  parts  of  the  earth— A  knowledge  of  this  necessary 
to  pump-makers— The  limits  to  which  water  may  be  raised  in  atmospheric  pumps  known  to  ancient 
pump-makers. 

In  the  year  1641,  a  pump-maker  of  Florence  made  an  atmospheric,  or 
what  was  called  a  sucking  pump,  the  pipe  of  which  extended  from  50  to 
60  feet  above  the  water.  When  put  in  operation,  it  was  of  course  inca¬ 
pable  of  raising  any  over  32  or  33  feet.  Supposing  this  to  have  been 
occasioned  by  some  defect  in  the  construction,  the  pump  was  carefully 
examined,  and  being  found  perfect,  the  operation  was  repeated,  but  with 
the  same  results.  After  numerous  trials,  the  superintendent  of  the  Grand 
Duke’s  water  works,  according  to  whose  directions  it  had  been  made, 
consulted  Galileo,  who  was  a  native  of  the  city,  and  then  resided  in  it! 
Previous  to  this  occurrence,  it  was  universally  supposed  that  water  was 
raised  m  pumps  by  an  occult  power  in  nature,  which  resisted  with  con¬ 
siderable  force  all  attempts  to  make  a  void,  but  which,  when  one  was 
made,  used  the  same  force  to  fill  it,  by  urging  the  next  adjoining  substance, 
if  a  fluid,  into  the  vacant  space.  Thus  in  pumps,  when  the  air  was  with¬ 
drawn  from  their  upper  part  by  the  ‘  sucker ,’  nature,  being  thus  violated, 
instantly  forced  water  up  the  pipes.  No  idea  was  entertained  by  philo! 
sophers  at  this  or  any  preceding  period,  that  we  know  of,  that  this  force 
was  limited;  that  it  would  not  as  readily  force  water  up  a  perpendicular 

tube,  from  which  the  air  was  withdrawn,  100  feet  high  as  well  as  20 _ to 

the  top  of  a  high  building  as  well  as  to  that  of  a  low  one. 

When  the  circumstances  attending  the  trial  of  the  pump  at  Florence 
were  placed  before  Galileo,  (his  attention  having  probably  never  before 
been  so  closely  directed  to  the  subject)  he  could  only  reply,  that  nature’s 
abhorrence  to  a  vacuum  was  limited,  and  that  it  “  ceased  to  operate  above 
the  height  of  32  feet.”  This  opinion  given  at  the  moment,  it  is  believed 
was  not  satisfactory  to  himself ;  and  his  attention  having  now  been  roused, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  would  have  discovered  the  real  cause,  had 
he  lived,  especially  as  he  was  then  aware  that  the  atmosphere  did  exert  a 
definite  pressure  on  objects  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  But  at  that  period 
this  illustrious  man  was  totally  blind,  nearly  80  years  of  age,  and  within  a 
few  months  of  his  death.  The  discovery  is  however,  in  some  measure, 
due  to  him.  It  has  also  been  supposed  that  he  communicated  his  ideas 
on  the  subject  to  Torricelli,  who  lived  in  his  family  and  acted  as  his 
amanuensis  during  the  last  three  months  of  his  life. 

It  was  in  1643  that  Torricelli  announced  the  great  discovery  that  water 
was  raised  in  pumps  by  the  pressure  of  the  air.  This  he  established  by 
very  satisfactory  experiments.  The  apparatus  in  his  first  one,  was  made 
hi  imitation  of  the  Florentine  pump.  He  procured  a  tube  60  feet  long, 
and  secured  it  in  a  perpendicular  position,  with  its  lower  end  in  water ; 
then  having  by  a  syringe  extracted  the  air  at  its  upper  end,  he  found  the 
water  rose  only  32  or  33  feet,  nor  could  he  by  any  effort  induce  it  l  > 


188 


Torricelli. 


[Book  II. 

ascend  higher.  He  then  reduced  the  length  of  the  pipe  to  40  feet,  without 
any  better  success.  It  now  occurred  to  him,  that  if  it  really  was  the 
atmosphere  which  supported  this  column  of  water  in  the  pipe,  then,  if  he 
employed  some  other  liquid,  the  specific  gravity  of  which,  compared  with 
that  of  water,  was  knoivn,  a  column  of  such  liquid  would  be  sustained  in 
the  tube,  of  a  length  proportioned  to  its  gravity.  This  beautiful  thought 
he  soon  submitted  to  the  test  of  experiment,  and  by  a  very  neat  and  simple 
apparatus. 

Quicksilver  being  14  times  heavier  than  water,  he  selected  it  as  the 
most  suitable,  since  the  apparatus  would  be  more  manageable ;  and  from 
the  small  dimensions  of  the  requisite  tube,  a  syringe  to  exhaust  the  air 
could  be  dispensed  with.  He  therefore  took  a  glass  tube  about  four  feet 
long,  sealed  at  one  end  and  open  at  the  other.  This  he  completely  filled 
with  quicksilver,  which  of  course  expelled  the  air;  then  placing  his  finger 
on  the  open  end,  he  inverted  the  tube,  and  introduced  the  open  end  below 
the  surface  of  a  quantity  of  mercury  in  an  open  vessel ;  then  moving  the 
tube  into  a  vertical  position,  he  withdrew  his  finger,  when  part  of  the 
mercury  descended  into  the  basin,  leaving  a  vacuum  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  tube,  while  the  rest  was  supported  in  it  at  the  height  of  about  28 
inches,  as  he  had  suspected,  being  one-fourteenth  of  the  height  of  the 
aqueous  column.  This  simple  and  truly  ingenious  experiment  was  fre¬ 
quently  varied  and  repeated,  but  always  with  the  same  result,  and  must 
have  imparted  to  Torricelli  the  most  exquisite  gratification.8 

Accounts  of  Torricelli’s  experiments  were  soon  spread  throughout  Eu¬ 
rope,  and  every  where  caused  an  unparalleled  excitement  among  philoso¬ 
phers.  This  was  natural,  for  his  discovery  prostrated  the  long  cherished 
hypothesis  of  nature’s  abhorence  of  a  vacuum;  and  at  the  same  time,  opened 
unexplored  regions  to  scientific  research.  It  met  however  with  much 
opposition,  particularly  from  the  Jesuits  ;  in  many  of  whom  it  is  said  to 
have  excited  a  degree  of  ‘  horror’  similar  to  that  experienced  by  them  on 
the  publication  of  Galileo’s  dialogues  on  the  Ptolemaic  and  Copernican 
systems.  They  and  others  resisted  the  new  doctrine  with  great  perse¬ 
verance,  and  even  endeavored  to  reconcile  the  results  of  the  experiments 
with  th efoga  vacui  they  so  long  had  cherished.  It  was  ingeniously  con¬ 
tended  that  the  experiment  with  quicksilver  no  more  proved  that  the  force 
which  sustained  it  in  the  tube  was  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere,  than  the 
column  of  water  did  in  the  first  experiment;  allowing  this,  it  proved  that 
this  force,  whatever  it  was,  varied  in  its  effects  on  different  liquids,  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  specific  gravity  ;  a  fact  previously  unknown,  and  apparently 
inconsistent  with  nature’s  antipathy  .to  avoid,  which  might  be  supposed  to 
produce  the  same  effects  on  all  fluids — to  have  as  great  an  abhorence  to 
mercury  as  to  water. 

During  the  discussion  great  expectations  were  entertained  by  the  advo¬ 
cates  of  the  new  doctrine  from  Torricelli ;  but  unfortunately,  this  philoso¬ 
pher  died  suddenly  in  the  midst  of  his  pursuits  and  in  the  very  vigor  of 
manhood,  viz.  in  his  39th  year.  This  took  place  in  1647.  The  subject 
was  however  too  interesting,  and  too  important  in  its  consequences,  to  be 
lost  sight  of.  He  had  opened  a  new  path  into  the  fields  of  science,  and 
philosophers  in  every  part  of  Europe  had  rushed  into  it  with  too  much 
ardor  to  be  stopped  by  his  decease.  Among  the  most  eminent  of  those 


aThe  apparatus  employed  in  these  experiments  was  not  original  with  Torricelli. 
The  air  thermometer  of  C.  Drebble,  the  famous  alchemist,  who  died  in  1634,  was  of  the 
same  construction,  except  that  the  upper  end  of  the  inverted  tube  was  swelled  into  a 
bulb.  It  is  frequently  figured  in  Fludd’s  works. 


Chap.  2.J 


Pascal  and  Perrier. 


189 


was  Pascal,  a  French  mathematician  and  divine.  In  1646  he  undertook 
to  verify  the  experiments  of  Torricelli,  and  still  further  to  vary  them. 
He  used  tubes  of  glass  forty  feet  long,  having  one  end  closed  to  avoid 
the  use  of  a  syringe.  He  filled  one  with  wine  and  another  with  water,  and 
inverted  them  into  basins  containing  the  same  liquids,  after  the  manner  of 
Torricelli’s  mercurial  experiment.  As  the  specific  gravity  of  these  liquids 
was  not  the  same,  he  anticipated  a  difference  in  the  length  of  the  two  co¬ 
lumns  ;  and  such  was  the  fact.  The  water  remained^ suspended  at  the 
height  of  thirty-one  feet  one  inch  and  four  lines ;  while  the  lighter  wine 
stood  at  thirty-three  feet  three  inches.  Pascal  was  attacked  with  great 
virulence  by  Father  Noel,  a  Parisian  jesuit,  who  resisted  the  new  doctrine 
with  infuriate  zeal,  as  if  it  also  was  heresy,  like  Galileo’s  doctrine  of  the 
earth’s  motion  round  the  sun. 

After  making  several  experiments,  one  at  length  occured  to  Pascal, 
which  he  foresaw  would,  if  successful,  effectually  silence  all  objectors. 
He  reasoned  thus  :  If  it  is  really  the  weight  or  pressure  of  the  atmosphere, 
that  sustains  water  in  pumps,  and  mercury  in  the  tube,  then,  the  intensity 
of  this  pressure  will  be  less  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  than  at  its  foot,  be¬ 
cause  there  is  a  less  portion  of  air  over  its  summit  than  over  its  base  ;  if 
therefore  a  column  of  mercury  is  sustained  at  28  or  any  other  number  of 
inches  at  the  base  of  a  very  high  mountain,  this  column  ought  to  diminish 
gradually  as  the  tube  is  carried  up  to  the  top ;  whereas,  if  the  atmosphere 
has  no  connection  with  the  ascent  of  liquids,  (as  contended)  then  the  mer¬ 
cury  will  remain  the  same  at  all  elevations,  at  the  base  as  at  the  summit. 
Being  at  Paris,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  his  brother-in-law,  M.  Perrier, 
(in  1647)  from  which  the  following  is  an  extract :  “  I  have  thought  of  an 
experiment,  which,  if  it  can  be  executed  with  accuracy,  will  alone  be  suf¬ 
ficient  to  elucidate  this  subject.  It  is  to  repeat  the  Torricellian  experi¬ 
ment  several  times  in  the  same  day,  with  the  same  tube,  and  the 
same  mercury ;  sometimes  at  the  foot,  sometimes  at  the  summit  of 
a  mountain  five  or  six  hundred  fathoms  in  height.  By  this  means 
we  shall  ascertain  whether  the  mercury  in  the  tube  will  be  at  the 
same  or  a  different  height  at  each  of  these  stations.  You  perceive  with¬ 
out  doubt  that  this  experiment  is  decisive  ;  for  if  the  column  of  mercury 
be  lower  at  the  top  ol  the  hill  than  at  the  base,  as  I  think  it  will,  it  clear¬ 
ly  shows  that  the  pressure  of  the  air  is  the  sole  cause  of  the  suspension 
of  the  mercury  in  the  tube,  and  not  the  horror  of  a  vacuum ;  as  it  is  evi¬ 
dent  there  is  a  longer  column  of  air  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill  than  at  the 
top ;  but  it  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  nature  abhors  a  vacuum 
more  at  the  base  than  at  the  summit  of  a  hill.  For  if  the  suspension  of 
the  mercury  in  the  tube  is  owing  to  the  pressure  of  the  air,  it  is  plain  it 
must  be  equal  to  a  column  of  air,  whose  diameter  is  the  same  with 
that  of  the  mercurial  column,  and  whose  height  is  equal  to  that  of  the 
atmosphere,  from  the  surface  of  the  mercury  in  the  basin.  Now  the  base 
remaining  the  same,  it  is  evident  the  pressure  will  be  in  proportion  to  the 
height  of  the  column,  and  that  the  higher  the  column  of  air  is,  the  longer 
will  be  the  column  of  mercury  that  will  be  sustained.”  This  experimen- 
tum  cruris,  was  made  on  the  19th  September,  164S,  the  year  after  Torri¬ 
celli  s  death,  on  the  Puy  de  Dome,  near  Clermont,  the  highest  mountain  in 
France  ;  and  the  result  was  just  as  Pascal  had  anticipated.  The  mercury 
fell  in  the  tube  as  M.  Perrier  ascended  with  it  up  the  mountain,  and  when 
he  reached  the  summit  it  was  three  inches  lower  than  when  at  the  base. 
The  experiment  was  repeated  on  different  sides  of  the  mountain,  and 
continued  by  Perrier  till  1651,  but  always  with  the  same  results.  Pas¬ 
cal  made  others  on  the  top  of  some  of  the  steeples  in  Paris  ;  and  all 


190 


Limits  of  Atmospheric  Pressure 


[Book  II. 


proved  the  same  important  truth,  viz.  that  the  jrressure  of  the  atmosphere 
was  that  mysterious  power,  which  under  the  name  of  nature’s  abhorrence 
to  a  vacuum  had  so  long  eluded  the  researches  of  philosophers.  The  sub¬ 
ject  was  taken  up  in  England  by  Boyle,  who  pursued  it  with  unremitted 
ardor,  and  whose  labors  have  immortalized  his  name  ;  but  it  was  Germany 
that  bore  off  the  most  valuable  of  the  prizes  which  the  discovery  offered 
to  philosophers.  The  Torricellian  experiment  gave  rise  to  the  air  pump  ; 
and  in  1654,  a  Prussian  philosopher,  a  mathematician  and  a  magistrate, 
Otto  Guerricke,  of  Magdeburgh,  made  public  experiments  with  it  at  Ratis- 
bon,  before  the  emperor  of  Germany  and  several  electors.  Some  authors 
ascribe  the  invention  of  the  pump  to  Candido  del  Buono,  one  of  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Academie  del  Cimento  at  Florence,  and  intimate  that  the  first 
essays  with  it  were  only  made  by  Guerricke. 

The  apparatus  of  Torricelli,  i.  e.  the  glass  tube  and  basin  of  mercury, 
was  named  a  baroscope,  and  afterwards  a  barometer,  because  it  measured 
the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  at  all  elevations  ;  hence  to  it,  engineers 
in  all  parts  of  the  earth  may  have  recourse,  to  determine  the  perpendicular 
length  of  the  pipes  of  atmospheric  pumps. 

Another  application  of  the  barometer  was  the  natural  result  of  Perrier’s 
first  experiment  on  the  Puy  de  Dome.  As  he  ascended  that  mountain 
with  it,  the  mercury  kept  falling  in  exact  proportion  to  the  elevation  to 
which  the  instrument  was  carried ;  hence  it  is  obvious,  that  when  the 
tube  is  properly  graduated,  it  will  measure  the  height  of  mountains,  and 
all  other  elevations  to  which  it  can  be  carried.  By  it,  aeronauts  deter¬ 
mine  the  height  to  which  they  ascend  in  balloons.  The  observations  of 
Perrier  were  continued  daily  from  1649  to  1651,  during  which  he  per¬ 
ceived  that  the  height  of  the  column  slightly  varied  with  the  temperature, 
wind,  rain,  and  other  circumstances  of  the  atmosphere  ;  and  hence  the 
instrument  indicated  changes  of  weather ,  and  became  known  and  is  still 
used  as  a  “  weather  glass.”  The  extent  of  these  variations  is  about 
three  inches,  generally  ranging  from  twenty-eight  to  thirty-one,  and  are 
principally  confined  to  the  temperate  zones.  In  tropical  regions,  the 
pressure  is  nearly  uniform,  the  mercury  standing  at  about  thirty  inches 
throughout  the  year.  These  facts  have  an  important  bearing  on  our  sub¬ 
ject;  for  an  atmospheric  pump  or  siphon,  with  a  perpendicular  pipe  thirty- 
four  or  thirty-five  feet  long,  might  operate  during  certain  states  of  the  at¬ 
mosphere,  while  in  others  it  could  not ;  and  in  some  parts  of  the  earth  it 
would  be  altogether  useless. 

It  will  appear  in  the  sequel,  that  the  physical  properties  of  the  atmos¬ 
phere  which  we  have  enumerated,  must  necessarily  be  understood,  in 
order  perfectly  to  comprehend  the  action  of  the  machines  we  have  to  de¬ 
scribe.  As  regards  the  aerial  pressure,  its  limits  and  variation  at  different 
altitudes,  we  need  only  remark,  that  a  sucking  pump  or  a  siphon,  which 
raises  water  thirty-three  feet  in  New-York  and  Buenos  Ayres,  London 
and  Calcutta,  St.  Petersburgh  and  Port  Jackson  in  New  Holland,  could 
not,  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  elevate  it  over  twenty-two  feet;  and  at  Quito, 
and  Santa  Fe  de  Bogota  in  South  America,  and  Gondar  the  capital  of 
Abyssinia  twenty  feet,  on  account  of  the  great  elevation  of  these  cities  ; 
(from  the  same  cause,  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on  Mont  Blanc  is 
only  about  half  that  on  the  plains)  and  if  Condamine  and  Humboldt, 
when  on  the  summit  of  Pinchincha,  had  applied  one  to  raise  water  there,  or 
on  the  side  of  Antisana,  at  the  spot  where,  from  the  great  rarity  or  tenuity 
of  the  air,  the  face  of  the  latter  philosopher  was  streaming  with  blood,  his 
attendant  fainted,  and  the  whole  party  exhausted,  it  would  not  have  raised 
water  over  twelve  or  fourteen  feet ;  (the  mercurv  in  the  barometer  fell 


191 


Chap.  3.]  Knoim  to  old  Pump  Makers. 

to  fourteen  inches  seven  lines,)  while  on  the  highest  ridge  of  the  Hima¬ 
layas,  it  would  scarcely  raise  it  eight  or  ten  feet.  Without  a  knowledge 
of  aerial  pressure,  it  is  obvious,  that  engineers  who  visit  Mexico,  and  the 
upper  regions  of  South  America,  &c.  might  get  into  a  quandary  greatly 
more  perplexing  than  that  in  which  the  Florentine  was,  when  he  applied 
to  Galileo  :  but  we  believe  the  period  has  nearly  gone  by,  for  mechanics 
to  remain  ignorant  of  those  principles  of  science,  upon  which  their  profes¬ 
sions  are  based. 

It  perhaps  may  be  asked,  W  ere  the  limits  to  which  water  can  be  raised 
by  the  atmosphere  not  known  before  Galileo’s  time  1  Undoubtedly  they 
were.  Pump  makers  must  always  have  been  acquainted  with  them;  al¬ 
though  philosophers  might  not  have  noticed  the  fact  or  paid  any  attention 
to  the  subject.  Why  then  did  the  Italian  artists  make  such  a  one  as  that 
to  which  we  have  referred  ?  Simply  because  they  were  ordered  to  do 
so,  as  any  mechanic  would  now  do  under  similar  circumstances  :  at  the 
same  time  they  declared  that  it  would  not  raise  the  water,  although  they 
could  not  assign  any  reason  for  the  assertion.  It  was  indeed  impossible 
for  ancient  pump  makers  to  have  remained  ignorant  of  the  extent  to  which 
their  machines  were  applicable.  A  manufacturer  of  them  would  naturally 
extend  their  application,  as  occasions  occurred,  to  wells  of  every  depth, 
until  he  became  familiar  with  the  fact  that  the  power  which  caused  the 
water  to  ascend,  was  limited — and  until  he  detected  the  limits.  After 
using  a  pump  with  success,  to  raise  water  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet, 
when  he  came  to  apply  it  to  wells  of  forty  or  fifty  feet  in  depth  without 
lengthening  the  cylinder,  he  would  necessarily  learn  the  important,  and 
to  him  mysterious  fact,  that  the  limits  were  then  exceeded  :  and  after 
probably  going  through  similar  examinations  and  consultations,  as  those 
which  took  place  at  Florence  in  the  17th  century,  the  unvarying  result 
would  become  so  firmly  established,  that  every  workman  would  learn  it 
traditionally,  as  an  essential  part  of  his  profession  :  and  if  in  succeeding 
ages,  the  knowledge  of  it  became  lost,  the  experience  of  every  individual 
P.un?P  ma^er  must  have  soon  taught  him  the  same  truth.  Attempts  then 
similar  to  those  of  the  Florentine  engineer  occurred  frequently  before,  but 
leading  to  no  important  result,  the  particulars  of  them  have  not  been  pre¬ 
served  ;  nor  is  it  probable  that  those  relating  to  the  Italian  experiment 
would  have  been,  had  not  the  father  of  modern  philosophy  been  consulted, 
and  had  not  his  pupil  Torricelli  taken  up  the  subject. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Ancient  Experiments  on  air — Various  applications  of  it— Siphons  used  in  ancient  Egypt _ Primitive 

experiments  with  vessels  inverted  in  water — Suspension  of  liquids  in  them — Ancient  atmospheric  sprink¬ 
ling  pot— Watering  Gardens  with  it— Probably  referred  to  by  St.  Paul  and  also  by  Shakespeare— Glass 
sprinkling  vessel,  and  a  wine  taster  from  Pompeii— Religious  uses  of  sprinkling  pots  among  the  ancient 
heathen  Figure  of  one  from  Montfaucou — Vestals — Miracle  of  Tutia  carrying  water  in  a  sieve,  describe 
ed  and  explained— Modern  liquor  taster  and  dropping  tubes— Trick  performed  with  various  liquids 
»y  a  Chinese  juggler— Various  frauds  of  the  ancients  with  liquids — Divining  cups. 

j  Notwithstanding  the  alledged  ignorance  of  the  ancients  respecting  the 
physical  properties  of  the  atmosphere,  there  are  circumstances  related  in 
history  which  seem  to  indicate  the  reverse  ;  or  which,  at  any  rate,  show 


[92 


Ancient  Experiments  on  Air. 


[Book  II 


that  air  was  a  frequent  subject  of  investigation  with  their  philosophers, 
and  that  its  influence  in  some  natural  phenomena  was  well  understood. 
Thus  Diogenes  of  Apollonia,  the  disciple  and  successor  of  Anaximenes, 
reasoned  on  its  condensation  and  rarefaction.  According  to  Aristotle,  Em¬ 
pedocles  accounted  for  respiration  in  animals  by  the  weight  of  the  air, 
which  said  he,  “  by  its  pressure  insinuates  itself  with  force  into  the  lungs.” 
Plutarch  expresses  in  the  very  same  terms,  the  sentiments  of  Asclepiades, 
representing  him  among  other  things  as  saying  that  the  external  air,  “  by 
its  weight,  opened  its  way  with  force  into  the  breast.”  Lucretius,  in  ex¬ 
plaining  the  property  of  the  loadstone  in  drawing  iron,  observed  that  it 
repelled  the  intervening  air  betwixt  itself  and  the  iron,  thus  forming  a 
vacuum,  when  the  iron  is  “  gushed  on  by  the  air  behind  it”  Plutarch 
was  of  the  same  opinion.*  Vitruvius  speaks  of  the  pressure  of  air,  Arch, 
book  viii,  cap.  3.  When  Flaminius,  during  the  celebration  of  the  Isthmi¬ 
an  games,  proclaimed  liberty  to  the  Greeks,  the  shout  which  the  people 
gave  in  the  transport  of  their  joy  was  so  great,  that  some  crows,  which  hap¬ 
pened  to  be  then  flying  over  their  heads,  fell  down  into  the  theatre.  Plu¬ 
tarch  among  other  explanations  of  the  phenomenon,  suggests,  that  the 
“  sound  of  so  many,  voices  being  violently  strong,  the  parts  of  the  air  were 
separated  by  it,  and  a  void  left  which  afforded  the  birds  no  support.”b 

But  if  the  ancients  did  not  detect  or  comprehend  the  direct  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere,  they  were  not  ignorant  of  its  effects,  or  of  the  means  of 
exciting  it.  They  in  fact  employed  air  in  many  of  their  devices  as  success¬ 
fully  as  the  moderns.  They  compressed  it  in  air  guns,  and  weighed  it  in 
bladders  ;  its  elasticity  produced  continuous  jets  in  their  fountains  and 
force  pumps,  in  the  same  manner  as  in  ours  ;  by  its  pressure,  they  raised 
water  in  syringes  and  pumps,  and  transferred  it  through  siphons,  precisely 
as  we  do ;  they  excluded  its  pressure  from  the  upper  surface  of  water 
in  their  sprinkling  pots,  and  admitted  it  to  empty  them,  as  in  the  modern 
liquor  merchant's  taster.  That  they  had  condensing  air  pumps  is  evident 
from  the  wind,  guns  of  Ctesibius,  as  well  as  others  described  by  Vitruvius, 
b.  x,  cap.  13  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  they  employed  air  in  numerous  other 
machines  and  for  other  purposes,  but  of  which,  from  the  loss  of  their 
writings,  no  account  has  been  preserved.  See  Vitruvius,  book  x,  cap.  1, 
where  some  are  referred  to,  and  Pliny  Nat.  Hist,  book  xix,  cap.  4. 

It  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  discover  the  origin  of  devices  for 
raising  liquids  by  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere,  for  it  would  require  a 
knowledge  of  man  and  of  the  state  of  the  arts,  in  those  remote  ages  of 
which  no  record  is  extant.  That  machines  for  the  purpose  were  made 
long  before  the  commencement  of  history  is  certain,  for  recent  discov¬ 
eries  have  brought  to  light  the  highly  interesting  fact,  that  siphons  were 
known  in  Egypt  1450  years  before  our  era,  i.  e.  3290  years  ago  !  At 
which  period  too  they  seem  to  have  been  in  more  common  use  in  that 
country,  than  they  are  at  this  day  with  us.  [See  Book  V,  for  an  account 
of  these  instruments.] 

The  retention  of  water  in  inverted  vessels  while  air  is  excluded  from 
them,  could  not  have  escaped  observation  in  the  rudest  ages.  Long  ere 
natural  phenomena  had  awakened  curiosity  in  the  human  mind,  or  roused 
the  spirit  of  philosophical  inquiry  and  research,  it  must  have  been  noticed. 
When  a  person  immerses  a  bucket  in  a  reservoir  and  raises  it  in  an  in¬ 
verted  position,  he  soon  becomes  sensible  that  it  is  not  the  weight  of  the 
vessel  merely  which  he  has  to  overcome,  but  also  that  of  the  water  within 


•  Duten’s  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  the  Discoveries  attributed  to  the  Modems.  Lon 
1769,  pp.  186,  187  203.  b  Life  of  Flaminius. 


Chap.  3.J 


Sprinkling  Pot.. 


193 


it;  and  not  till  the  mouth  emerges  into  air  do  the  contents  rush  out  and 

eaye  the  bucket  alone  m  his  hands.  This  is  one  of  those  circumstances 

t  ,daSb°CTred,  m°re  °r  1633  fre(luently t0  most  persons  in  every  age.  It 

from  d  e"  7  tQ  SUPuP°Se  that  the  Sro“Ps  of  oriental  females  who! 
om  the  remotest  times,  have  assembled  twice  a  day  to  visit  the  fountains 

and  bvrdef°r  Wa%rf  dld  not  often  perform  the  experiment,  both  incidentally 
n  y  .  , s 51»nj  P  iey  ?oldd  not  in  Pact  plunge  their  water  pots  (which  were 
it  -6nn  h°H  hAaiK)  GS)  7  the  Sushing  fount  without  occasionally  repeating 
^wn°70uldAfdf°Tch^  and  her  maids  fill  buckets  to  water  the  horse! 

’•  ou^be'in0^  and  t  7  W  77™  in  the  Stream  for  domestic  uses,  with- 
was  not  !oTereS  dlrrt6d  ^  *  But  the  Pkenomenon  thus  exhibited 
Z  *  ,  fined  SAUCh  OCCasionsi  on  the  contrary,  it  constantly  occurred 

hardlv  wa  7  W°'  7  ancient  domestic  like  a  modern  house-maid,  could 

Beddes  thJv  CUP1  °r  mS!  aig°blet  ^  without  encountering  it. 

Besides  the  vessels  named  there  were  others  that  formed  part  of  the  or- 

tliTdailv  us Tf TV  \hf  anCiCntS’  (see  fiSUres  of  so"le  on  Page  16) 

the  daily  use  of  which  would  vary  and  illustrate  it.  These  were  lon<* 

iWrmnT  narr°W  ™°Uthed  vases  and  bottles,  that  retained  liquids  when 
inverted  like  some  of  our  vials.  Others  were  still  further  contracted  in 

To  the1!!^  aS  tHe  AnfU!la’  which  Save  out  its  contents  only  by  drops. 

with  them  VeSS6ls  and  t0  incidental  experinfenfs  made 

with  them,  may  be  traced  the  origin  of  o\ir  fountain  lamps  and  inkstands 

bird  fountains,  and  other  similar  applications  of  the  same  principle  ' 

therefn  of  a  h(luid  ln  inverted  vessels  by  the  atmosphere,  was 

therefore  well  known  to  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  world,  whether 

they  understood  the  reason  of  its  suspension  or  not;  and  when  frsubse- 

quent  times  philosophers  began  to  search  into  causes  and  effects,  the  phe¬ 
nomenon  was  well  calculated  to  excite  their  attention,  and  to  lead  them  to 

earHe  T  reSpeCtm»  air  and  a  Tacuum  :  it  is  probable  that  it  did  so,  for  the 
arliest  experiments  on  these  subjects,  of  which  we  have  any  accounts 

rndrfremi  ^  t0  lh0Se  d°mestlc  manipulations  to  which  we  ha/e  alluded’ 
fetdinv.PiT‘P  instrume”temployed  was  ^mply  a  modification  of  a  gob- 
<  lnverted  !n  Tate1r-  ,  .Thls  was  the  atmospheric  ‘  sprinkling  pGr  or 
watering  siphon,  which  is  so  often  referred  to  by  the  old  philosophers 

anHhei^1SpUtel°n  *'Plei}um  and  a  vacuum.  It  has  long  been  obsolete’ 
awlOe  thaatVsnghbeen  ^  m°dern  aUth°rS’  f<3W  §eneral  readers  are 

an  inst™ment  was  ever  in  use,  much  less  that  it  formed 
part  of  the  philosophical  apparatus  of  the  ancient  world. 

title  ?nneCted  with  d  and  its  modifications  en- 

e  it  to  a  place  here.  Indeed  were  there  no  other  reason  for  attempting 

of  frieTT  U  a  httle,longer  from  oblivion,  than  that  indicated  at  the  closf 
of  the  last  paragraph,  we  should  not.  feel  justified  in  passing  it  by  It  is 

eSi",?"1  that  “  kT"  “  thf  “^ary,  « HS&  -—In 

ployed  in  hydro-pneumatical  researches.  Its  general  form  and  uses 

Phdosopher  er<ld  feom.fee  r.eraarks  op  Athenagoras  respecting  it.  This 
philosopher,  who  flourished  in  the  fifth  century,  B.  C.  made  use  of  it  tn 

of  a  vacuum.  -This  ijr’ument  (says  he  which  is 

mat™'"  /!  7  PTted  to'vards  the  top,  and  made  of  clay  or  any  other 
material,  (and  used  as  it  often  has,  for  the  watering  of  gardens}  is  !n  tbP 

bo  tom  very  large  and  plain  [flat]  but  full  of  smalfholef  like TsXve  but 

hqmd  ZeZtiz  hole ■”*  Yhen "  ~  S 

the  single  opening  aft  be  nmaier°us  k°fes  m  lts  bottom ;  after  which 
D  °pemng  at  top  was  closed  by  the  finger  to  exclude  the  air;  the 


*  As  quoted  by  Switzer  from  Bockler,  Hyd.  167. 

25 


194  Watering  Plants  with  the  Atmosphheric  Garden  Pot.  [Book  II 


vessel  and  its  contents  were  then  raised,  and  the  latter  discharged  at 
pleasure  by  removing  the  finger. 

As  this  was  the  ancient  garden  pot  of  the  Greeks,  Pliny  probably  re¬ 
fers  to  it  when  he  speaks  of  *  sprinkling’  water,  oil,  vinegar,  &c.  on  plants 
and  roots.11  It  appears  to  have  been  continued  in  use  for  such  purposes 
in  Europe,  through  the  middle  ages  ;  and  to  a  limited  extent  up  to  the  17th 
and  18th  centuries.b  Figures  of  it  are,  however,  rarely  to  be  met  with, 
for  it  seems  to  have  been  nearly  forgotten  when  the  discovery  of  Torri¬ 
celli  revived  the  old  discussions  on  a  vacuum;  and  though  Boyle  and  others 
then  occasionally  referred  to  it,  few,  we  believe,  gave  its  figure.'  Mont-  I 
faucon  speaks  of  examining  an  ancient  ‘  watering  stick,’  and  also  a 
‘  sprinkling  pot,’  but  unfortunately  he  has  not  described  either.*1  Of 

a  great  number  of  old  philosophical  works  that 
we  have  examined  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a 
figure,  we  met  with  it  only  in  Fludd’s  works.  The 
annexed  cut  is  from  his  De  Naturae  Simia  seu  Tech- 
nica  macrocosmi  historia.’  Oppenheim,  1618,  p.  473. 
The  mode  of  using  it  is  too  obvious  to  require  expla¬ 
nation.  It  was  pushed  into  water  in  the  position  re¬ 
presented  ;  the  liquid  entered  through  the  openings 
in  the  bottom,  driving  the  air  out  of  the  small  orifice 
at  the  top ;  and  when  it  was  filled,  the  person  using 
it  placed  his  finger  or  thumb  on  the  orifice  and  then 
moved  the  vessel  over  the  plants,  &c.  he  wished  to 
water ;  discharging  the  contents  by  raising  the  finger. 


No.  69.  Ancient  Watering  Pot. 

The  application  of  this  instrument  as  a  *  garden  pot’  may  sometimes  be 
found  portrayed  in  devices,  rebuses,  vignettes,  &c.  of  old  printers.  In 
the  title  page  of  Godwin’s  Annals  of  Henry  VIII,  Edward  VI,  and 
Mary,  (a  thin  latin  folio  published  in  1616)  it  is  represented.  No.  70  is  a 
copy.  There  is  a  similar  engraving  on  the  title  page  of  a  volume  on 
farming,  &c.  entitled  ‘  Maison  Rustique,’  translated  from  the  French,  and 
published  in  London  by  John  Islip,  the  same  year. 


No.  70.  Watering  plants  with  the  Atmospheric  Sprinkling  Pot. 

Independently  of  the  sprinkling  pot,  the  cut  is  interesting  as  exhibiting 


»  Nat.  Hist,  xvii,  11  and  28  ;  xix,  12  ;  and  xv,  17.  b  Dictionnaire  De  Trfevoux,  Art. 
Arrosoir.  c  Boyle’s  Philosophical  works,  by  Shaw,  Lon.  1725.  Vol.  ii,  pp.  140,  144 
d  Italian  Diary,  Lon.  1725,  295. 


Chap.  3.]  Sprinkler  and  T Vine-  Taster  from  Pompeii.  195 

the  ancient  mode  of  transplanting.  It  appears  that  two  men  were  gener¬ 
ally  employed  m  the  operation  ;  one  to  set  the  trees  or  plants,  and  another 
to  water  them ;  a  custom  to  which  St.  Paul  alludes  in  1  Cor.  iii,  6—8 
Sometimes  ‘  he  that  watered’  used  two  pots  at  the  same  time,  holding  one 
in  each  hand.  As  these  vessels  were  not  wholly  disused  in  Shakespeare’s 
time,  it  is  probable,  that  to  them  he  refers  in  Lear : 

Why,  this  would  make  a  man,  a  man  of  salt,  [tears] 

To  use  his  eyes  for  garden  water  pots.  Act  4,  Scene  C. 

<U  Modificati°ns  of  them  were  adapted  to  various  purposes  by  the  ancients, 
ihey  were  used  to  drop  water  on  floors  in  order  to  lay  the  dust,  in  both 
Vxreek  and  Roman  houses.  Their  general  form  was  that  of  a  pitcher  or 
vase,  and  their  dimensions  varied  with  their  uses.  Some  of  the  small¬ 
est  had  but  a  single  hole  in  the  bottom.  They  formed  part  of  the  ordin¬ 
ary  culinary  apparatus,  and  were  also  used  in  religious  services.  Amon^ 
the  antiquities  disinterred  at  Pompeii,  some  have  been  found.  No.  71 
represents  one  :  it  is  of  glass,  the  upper  part  of  the  tube  or  neck  is  want- 
mg,  having  been  broken  off.  Perhaps  this  part  resembled  the  form  indi¬ 
cated  by  the  dotted  lines  which  we  have  added. 

No.  72,  also  of  glass, 
has  been  pronounced  ‘ a 
wine-taster,  the  air  hav¬ 
ing  been  exhausted  by 
sucking  at  the  small  end.’ 
It  is  more  likely  that  the 
wide  part  was  inserted  in¬ 
to  wine  jars  or  amphoras, 
and  the  cavity  filled  with 
that  liquid  precisely  as  in 
the  sprinkling  pot,  and 
samples  then  withdrawn 
p.  •  ,  .  »  .  ,  by  closing  the  small  ori- 

with  the  finger  as  in  the  modern  instrument,  which  is  shewn  at  No 
,  and  as  in  the  dropping  tube,  one  form  of  which  is  figured  at  No.  77. 

.  general  iorm  of  No.  72  assimilates  it  to  those  drinking  vessels  of  the 
ancients,  which  they  held  at  a  distance  in  front,  and  directed  the  stream 
issuing  from  the  small  end  of  the  vessel  into  the  mouth ;  a  mode  still 
practised  in  some  parts  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  by  the  natives  of  Ceylon 
Sumatra,  Malabar,  &c.  J  ’ 

One  of  the  most  singular  facts  connected  with  the  religious  institutions 
o  the  ancient  heathen,  was  the  extent  to  which  they  carried  the  practice 
ol  sprinkling  :  almost  every  thing  was  thus  purified  ;  men,  animals,  trees, 
wa  er,  houses,  food,  clothing,  carriages,  &c.  In  performing  the  ceremony 
various  implements  were  used  to  disperse  the  sacred  liquid.  A  wisp 
made  of  horse  hair  attached  to  a  handle  was  common.  A  branch  from 
certain  trees,  and  sometimes  a  small  broom,  were  used;  in  other  cases 
perforated  vessels  were  employed.  Thus  the  Bramins  in  some  ceremonies 
h  i  aT  ufWa‘er •.“dafter  Presenting  it  to  the  gods,  they  sprinkle 

mTU'er  na'’f '  °"  °arriaSeS'  &c.  in  others  it  is 

,,  J  r  ,  1  »  cullender  with  a  hundred  holes  on  the  head  of 

the  father,  mother  and  child.”*  The  priests  of  the  ancient  Scandinavians 

st-inkTed  ,heVr  ‘[l>rePfred  like  a  Bering  P°t.  with  which  they 
p  n  1  ,d  the  altars,  the  pedestals  of  their  gods,  and  also  the  men.”b  The 

The^chantpr  t;’t  and  Vol.  ii,  97.  b  Snorro’s  History  of  Scandinavia 

burgh/  1793  P  ,fices  18  translated  in  Anderson’s  *  Bee,’  vol  xvi,  p.  20,  Edin 


No.  72. 


No.  71. 


Sprinkler  and  Wine-taster  both  from  Pompeii. 


196 


[Book  IT. 


Sprinkling  Vessel  from  Montfaucon. 

Jewish  priests  commonly  used  a  branch  of  hyssop,  but  occasionally  a 
piece  of  wool,  and  sometimes  the  fingers.  “  The  priest  shall  dip  his  finger 
in  the  oil  and  sprinkle  it.”  The  Greeks  and  Romans  had  not  only  founts 
or  vases  of  holy  water  in  their  temples  for  the  use  of  worshippers,  whc 
dipped  their  fingers  into  them,  as  Roman  catholics  and  others  do  at  this 
day  ;  but  on  particular  occasions,  priests  or  officers  attended  to  purify  the 
people  by  sprinkling.  Thus,  when  the  Emperor  Julian  visited  the  temple 
at  Antioch,  the  Neocori  stood  on  each  side  of  the  doorway  to  purify  with 
lustral  water  all  who  entered.  Valentinian,  who  was  afterwards  raised  to 
the  empire,  was  then  captain  of  Julian’s  guard,  and  as  such  walked  in 
front.  He  was  then  a  Christian,  and  some  of  the  water  having  been 
thrown  upon  him,  he  turned  and  struck  the  priest,  saying,  that  the  water 
rather  polluted  than  purified ;  at  which  the  emperor  was  so  enraged  that 
he  immediately  banished  him. 

Now  whether  the  fingers  or  light  brooms,  &c.  were  used  on  such  occa¬ 
sions  we  do  not  know  ;  but  there  were  others  at  which  the  former  cer¬ 
tainly  were  not.  When  the  emperors  dined,  not  only  their  persons  and 
table  furniture,  but  the  food,  also  was  purified  with  lustral  water.  At  the 
feast  of  Daphne  near  Antioch,  which  lasted  seven  days,  we  learn  that 
a  neochorus  stood  by  the  emperor’s  seat,  and  sprinkled  the  dishes  and 
meats  ‘  as  usual.’  How  was  this  water  dispersed  I  Certainly  not  by  the 
fingers;  nor  is  it  likely  that  a  wisp  or  a  broom  was  employed,  since  it 
would  be  difficult  to  direct  the  small  shower  with  sufficient  precision  on  the 
smaller  objects.  We  have  made  these  remarks  for  the  purpose  of  intro¬ 
ducing  the  figure  of  an  ancient  sprinkling  ves¬ 
sel,  from  the  third  volume  of  Montfaucon’s 
Antiquities.  It  was  supposed  by  him  to  have 
belonged  to  the  table  or  kitchen,  but  its  spe¬ 
cific  use  he  could  not  conjecture.  It  is  evi¬ 
dently  a  modification  of  the  atmospheric  gar¬ 
den  pot,  and  it  appears  admirably  adapted  for 

No.  73.  Roman  Sprinkling  Vase,  dispersing  liquid  perfumes  or  lustral  water  at 

the  table.  The  ring  is  adapted  to  receive  the 
forefinger,  while  the  thumb  could  close  the  small  orifice,  and  thus  the  con¬ 
tents  might  be  retained  or  discharged  at  pleasure. 

Among  other  heathen  customs  that  were  long  retained  in  the  Christian 
church,  was  this  practice  of  sprinkling.  Peter  Martyr  exclaims  against  a 
certain  class,  “  who  not  only  consecrate  temples  themselves,  but  also  altars 
and  coverings  to  the  altars ;  T  meane  the  table  clothes  and  napkins,  and 
also  the  chalices  and  patins,  the  massing  garmentes,  the  churchyardes,  the 
waxe  candles,  the  frankincense,  -the  pascal  lambe,  eggs,  and  also  holie  wa¬ 
ter;  the  boughes  of  their  palm  trees,  yon g  springes,  grass,  pot-hearbes, 
and  finally  all  kinds  of  fruites.”  “  They  doe  sprinkle  houses,  deade  bodies, 
churchyardes,  eggs,  flesh,  pothearbes,  and  garmentes.”a 

Of  all  the  transactions  connected  with  heathen  theology,  few  ever 
made  a  greater  noise  in  ancient  Rome  than  one  that  is  connected  with  this 
part  of  our  subject;  viz.  the  miracle  by  which  Tutia  the  vestal  saved  her 
life.  It  was  a  religious  custom  among  all  the  nations  of  old,  to  keep  sa¬ 
cred  fire  in  the  temples  of  their  deities.  In  some,  lamps  were  kept  burning, 
in  others  fuel  kindled  on  the  altars.  In  the  temples  of  Jupiter-Am- 
mon,  Apollo,  Minerva,  and  some  other  deities  were  lamps  constantly 
burning.  The  Israelites  were  to  cause  the  lamps  to  “  burn  continually,” 
besides  which,  “  the  fire  shall  ever  be  burning  upon  the  altar  :  it  shall 


Common  Places,  part  iv,  cap.  9. 


Chap.  3.] 


Vestals. 


197 


never  go  out.  Levit.  vi,  13.  The  practice  is  still  kept  up  by  the  Jews 
and  also  by  Roman  catholics.  The  origin  of  the  custom  is  unknown;  but 
the  Jews,  Persians,  Greeks,  &c.  are  generally  supposed  to  have  derived  it 
Irom  the  Egyptians.  Upon  the  consecration  of  a  temple,  this  4  holy  fire’ 
was  not  obtained  from  ordinary  sources,  i.  e.  from  other  fires,  but  was  pro¬ 
duced  by  the  rubbing  of  two  sticks  together;  or,  according  to  Plutarch, 
was  drawn  directly  from  the  sun.  “If  it  happen  (he  observes  in  his  Life 
oi  JN  un:a)  by  any  accident  to  be  put  out,  as  the  sacred  lamp  is  said  to 
have  been  at  Athens,  under  the  tyranny  of  Aristion— at  Delphi,  when 
the  temple  was  burned  by  the  Medes— and  at  Rome  in  the  Mithridatic,  as 
also  in  the  civil  war,  when  not  only  the  fire  was  extinguished  but  the 
altar  itself  overturned — it  is  not  to  be  lighted  again  from  another  fire,  but 
new  fire  is  to  be  gained  by  drawing  a  pure  and  unpolluted  flame  from 
the  beams  of  the  sun.  This  is  done  generally  with  concave  vessels  of 
brass.” 

Among  the  Romans  a  certain  number  of  virgins  were  consecrated  with 
solemn  ceremonies  to  the  Goddess  Vesta.  They  were  named  vestals, 
and  it  was  their  peculiar  duty  to  take  charge  of  the  sacred  fire.  They 
vvere  greatly  honored  for  their  purity  and  the  importance  of  their  office. 
“  What  is  there  in  Rome,  (exclaimed  Tiberius  Gracchus  in  his  address  to 
the  people)  so  sacred  and  venerable  as  the  vestal  virgins  who  keep  the 
perpetual  fire  ?”  The  most  valuable  and  sacred  deposites  were  often 
placed  in  their  hands  for  security.  The  wills  of  rich  Romans  were 
sometimes  committed  to  their  care;  hence  we  read  of  Augustus 
forcing  from  them  that  of  Antony,  while  the  latter  was  in  Egypt.  The 
vestals  enjoyed  many  privileges ;  among  others,  when  they  went  abroad, 
the  fasces  (emblems  of  authority)  were  carried  by  a  lictor  before  them  ; 
and  it  was  death  for  any  one  to  go  under  the  litter  or  chair  in  which  they 
were  carried  ;  and  if  they  met  a  criminal  going  to  execution,  his  life  was 
spared.  The  vestal  daughter  of  Appius  Claudius  protected  him  from 
being  arrested  by  the  Tribunes.  On  the  other  hand,  they  were  punished 
with  extreme  rigor  if  found  to  have  broken  any  of  their  vows.  To  per¬ 
mit  the  perpetual  or  holy  fire  to  go  out  was  an  unpardonable  act,  for  it 
was  believed  to  betoken  some  national  calamity,  and  if  one  was  found 
guilty  of  unchastity  she  was  buried  alive.  “  The  criminal  (says  Plutarch) 
is  carried  to  punishment  through  the  forum  in  a  litter,  well  covered  with¬ 
out,  and  bound  up  in  such  a  manner  that  her  cries  cannot  be  heard.  The 
people  silently  make  way  for  the  litter  and  follow  it  with  marks  of  ex¬ 
treme  sorrow  and  dejection.  There  is  no  spectacle  more  dreadful  than 
this,  nor  any  day  which  the  city  spends  in  a  more  melancholy  manner. 
When  the  litter  comes  to  the  place  appointed  the  officers  loose  the  cords, 
the  high  priest  with  hands  lifted  up  towards  heaven  offers  some  private 
prayers  just  before  the  fatal  minute;  then  takes  out  the  prisoner,  who  is 
covered  with  a  veil,  and  places  her  upon  the  steps  which  lead  down  into 
the  cell,  [grave;]  after  this  he  retires  with  the  rest  of  the  priests,  and  when 
she  is  gone  down,  the  steps  are  taken  away  and  the  cell  is  covered  with 
earth,  so  that  the  place  is  made  level  with*  the  rest  of  the  mount.”  [Life 
of  Numa,  Langhorne’s  Trans.] 

Tutia,  who  was  accused  of  incontinence,  in  order  to  avoid  the  horrid  pen- 
ahy,  passionately  called,  or  affected  so  to  call,  upon  the  goddess  Vesta, 
to  establish  by  a  miracle  her  innocence.  “  Enable  me  (she  cried)  to  take 
a  sieve  full  of  water  from  the  Tyber,  and  to  carry  it  full  to  thy  temple.” 
Upon  this  appeal  her  trial  was  stayed,  and  it  was  left  to  the  deity  she 
ad  invoked,  to  save  her  or  not;  for  such  a  proof  of  the  falsehood  of  her 
accusers  could  not,  if  it  should  take  place,  be  resisted.  The  result 


198 


Tutia  carrying  Water  m  a  Sieve. 


[Book  II 


No.  74.  Tutia  carrying  Wa¬ 
ter  in  a  Sieve. 


was,  she  succeeded  in  carrying  the  water,  and  thereby  not  only  saved  her 
life,  but  greatly  increased  her  reputation  for  sanctity.  From  the  imper¬ 
fect  accounts  of  the  transaction  that  have  reached 
us,  it  may  perhaps  be  deemed  presumptuous  to 
decide  on  its  real  character.  That  it  actually  oc¬ 
curred  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  is  incorporated 
with  both  the  history  and  the  arts  of  the  Romans. 
It  is  mentioned  by  Valerius  Maximus,  by  Pliny 
and  Livy:  representations  of  Tutia  carrying  the 
sieve  were  also  embodied  in  sculptures,  in  statues, 
and  engraved  on  gems.  The  annexed  figure  was 
copied  from  one  of  the  latter.  It  is  from  the  first 
volume  of  Montfaucon’s  Antiquities,  Plate  28. 

As  the  feat  therefore  was  certainly  performed, 
it  must  have  been  either  by  natural  or  by  superna¬ 
tural  means.  Some  writers  have  admitted,  and  St. 
Augustine  among  them,  that  the  miracle  was  a  ge¬ 
nuine  one ;  but  there  are  circumstances  sufficient 
to  show  that  the  whole  was  a  well  conceived  and 
neatly  executed  trick,  on  the  part  of  Tutia  and  her 
friends;  and  further,  that  it  was  a  much  more 
simple  one,  than  other  deceptions  to  which  the  heathen  priests  some¬ 
times  had  recourse.  It  possesses  considerable  interest  however  as  fur¬ 
nishing  another  specimen  of  their  proficiency  in  scientific  juggling  and 
natural  magic.  To  say  nothing  of  the  absurdity  of  admitting  a  divine 
interposition,  in  answer  to  invocations  addressed  to  a  heathen  goddess — 
and  of  the  improbability  of  Tutia  being  condemned  while  innocent;  there 
certainly  was  something  suspicious  in  her  undertaking  to  select  the  test  for 
the  goddess,  and  especially  such  a  one  as  that  of  carrying  water  in  a 
sieve.  Instead  of  asking  for  a  sign  by  water,  it  would  have  been  more 
appropriate  and  more  natural  in  her  (if  sincere)  to  have  prayed  for  one  by 
fire — by  that  element  which  was  the  symbol  of  the  deity  she  invoked,  and 
which  it  was  her  peculiar  duty  to  attend  at  the  altar  and  preserve  pure — 
the  element  too,  which,  if  the  accusation  was  true,  she  had  polluted  :  be¬ 
sides,  a  token  by  fire  was  always  considered  by  the  heathen  as  the  strong¬ 
est  evidence  of  divine  approbation.  What  prompted  her  then  to  mention 
the  test  of  the  sieve  1  Doubtless  because  the  device  by  which  it  was  to 
be  performed  was  already  matured;  not  by  the  assistance  of  Vesta,  but 
by  a  very  simple  contrivance  furnished  her  by  the  priests,  from  their  stores 
of  philosophical  and  other  apparatus  with  which  they  wrought  their  won¬ 
ders  before  the  people. 


The  contrivance  was,  we  presume,  a  modification 
of  the  ancient  sprinkling  pot,  just  described.  The 
sieve  she  employed  would  therefore  be  a  double 
one  ;  that  is,  its  bottom  and  sides  were  hollow,  the 
exterior  bottom  only  being  perforated,  as  in  the  an¬ 
nexed  cut,  which  represents  a  double  metallic  vessel, 
the  inner  one  being  capable  of  holding  water,  and 

the  upper  edges  of  both  united  and  made  perfectly 
No.  75.  Supposed  construe-  ■  •  /  •  i  l  •  ?  f 

tion  of  Tuna's  sieve.  air  tight,  with  the  exception  ot  one  or  perhaps  two 

small  openings  shown  on  the  edge  in  the  figure. 
Thus  when  such  a  sieve  was  pressed  slowly  under  water,  the  liquid  would 
enter  through  the  perforated  bottom,  drive  the  air  before  it,  and  fill  the 
cavity  ;  and  when  the  upper  part  was  sunk  below  the  surface,  the  upper  or 
apparent  sieve  would  also  be  filled.  Then  by  covering  the  small  opening 


Chap.  3.] 


199 


Liquor  Taster  and  Dropping  Tube. 


with  the  thumb ,  the  vessel  might  he  raised  out  of  the  river,  the  water 
in  the  cavity  being  suspended  precisely  as  in  Nos.  69  and  70,  so 
that  Tutia  might  return  with  it  to  the  temple,  and  on  approaching  the 
altar,  by  imperceptibly  sliding  her  thumb  to  one  side,  the  air  would  enter 
the  opening  thus  exposed,  and  the  contents  of  the  cavity  would  descend 
in  a  shower,  to  the  amazement  of  the  spectators  and  to  the  confusion  of 
her  adversaries.  With  such  an  instrument  she  might  go  with  that  confi¬ 
dence  to  the  trial,  which  she  is  represented  to  have  felt,  being  fully  con¬ 
vinced  of  success.  While  she  was  in  the  act  of  carrying  the  water,  the 
spectators  would  be  unable  to  detect  the  slightest  imposition,  or  if,  from 
the  elevation  at  which  she  seems  to  have  borne  it,  the  bottom  of  the  sieve 
was  exposed,  it  would  be  more  likely  to  confirm  them  in  the  belief  of  the 
miracle,  as  her  movements  would  cause  the  suspended  water  to  appear 
at  the  openings  ;  but  it  is  more  probable  that  they  were  kept  at  too  great  a 
distance  by  the  managers  of  the  farce,  to  afford  them  any  opportunity  of 
exercising  an  undue  curiosity.  And  when  the  trial  was  over,  the  sieve 
would  be  secured  by  those  in  the  secret,  who  would  have  one  similar  in 
appearance  ready  for  examination  whenever  required. 

Few  devices  are  better  adapted  to  demonstrate  the  suspension  of  water 
by  the  atmosphere,  than  those  little  instruments  which  chemists  and  deal¬ 
ers  in  ardent  spirit  use,  to  examine  their  various  liquids.  Those  of  the 
former  are  named  '  dropping  tubes,’  from  the  small  quantities  they  are  de¬ 
signed  to  take  up,  and  the  latter  ‘liquor  tasters:’  both  are 
substantially  the  same,  for  they  differ  merely  in  form  and  di¬ 
mensions.  Some  curious  experiments  may  be  made  with  them. 
For  example,  a  series  of  liquids  similar  in  appearance  but 
differing  from  each  other  in  specific  gravity,  and  such  as  do 
not  readily  mix,  may  be  placed  in  a  glass  or  other  vessel,  so 
as  to  form  separate  layers,  the  heaviest  at  the  bottom,  and  the 
lightest  reposing  on  the  top.  An  expert  manipulator  may 
then  by  a  taster  (No.  76)  withdraw  a  portion  of  each,  and 
present  to  the  examination  of  his  audience  from  the  same  ves- 
Liquor  Taster  sel,  samples  of  different  wines,  ardent  spirits,  water,  &c.  There 
Droppi*n"  Tube  reason  to  believe  that  the  ancient  professors  of  legerdemain 
were  well  acquainted  with  such  devices.  It  is  possible  that 
the  trick  performed  by  a  Chinese  juggler  before  the  Russian  embassy  at 
Pekin,  in  the  last  century,  was  of  the  kind.  It  is  thus  described  by  Mr. 
Bell:  “The  roof  of  the  room  where  we  sat  was  supported  by  wooden 
pillars.  The  juggler  took  a  gimblet,  with  which  he  bored  one  of  the  pil¬ 
lars  and  asked  whether  we  chose  red  or  white  wine  ?  The  question  being 
answered,  he  pulled  out  the  gimblet  and  put  a  quill  in  the  hole,  through 
which  ran  as  from  a  cask  the  wine  demanded.  After  the  same  manner  he 
extracted  several  sorts  of  liquors,  all  which  I  had  the  curiosity  to  taste, 
and  found  them  good  of  the  kinds.”  Bell’s  Travels.  Lon.  1764,  vol.  ii,  28. 

Peter  Martyr  speaks  of  old  jugglers  that  “  devoure  bread,  and  imme¬ 
diately  spit  out  meale;  and  when  they  have  droonke  wine,  they  seem  pres- 
entlie  to  poure  the  same  out  of  the  midst  of  their  forehed.” 

There  are  numerous  intimations  in  history  that  hydrodynamics  was  one 
of  the  most  fruitful  sources  of  scientific  imposture,  to  which  ancient  magi¬ 
cians  had  recourse.  Besides  the  sieve  of  Tutia,  the  cup  of  Tantalus,  and  the 
Divining  cup,  there  were  “the  marvellous  fountain,  which  Pliny  describes, 
in  the  island  of  Andros,  which  discharged  wine  for  seven  days  and  water 
during  the  rest  of  the  year — the  spring  of  oil  which  broke  out  in  Rome 
to  welcome  the  return  of  Augustus  from  the  Sicilian  war — the  three 
empty  urns  that  filled  themselves  with  wine  at  the  annual  feast  of  Bacchus, 


No.  76.  No.  77. 


200 


Divining  Cups. 


[Book  II. 


in  the  city  of  Ellis — the  glass  tomb  of  Belus  which  was  full  of  oil,  and 
which  when  once  emptied  by  Xerxes  could  not  again  be  filled — the  weep¬ 
ing  statues,  and  the  perpetual  lamps ; — all  the  obvious  effects  of  the  equi¬ 
librium  and  pressure  of  fluids.” 

The  cup  of  Tantalus  will  be  ound  described  in  the  Chapter  on  Si¬ 
phons  in  Book  V.  Divining  cups  may  be  noticed  here,  as  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  water  was  suspended  in  some  of  them  by  atmospheric 
pressure;  while  in  others,  sounds  were  produced  by  the  expulsion  of 
air  through  secret  cavities  formed  within  them.  Divination  by  water  has 
prevailed  from  immemorial  time,  and  in  the  eastern  world,  has  been  prac¬ 
tised  in  a  great  variety  of  ways.  Sometimes  the  inquirers  into  futurity 
performed  the  requisite  ceremonies  themselves,  and  with  ordinary  instru¬ 
ments,  as  when  a  mirror  or  looking-glass  was  used  ;  (see  page  34)  at 
other  times  professional  sorcerers  were  employed.  These  men,  as  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  course,  provided  their  own  apparatus,  and  hence  had  every  oppor¬ 
tunity  in  its  construction  of  concealing  within  some  part,  the  device  upon 
which  their  deceptions  turned. 

Of  all  the  implements  connected  with  Hydromancy,  cups  are  the  most 
interesting.  They  are  among  the  earliest  that  history  has  mentioned, 
(Genesis,  xliv,  5,)  and  they  have  longer  retained  a  place  in  the  conjurer’s 
budget  than  any  other.  They  were  used  by  astrologers  of  Europe  during 
the  middle  ages,  and  are  not  yet  wholly  abandoned  in  that  part  of  the 
world.  Like  all  devices  of  the  old  magicians,  ingenuity  seems  to  have 
been  exhausted  in  their  formation  and  in  adapting  them  to  different  spe¬ 
cies  of  jugglery.  They  were  of  various  materials;  while  some  were  of 
silver  like  Joseph’s,  others  were  of  wood,  glass,  stone,  &c.  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  trick  to  be  performed  by  them.  Sometimes  presages 
were  drawn  from  observing  the  liquid  through  the  sides  of  the  cup;  for 
this  purpose  it  was  made  of  a  translucent  material ;  but  then  one  side  was 
left  thick  while  the  others  were  thin,  so  that  the  contents  were  invisible 
through  the  former,  but  quite  plain  through  the  latter.  The  indications 
were  considered  favorable  when  the  liquid  was  clear  and  distinctly  seen, 
and  unfavorable  if  the  inquirer  could  not  perceive  it — thus  either  side 
was  presented  by  the  conjurer  as  best  suited  his  views.  The  same  trick 
is  still  performed  in  some  of  the  churches  in  Itaty ;  one  side  of  the  goblet 
or  glass  is  made  opaque,  while  the  other  is  transparent.  With  other  cups 
it  was  the  motion  or  agitation  of  the  liquid  that  was  looked  for :  if  it  re¬ 
mained  at  rest,  the  omen  was  bad — if  violently  moved,  good.  This  kind 
of  divination  most  likely  depended  on  legerdemain  or  ‘sleight  of  hand,’ 
in  dropping  unperceived  some  substance  into  the  vessel  that  produced  ef¬ 
fervescence — or  by  opening  a  secret  communication  with  a  cavity  in  the 
stem  or  base  of  the  vessel,  containing  a  liquid  that  had  a  similar  effect.  In 
Japan  it  is  common  to  place  a  pot  of  water  on  the  head;  if  the  liquid 
boil  over,  the  presage  is  good,  “but  if  it  stirs  not,  bad  luck.”a  Among 
the  prodigies  mentioned  by  Herodotus,  is  one  of  this  kind  :  the  flesh  of 
a  victim  sacrificed  during  the  Olympic  games,  was  placed  in  brazen  caul¬ 
drons,  and  “  the  water  boiled  up  and  overflowed  without  the  intervention 
of  fire,”  (B.  i,  59.)  The  emerald  cup,  by  which  the  priests  of  Mentz 
deluded  people  in  the  dark  ages,  belongs  to  the  same  class.  On  certain 
days,  two  or  three  extremely  minute  fishes  were  secretly  put  in,  and  by 
their  motions  in  the  water  produced  such  an  effect  that  the  people  were 
persuaded  “the  cup  was  alive.”b 


a  Montanas’  Japan,  translated  by  Ogilby,  Lon.  1G70,  p.  123. 
b  Missou’s  Travels,  vol.  i,  93.  See  also  Moreri’s  Diet,  vol,  iv.  Art.  Augury. 


201 


Chap.  4.J  Impossible  to  raise  Liquids  by  Suction. 

The  divining  cups  of  the  Assyrians  and  Chaldeans  appear,  from  im¬ 
perfect  accounts  of  them  extant,  to  have  been  more  artificially  contrived. 
When  one  was  used,  it  was  filled  with  water,  a  piece  of  silver  or  a  jewel 
having  certain  characters  engraved  on  it  was  thrown  in ;  the  conjurer 
then  muttered  some  words  of  adjuration,  when  the  demon  thus  addressed, 
it  is  said,  “ whistled  the  answer  from  the  bottom  of  the  cup.”  These  ves¬ 
sels  were  probably  so  contrived,  that  the  water  might  compress  air  con¬ 
cealed  in  some  cavity  in  the  base,  and  force  it  through  the  orifice  of  a  mi¬ 
nute  reed  or  whistle,  as  in  the  musical  bottles  of  Peru.  As  Julius  Cyre- 
nius  says  such  cups  were  also  used  by  the  Egyptians,  it  is  possible  that  it 
was  one  of  them  by  which  Joseph  divined,  or  affected  through  policy  to 
divine.  Divination  by  the  cup  is  still  practiced  in  Japan. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  jugglers  of  Asia  have  always  been  unri¬ 
valled.  Even  in  modern  times,  some  of  their  tricks  are  beautiful  applica¬ 
tions  of  science,  and  are  so  neatly  performed  as  to  baffle  the  most  saga¬ 
cious  of  observers.  A  full  account  of  them  would  go  far  to  explain  'all 
the  miracles  which  ancient  authors  have  mentioned,  and  would  afford  some 
curious  information  respecting  the  secrets  of  ancient  temples. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Suction:  Impossible  to  raise  liquids  by  that  which  is  so  called— Action  of  the  muscles  of  the  thorax 
and  abdomen  in  sucking  explained — Two  kinds  of  suction — Why  the  term  is  continued — Sucking  poison 
from  wounds— Cupping  and  cupping-horns— Ingenuity  of  a  raven— Sucking  tubes  original  atmospheric 
pumps— The  Sanguisuchello — Peruvian  mode  of  taking  tea,  by  sucking  it  through  tubes— Reflections  on 
it-  New  application  of  such  tubes  suggested-r-Explanation  of  an  ambiguous  proverbial  expression, 

Air  is  expelled  from  such  vessels  as  are  figured  in  the  last  chapter  by 
thrusting  them  into  a  liquid,  which  entering  at  the  bottom,  drives  out  as 
it  rises  the  lighter  fluid  at  the  top.  In  the  apparatus  now  to  be  described, 
it  is  withdrawn  in  a  different  manner.  The  vessels  are  not  lowered  into 
water,  but  the  latter  is  forced  up  into  them.  The  operation  by  which  this 
is  accomplished  was  formerly  named  suction,  from  an  erroneous  idea  that 
it  was  effected  by  some  power  or  faculty  of  the  mouth,  independently  of 
any  other  influence.  A  simple  experiment  will  convince  any  one  that  the 
smallest  particle  of  liquid  cannot  be  so  raised  : — fill  a  common  flask  or 
small  bottle  within  a  quarter  of  an  inch  of  the  top  of  the  neck,  and  place 
it  in  a  perpendicular  position ;  then  let  a  person  apply  his  mouth  over  the 
orifice,  and  he  may  suck  forever  without  tasting  the  contents ;  the  veriest 
lover  of  ardent  spirits  would  die  in  despair  ere  he  could  thus  partake  of 
his  favorite  liquor ;  and  the  exhausted  traveler  could  never  moisten  his 

parched  throat,  although  the  liquid,  as  in  the  case  of  Tantalus,  was  at 
his  lips. 

As  remarked  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  error  was  not  exploded  till 
i  orricelh  and  Pascal’s  experiments  proved  that  water  is  not  raised  in 
pumps  by  suction,  or  any  kind  of  attraction,  but  by  pulsion  from  aerial 
pressure.  Auction  therefore,  or  that  which  was  so  called,  merely  removes 
an  obstacle  [air]  to  a  liquid’s  ascent — it  does  not  raise  it,  nor  even  aid  in 
t  ie  act  of  laising  it.  In  other  words,  it  is  simply  that  action  of  the  mus¬ 
cles  of  the  thorax  and  abdomen  which  enlarges  the  capacity  of  the  lungs 

26 


d02 


[Book  II. 


Gapping  and  Cupping  Instruments. 

and  chest,  so  that  air  within  them  becomes  rarefied  and  consequently  no 
longer  in  equilibrium  with  that  without — hence  when  in  this  state  a  com¬ 
munication  is  opened  between  them  and  a  liquid,  the  weight  of  the  atmos¬ 
phere  resting  upon  the  latter  necessarily  drives  it  into  the  mouth ;  as  for 
example,  when  a  person  drinks  water  from  a  tumbler  or  tea  from  a  cup. 
How  singular  that  the  rationale  of  taking  liquids  into  the  stomach  was  not 
understood  till  the  17th  century — that  so  simple  an  operation  and  one  in¬ 
cessantly  occurring,  should  have  remained  unexplained  through  all  pre¬ 
vious  time  ! 

Two  kinds  of  suction  have  been  mentioned  by  some  writers,  but  the  prin¬ 
ciple  of  both  is  the  same  :  one,  the  action  of  the  chest  just  mentioned — the 
other,  that  of  the  mouth  alone  ;  viz.  by  lowering  the  under  jaw  while  the 
lips  are  closed,  and  at  the  same  time  contracting  and  drawing  the  tongue 
back  towards  the  throat.  There  is  this  difference  between  them  :  the 
former  can  be  performed  only  in  the  intervals  of  respiration,  while  the 
latter  may  be  continuous,  since  breathing  can  be  kept  up  through  the  nos¬ 
trils.  One  has  been  named  supping,  the  other  sucking.  The  term  ‘sucker,* 
commonly  applied  to  the  piston  of  atmospheric  pumps,  arose  from  its 
acting  as  a  substitute  for  the  mouth.  With  this  explanation  of  the  terms 
suction,  sucking,  &c.  we  shall  occasionally  use  them,  in  accordance  with 
general  custom,  for  want  of  substitutes  equally  popular. 

Infants  and  the  young  of  all  mammals  not  only  practice  sucking  till  they 
quit  their  mother’s  breasts  for  solid  food,'  but  most  of  them  continue  the 
practice  through  life  when  quenching  their  thirst:  of  this  man  is  an  ex¬ 
ample,  for  it  is  by  sucking  that  we  receive  liquids  into  the  stomach, 
whether  we  plunge  our  lips  into  a  running  stream,  receive  wine  from 
a  goblet,  or  soup  from  a  spoon.  As  the  origin  of  artificial  devices 
for  raising  liquids  by  atmospheric  pressure  may  be  traced  to  this  natural 
operation,  some  other  examples  may  be  mentioned.  Of  these,  sucking 
poison  from  wounds  is  one.  This  has  been  practiced  from  unknown  an¬ 
tiquity.  Job,  speaks  of  sucking  the  poison  of  asps — At  the  siege  of  Troy, 
wlachaon  ‘suck’d  forth  the  blood’  from  the  wounds  of  Menelaus;  and  the 
women  among  the  ancient  Germans  were  celebrated  for  thus  healing  their 
wounded  sons  and  husbands.  The  serious  consequences  that  often  at¬ 
tended  the  custom,  led  at  an  early  period  to  the  introduction  of  tubes,  by 
means  of  which  the  operation  might  be  performed  without  danger  to  the 
operator;  for  scrofulous  and  other  diseases  were  frequently  communicated 
to  the  latter,  by  drawing  tainted  blood  and  humors  into  the  mouth ;  whereas, 
by  the  interposition  of  a  tube,  the  offensive  matter  could  be  prevented 
from  coming  in  contact  with  the  lips. 

Before  the  use  of  the  lancet  was  discovered,  these  cupping  tubes  were 
applied  in  ordinary  blood-letting.  Even  at  the  present  day  such  is  the 
only  kind  of  phlebotomy  practiced  by  the  oldest  of  existing  nations ;  for 
“the  name  and  the  use  of  the  lancet  are  equally  unknown  among  the  na¬ 
tives  of  Hindostan.  They  scarify  the  part  with  the  point  of  a  knife  and 
apply  to  it  a  copper  cupping-dish  with  a  long  tube  affixed  to  it,  by  means 
of  which  they  suck  the  blood  with  the  mouth. ”a  It  is  the  same  with  the 
Chinese,  Malays,  and  other  people  of  the  east.  These  generally  use  the 
same  kind  of  apparatus  as  the  Hindoos,  but  sometimes  natural  tubes  are 
employed,  as  a  piece  of  bamboo.b  The  horns  of  animals,  as  those  of 
oxen  and  goats  were  also  much  used  ;  these  on  account  of  their  coni¬ 
cal  form  being  better  adapted  for  the  purpose  than  cylindrical  tubes 


*  Shoberl’s  Hindostan,  v,  42.  b  Chinese  Repos,  iv,  44.  See  also  Le  Comte’s  China, 
and  Marsden’s  Sumatra. 


Chap.  4.]  The  Sanguisuchello.  203 

Park  found  the  negroes  of  Africa  cupping  with  rams’  horns;  and  the 
Shetlanders  continue  to  use  the  same  instrument,  having  derived  it  from 
their  Scandinavian  ancestors.  Cupping  was  practiced  by  Hippocrates, 
and  cupping-instruments  were  the  emblems  of  Greek  and  Roman  phy¬ 
sicians. 

The  application  of  a  reed  or  other  natural  tube,  through  which  to  suck 
liquids  that  cannot  otherwise  be  reached,  has  always  been  known.  The 
device  is  one  which  in  every  age,  boys  as  well  as  men  acquire  a  know¬ 
ledge  of  intuitively,  or  as  it  were  by  instinct;  nor  does  it  indicate  a  greater 
degree  of  ingenuity  than  numerous  contrivances  of  the  lower  animals — 
that  of  the  raven  for  example,  which  Pliny  has  mentioned  in  the  tenth 
book  of  his  Natural  History.  This  bird,  during  a  severe  drought,  seeing 
a  vase  near  a  sepulchre,  flew  to  it  to  drink,  but  the  small  quantity  of 
water  it  contained  was  too  low  to  be  reached.  In  this  dilemma,  stimula¬ 
ted  by  want  and  thrown  upon  its  own  resources  for  invention,  it  soon  de¬ 
vised  an  effectual  mode  of  accomplishing  its  object — it  picked  up  small 
pebbles  and  dropped  them  into  the  vessel  till  the  water  rose  to  the  brim — 
an  instance  of  sagacity  fully  equal  to  the  application  of  a  tube  under 
similar  circumstances  by  man. 

As  sucking  tubes  are  atmospheric  pumps  in  embryo,  a  notice  of  some 
applications  of  them  will  form  an  appropriate  introduction  to  the  latter. 
They  constituted  part  of  the  experimental  apparatus  of  the  old  Greek  Ple- 
nists  and  Vacuists ;  and  were  used  by  the  Egyptians  as  siphons.  They 
were,  and  still  are,  employed  in  Peru  for  drinking  hot  liquids,  and 
were  anciently  used  by  the  laity  in  partaking  of  wine  in  the  Eucharist. 
“Beatus  Rhenanus  upon  Tertullian  in  the  booke  De  Corona  Militis,  re¬ 
ported*  that  among  the  riches  and  treasures  of  the  church  of  Mense,  were 
certain  silver  pypes  by  the  which  profane  men,  whom  they  call  the  laietie, 
sucked  out  of  the  challice  in  the  holy  supper.”3  The  device,  if  not  of 
more  distant  origin,  was  perhaps  designed  in  the  dark 
ages,  as  a  check  to  the  rude  communicants,  who  would 
naturally  be  inclined  to  partake  too  freely  of  the  cup. 
But  since  the  laity  were  excluded  by  the  Council  of 
Constance,  from  sharing  the  wine,  the  use  of  such  tubes 
has  been  retained.  At  the  celebration  of  high  mass  at  St. 
Denis,  the  deacon  and  sub-deacon  suck  wine  out  of  the 
chalice  by  a  chalumeau  or  tube  of  gold.  [Diet,  de  Tre- 
voux.  Art.  Chalumeau.] 

‘  The  sanguisuchello  or  blood-sucker,’  says  La  Motraye, 
is  a  golden  tube  by  which  the  Pope  sucks  up  the  blood 
[wine]  at  high  mass;  the  chalice  and  tube  being  held 
by  a  deacon.  The  instrument,  he  remarks,  corresponds 
with  “the  ancient  pugillaris,  or  tube  mentioned  by  Car¬ 
dinal  Bona  in  his  treatise  of  things  belonging  to  the  liturgy, 
and  of  the  leavened  and  unleavened  bread.”b  No.  78  is  a 
figure  of  the  sanguisuchello.  It  has  three  pipes,  but  the 
middle  or  longest  one  is  that  by  which  the  liquid  is  raised. 
The  whole  is  of  gold,  highly  ornamented,  and  enriched 
with  a  large  emerald.  One  reason  assigned  for  its  use, 
is,  that  it  is  more  seemly  to  suck  the  blood  [wine]  as 
through  a  vein,  than  to  sup  it. 

The  Peruvians  make  a  tea  or  decoction  of  the  ‘herb  of  Paraguay,’ 


No.  78. 

Sanguisuchello. 


8  Peter  Martyr’s  Com.  Places.  Lon.  1583.  Part  4,  p.  37. 
29,  31,  427,  and  Blainville’s  Trav.  ii,  332. 


b  La  Motraye’s  Trav.  i. 


204 


Peruvian  Sucking  Tubes. 


[Book  II, 


which  is  common  to  all  classes.  “Instead  of  drinking  the  tincture  or 
infusion  apart,  as  we  drink  tea,  they  put  the  herb  into  a  cup  or  bowl 
made  of  a  calabash  or  gourd,  tipp’d  with  silver,  which  they  call  mate; 

they  add  sugar  and  pour  on  it  the  hot 
water,  which  they  drink  immediately 
without  giving  it  time  to  infuse,  because 
it  turns  as  black  as  ink.  To  avoid  drink¬ 
ing  the  herb  which  swims  at  the  top, 
they  make  use  of  a  silver  jripe,  at  the 
end  whereof  is  a  bowl  full  of  little 
holes;  so  that  the  liquor  suck'd  in  at 
the  other  end  is  clear  from  the  herb.”a 
Frezier  has  given  an  engraving  of  a 
lady  thus  employed,  from  which  the 
annexed  cut  is  copied. 

In  Frezier’s  time  it  was  the  custom 
for  every  one  at  a  party  to  suck  out 
of  the  same  tube — like  Indians  in  coun¬ 
cil,  each  taking  a  whilf  from  the  same 
calumet.  With  the  exception  of  con¬ 
fining  a  company  to  the  use  of  one  in¬ 
strument,  we  should  think  this  mode 
of  ‘taking  tea’  deserving  the  considera¬ 
tion  of  the  wealthy,  since  it  possesses  several  advantages  over  the  Chinese 
plan  which  we  have  adopted.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  only  a  more 
ingenious  and  scientific  mode  of  raising  the  liquid,  but  also  more  graceful 
than  the  gross  mechanical  one  of  lifting  the  vessel  with  it.  It  is  more 
economical  as  regards  the  exertion  required ;  for  in  ordinary  cases  a  per¬ 
son  expends  an  amount  of  force  in  carrying  a  cup  of  tea  backwards  and 
forwards,  so  many  times  to  his  mouth,  as  would  suffice  to  raise  a  bucket 
of  water  from  a  moderately  deep  well.  In  the  use  of  these  tubes  there  is 
no  chance  of  verifying  the  old  proverb — ‘  many  a  slip  between  the  cup 
and  the  lip’ — And  then  there  is  no  danger  of  breakage,  since  the  vessel 
need  not  he  removed  from  the  table.  How  often  has  a  valuable  ‘  tea-set’ 
been  broken,  and  the  heart  of  the  fair  owner  almost  with  it,  by  some 
awkward  visitor  dropping  a  cup  and  saucer  on  their  way  to  his  mouth, 
or  on  their  return  to  the  table !  Lastly,  the  introduction  of  these  tubes, 
would  leave  the  same  room  as  at  present  for  display  in  tea-table  para¬ 
phernalia. 

There  is  another  application  of  them  which  some  convivialists  may 
thank  us  for  suggesting.  It  has  been  regretted  by  ancient  and  modern 
epicures  that  nature  has  given  them  necks  much  shorter  than  those  of 
some  other  animals;  these  philosophers  supposing  that  the  pleasures  of 
eating  and  drinking  are  proportioned  to  the  length  of  the  channel  through 
which  food  passes  to  the  stomach.  Now  although  a  sucking  tube  will  not 
alter  the  natural  dimensions  of  a  person’s  neck,  it  may  be  so  used  as  to 
prolong  the  sensation  of  deglutition  in  the  shortest  one;  for  by  contracting 
the  orifice,  each  drop  of  liquid  imbibed  through  it  may  be  brought  in 
contact  with  the  organs  of  taste,  and  be  detained  in  its  passage  until  every 
particle  of  pleasure  is  extracted  from  it; — being  the  reverse  of  what 
takes  place,  when  gentlemen  swallow  their  wine  in  gulps.  The  most  fas¬ 
tidious  disciple  of  Epicurus  could  not  object  to  this  use  of  them,  since 
nothing  would  touch  his  liquid  but  the  tube;  and  as  every  person  would 


No.  79.  Peruvian  female  taking  tea  with 
a  sucking-tube. 


Frezier's  Voyage  to  the  South  Seas,  p.  252. 


205 


Chap.  5.]  Various  forms  of  Pumps. 

provide  his  own,  no  one  would  ever  think  of  borrowing  his  neighbor's, 
any  more  than  he  would  ask  for  the  loan  of  his  tooth-pick.a 

We  are  not  sure  that  this  plan  of  attenuating  agreeable  liquids,  did  not 
give  rise  to  that  mode  of  drinking  adopted  by  the  luxurious  Greeks  and 
Romans,  to  which  we  have  before  alluded.  Their  drinking  vessels  were 
generally  horns,  or  were  formed  in  imitation  of  them.  At  the  small  end 
of  each  a  very  minute  opening  was  made,  through  which  a  stream  of 
drops,  as  it  were,  descended  into  the  mouth.  Paintings  found  in  Pom¬ 
peii,  and  other  ancient  monuments,  represent  individuals  in  the  act  of  thus 
using  them — while  others,  whose  appetite  for  the  beverage,  or  whose 
thirst  was  too  keen  to  relish  so  slow  a  mode  of  allaying  it,  are  seen 
drinking,  not  out  of  “the  little  end,”  but  out  of  the  large  end  “of  the 
horn.”  We  have  mentioned  this  circumstance  because  it  appears  to  af¬ 
ford  a  solution  of  an  old,  but  somewhat  ambiguous  saying. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

On  bellows  pumps:  Great  variety  in  the  forms  and  materials  of  machines  to  raise  water _ Simple  bel 

lows  pump— Ancient  German  pump— French  pump— Gosset’s  frictionless  pump  :  Subsequently  re-in¬ 
vented— Martin’s  pump— Robison’s  bag  pump— Disadvantages  of  bellows  pumps— Natural  pumps  in 
men,  quadrupeds,  insects,  birds,  &c. — Reflections  on  them.  Ancient  vases  figured  in  this  chapter. 

In  the  course  of  time  a  new  feature  was  given  to  sucking  tubes,  by 
which  they  were  converted  into  pumps:  this  was  an  apparatus  for  with¬ 
drawing  the  air  in  place  of  the  mouth  and  lungs.  In  what  age  it  was  first 
devised,  and  by  what  people,  are  alike  unknown.  The  circumstance  that 
originally  led  to  it,  was  probably  the  extension  of  the  length  of  sucking 
tubes,  until  the  strength  of  the  lungs  was  no  longer  sufficient  to  draw 
water  through  them.  In  this  way  the  bellows  pump,  the  oldest  of  all 
pumps,  we  presume  took  its  rise. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  an  atmospheric  pump  is  merely  a  con¬ 
trivance  placed  at  the  upper  end  of  a  pipe  to  remove  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  there,  while  it  is  left  free  to  act  on  the  liquid  in  which  the 
lower  end  is  immersed ;  and  farther,  that  it  is  immaterial  what  the  sub¬ 
stance  of  the  machine  is,  or  what  figure  it  is  made  to  assume.  Some  per¬ 
sons  perhaps  may  suppose  that  pumps  seldom  vary,  and  then  but  slightly, 
from  the  ordinary  one  in  our  streets,  (the  ancient  wooden  one)  but  no  idea 
could  be  more  erroneous;  for  few,  if  any,  machines  have  undergone  a 
greater  number  of  metamorphoses.  The  body  or  working  part,  which  is 
named  the  ‘barrel’  and  sometimes  the  ‘chamber,’  so  far  from  being  always 
cylindrical,  has  been  made  square,  triangular,  and  elliptical; — it  is  not  even 
always  straight,  for  it  has  been  bent  into  a  portion  of  a  circle,  the  centre 
of  which  formed  the  fulcrum  of  the  lever  and  rod,  both  of  which  in  this 
case  being  made  of  one  piece  :  its  materials  have  not  been  confined  to 
wood  and  the  metals,  for  pumps  have  been  made  of  glass,  stoneware, 
stone,  leather,  canvas,  and  caoutchouc.  Some  have  been  constructed  like 


aIn  Shakespeare’s  time,  “every  guest  carried  his  own  knife,  which  he  occasionally 
whetted  on  a^stone  that  hung  behind  the  door.  One  of  these  whetstones  may  be  seen 
in  Parkinson’s  Museum.  They  were  strangers  at  that  period  to  the  use  of  forks.’ 
[Ritsons’s  Notes  on  Shakespeare’s  Timon  of  Athens.  Act  i,  Scene  2.] 


206 


Bellows  Bump. 


[Book  II 


# 


a  bag,  resembling  the  old  powder-puff  or  the  modern  accordion ;  others  in 
the  form  of  the  domestic  and  blacksmith’s  bellows — some  in  the  figure 
of  a  drum,  and  others  as  a  portion  of  one — as  a  simple  horizontal  tube 
suspended  at  the  centre  on  a  perpendicular  one,  and  whirled  round  like 
the  arms  of  a  potter’s  wheel — then  again  as  a  perpendicular  tube  without 
sucker  or  piston,  and  moved  like  a  gentleman’s  walking  cane,  from  which 
maeed  its  name  is  derived.  (See  Canne  Hydraulique  in  Book  IV.)  They 
have  also  been  made  of  two  simple  tubes,  one  moved  over  the  other  like 
those  of  a  telescope — even  a  kettle  or  cauldron  has  been  used  as  a  pump, 
and  the  vapor  of  its  boiling  water  substituted  for  the  sucker  to  expel  the 

air  it  contained,  after  which  the  pressure  of  the  at¬ 
mosphere  forced  water  into  it  from  below.  In  fine, 
any  device  by  which  air  can  be  removed  from  the 
interior  of  a  vessel,  is,  or  may  be  used  as  a  pump  to 
raise  water. 

Nor  have  the  ‘suckers’  or ‘pistons’  been  subject 
to  less  changes  than  other  parts  of  pumps.  They 
have  been  made  solid  and  hollow — in  the  form  of 
cones,  cylinders,  pyramids,  sectors,  and  segments  of 
circles: — in  the  shape  of  cog-wheels,  and  of  the 
arms  and  vanes  of  wind-mills,  with  motions  analogous 
to  such  as  these;  and  sometimes  they  are  made  in 
the  shape  of  a  gentleman’s  hat  and  of  similar  mate¬ 
rials;  while  the  only  motion  imparted  to  them,  is 
the  odd  one  of  alternately  pushing  them  inside  out 
and  outside  in. 

If  a  collapsed  bladder  or  leather  bag,  be  secured 
at  its  orifice  to  the  upper  end  of  a  perpendicular 
tube  whose  lower  end  is  placed  in  a  vessel  of  water, 
(No.  80)  then,  if  by  some  contrivance  the  bag  can  be  distended,  as  shown 
by  the  dotted  lines,  the  small  quantity  of  air  contained  in  it  and  the  pipe 

would  become  rarefied,  and  consequently  unable 
to  balance  the  pressure  without — hence  the  liquid 
would  be  forced  up  into  the  bag,  until  the  air  within 
became  again  condensed  as  before — that  is,  the  blad¬ 
der  would  be  filled  with  water,  with  the  exception 
of  a  quantity  equal  to  the  space  previously  occupied 
by  the  air  within  it  and  the  pipe. 

To  convert  this  simple  apparatus  into  a  pump,  two 
valves  or  clacks  only  are  wanting.  One,  opening  up¬ 
wards  and  placed  in  any  part  of  the  pipe  or  at  either 
of  its  extremities.  This  will  allow  water  to  pass  up 
through  it,  but  none  to  descend.  The  other  placed 
over  an  aperture  made  on  the  top  of  the  bag,  and 
opening  outwards — through  this  the  contents  of  the 
vessel  when  collapsed  can  be  discharged ;  and  when 
distended  it  will  close,  and  thereby  prevent  the  en¬ 
trance  of  the  external  air.  The  instrument  thus  ar- 
anged  becomes  a  bellotos  pump,  (No.  81,)  a  machine, 
which  from  the  obvious  application  of  the  bellows  to 
raise  and  spout  water  as  well  as  air,  has  been  re¬ 
invented  by  machinists  in  almost  every  age. 

The  figure  scarcely  requires  illustration.  It  repre 
sents  a  pipe  attached  to  the  under  board  of  a  circular 
or  lantern  bellows,  the  orifice  of  which  is  covered  by  a  clack — the  upper 


No.  81.  Bellows  Pump. 


No.  80. 


207 


*  Chap.  5.]  Old  German  Bellows  Bump. 

board  has  also  an  opening  In  its  centre  which  is  closed  by  a  valve  or  clack, 
and  also  furnished  with  a  rod  and  handle.  The  under  board  sometimes 
forms  the  bottom  of  a  box,  in  one  side  of  which  a  spout  is  inserted,  as 
shown  by  the  dotted  lines. 

The  earliest  representation  of  a  bellows  pump  which  we  have  met 
with  in  books,  is  among  the  curious  cuts  attached  to  the  first  German 
translation  of  Vegetius,  from  which  No.  82  is  copied.  (Erffurt  1511)a  It 
will  suffice  to  show  the  application  of  this  kind  of  pump  to  raise  water 
at  that  time.  There  was  of  course  a  valve  covering  the  interior  orifice 
of  the  nozzle  and  opening  outwards,  to  prevent  the  air  from  entering 
when  the  upper  board  was  raised.  This  valve  is  not  shown  because  the 
art  of  representing  the  interior  of  machines  by  section,  was  not  then  un¬ 
derstood,  or  not  practiced.  The  lower  board  is  fastened  to  the  ground  by 
a  post  and  key,  and  a  weight  is  placed  on  the  upper  one  to  assist  in  ex¬ 
pelling  the  water. 


One  hundred  years  ago,  two  bellows  fixed  in  a  box  and  worked  by  a 
double  lever,  like  the  old  fire  or  garden  engine,  was  devised  by  M.  Du 
Puy,  Master  of  Requests  to  the  king  of  France.  The  machine  was  re¬ 
commended  to  raise  water  from  the  holds  of  ships,  drain  lands,  &c.  It 
appeals  that  the  widow  of  M.  Du  Puy,  expected  to  reap  great  advantages 
from  it  in  England;  but  Dr.  Desaguliers,  in  1744,  published  a  description 
of  it  taken  from  the  French  account,  and  among  other  remarks  he  ob¬ 
served — “  About  fourteen  years  ago,  two  men  here  applied  for  a  patent 
for  this  very  engine,  proposing  thereby  to  drain  mines ;”  *  #  *  “  all  the 
difference  was,  that  their  bellows  were  fixed  upon  a  little  waggon;  and 
they  had  a  short  sucking  pipe  under;  and  the  force  pipe  went  up  from 
tne  two  bellows.  I  opposed  the  taking  out  of  this  patent,  because  I 
thought  it  would  be  of  great  hurt  to  the  undertakers,  to  lay  out  near 
eighty  pounds  for  what  would  never  bring  them  eighty  pence  ;  unless  they 
made  a  bubble  of  it,  and  drew  unwary  people  into  a  scheme  to  subscribe 
money.  (Ex.  Philos,  ii,  501.)  Bellows  pumps  were  previously  used  in 
France.  They  are  spoken  of  as  common  in  the  old  Diet,  de  Trevoux. 

Allan,  Esq.  for  a  copy  of  this  scarce  old  work.  It  is  the  same 
lo  which  rrot  Beckman  refers  in  his  article  on  the  diving  bell.  Unfortunately  the  cuts 
we  left  without  explanation. 


208 


Gosset  and  Deuille’s  Pump. 


[Book  II. 


No.  8;i.  Cosset  and  Deuille’s  Pump. 


A  neat  and  perhaps  the  best  modification  of  these  machines  was  de 
vised  about  the  year  1732,  in  Paris,  by  Messrs.  Gosset  and  Deuille.  It  was 
described  by  Belidor  in  1739,  and  by  Desaguliers  in  1744,  as  “a  piston 
without  friction.”  It  consists  of  a  circular  piece  of  leather  pressed  into 

the  form  of  a  deep  dish,  or  of  a  low 
crowned  hat  with  a  wide  rim.  This 
rim  is  secured  by  bolts  and  screws 
between  two  flanches  of  a  pump  cy¬ 
linder,  forming  an  air  tight  joint — the 
part  corresponding  to  the  body  of  the 
hat  fits  loosely  into  the  cylinder;  and 
the  crown  is  strengthed  by  a  circular 
plate  of  metal  of  the  same  size  and 
riveted  to  it.  In  the  centre  of  this 
plate  an  opening  is  made  and  also 
through  the  leather  for  the  passage 
of  the  water,  and  covered  by  a  valve 
opening  upwards  like  the  ordinary 
sucker  of  a  pump.  The  forked  end 
of  the  pump-rod  is  secured  to  this 
plate.  (See  figure.)  When  the  rod  is 
raised,  the  bottom  of  the  dish  or  hat 
is  above  the  flanch,  and  when  down 
it  is  pushed  inside  out  as  shown  in 
the  cut.  Thus,  by  alternately  ele¬ 
vating  and  depressing  it,  the  water  is  raised  as  in  the  common  pump. 
This  piston  is  described  in  Yol.  VI,  of  Machines  approved  by  the  French 
Academy  for  1732,  p.  85,  as  the  invention  of  M.  Boulogne. 

The  great  advantage  of  this  pump  is  in  the  sucker  or  piston  not  rub¬ 
bing  against  or  even  touching  the  sides  of  the  cylinder,  hence  there  is  no 
friction  to  overcome  from  that  source,  and  the  leather  is  consequently 
more  durable ;  but  the  length  of  stroke  is  much  less  than  in  common 
pumps,  it  seldom  exceeding  six  or  eight  inches,  lest  the  leather  should  be 
overstrained  in  pressing  it  deeper.  Large  pumps  of  this  description  were 
worked  in  the  mines  of  Brittany  incessantly  during  three  or  four  months 
without  requiring  any  repair.  India-rubber,  and  canvas  saturated  or 
coated  with  it,  have  been  successfully  used  in  place  of  leather.  Some 
modifications  of  the  sucker  have  also  been  introduced. 

This  pump  was  re-invented  in  England  some  years  ago,  and  made  con¬ 
siderable  noise  under  a  new  name.  See  London  Meehan.  Magazine,  and 
Register  of  Arts,  1826-29  ;  also  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  for 
1S31,  vol.  vii,  193.  In  1766,  Mr.  Benjamin  Martin,  the  well  known  au¬ 
thor  of  ‘  Philosophia  Britannica’  and  other  scientific  works,  proposed  a  good 
double  pump  of  this  kind  for  the  British  navy — a  figure  and  description 
of  it  may  be  seen  in  Vol.  XX.  of  Tilloch’s  Philosophical  Magazine. 

Dr.  Robison,  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Mechanical  Philosophy,  pro¬ 
posed  what  has  been  named  an  improvement  on  the  last  pump.  His  de¬ 
vice  is  however  little  else  than  the  old  bellows  pump.  A  figure  of  it  and 
his  description  are  annexed. 

A,  B,  (No.  84)  represents  a  wooden  trunk  or  cylinder  of  metal,  having  a 
a  spout  at  the  upper  part,  and  the  lower  end  closed  by  a  plate,  the  opening 
in  which  is  covered  by  a  clack  valve  E,  as  in  No.  83.  To  this  plate  is  se¬ 
cured  the  open  bottom  of  a  long  cylindrical  bag,  the  upper  end  being  fixed 
to  the  round  board  F.  “  This  bag  may  be  made  of  leather  or  of  double  can¬ 
vas,  a  fold  of  thin  leather  or  of  sheepskin  being  placed  between  the  two 


209 


;;  Chap.  5.] 


Bag  Pump. 


folds. 


The  upper  end  of  the  bag  should  be  firmly  tied  with  a  cord  in  a  groove 

turned  out  of  the  rim  of  the  board  at  F.  Into 
\  r  this  board  is  fixed  the  fork  of  the  piston  rod, 

1  /"*\  I  anc^  the  bag  is  kept  distended  by  a  number  of 

|  wooden  hoops  or  rings  of  wire,  fixed  to  it 

M  I  8  ata  few  inches  distance  from  one  another,  and 

kept  at  the  same  distance  by  three  or  four 
cords  binding  them  together,  and  stretching 
from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the  bag.  Now 
let  this  trunk  be  immersed  in  the  water  :  it 
is  evident  that  if  the  bag  be  stretched  from 
the  compressed  form  which  its  own  weight 
will  give  it  by  drawing  up  the  piston  rod^its 
capacity  will  be  enlarged,  the  valve  F  will 
be  shut  by  its  own  weight,  the  air  in  the  bag 
will  be  rarefied,  and  the  atmosphere  will 
press  the  water  into  the  bag.  When  the  rod 
is  thrust  down  again,  the  water  will  come  out 
at  the  valve  F,  and  fill  part  of  the  trunk.  A 
repetition  of  the  operation  will  have  a  similar 


No.  84.  Bag  Puinp. 


/y*  ,  .  j -  w vjjuiuuuii  win  net v t;  ci  sunuar 

effect;  the  trunk  will  be  filled,  and  the  water  will  at  last  be  discharged 
at  the  spout.  The  operation  is  precisely  the  same  as  in  No.  81. 

Here  is  a  pump  without  friction  and  perfectly  tight;  for  the  leather 
between  the  folds  of  canvas  renders  the  bag  impervious  both  to  air  and 
water.  We  know  from  experiment  that  a  bag  of  six  inches  diameter 
made  of  sail  cloth  No.  3,  with  a  sheepskin  between,  will  bear  a  column 
of  hfteen  feet  of  water,  and  stand  six  hours  work  per  day  for  a  month 
without  failure;  and  that  the  pump  is  considerably  superior  in  effect  to  a 
common  pump  of  the  same  dimensions.  We  must  only  observe  that  the 
length  of  the  bag  must  be  three  times  the  intended  length  of  the  stroke, 
so  that  when  the  piston  rod  is  in  its  highest  position,  the  angles  or  ridges 
of  the  bag  may  be  pretty  acute.  If  the  bag  be  more  stretched  than  this 
the  force  which  must  be  exerted  by  the  laborer  becomes  much  greater 
than  the  weight  of  the  column  of  water  which  he  is  raising.” 

But  after  all  that  can  be  said  in  favor  of  bellows  pumps,  they  have  their 
disadvantages.  A  prominent  one  is  this:  when  the  leather  or  other 


,  U  X  - -  »»»»u  .  » t  XLVy  11  lillVy  lUdliilUl  tj  1  y  LflfJr 

terial  of  winch  they  are  formed  is  worn  out,  a  practical  workman,  who 
is  not  to  be  obtained  in  every  place,  is  required  to  renew  it.  Unlike  re- 
placing  the  leather  on  an  ordinary  ‘sucker’,  which  a  farmer  or  a  sailor  on 
s  ip-board  can  easily  accomplish,  the  operation  requires  practice  to  per- 
foim  it  efficiently,  and  the  expense  both  of  time  and  materials  is  much 
greater  than  that  of  similar  repairs  to  the  common  pump.  For  these  and 
other  reasons,  bellows  pumps  have  never  secured  a  permanent  place 
among  staple  machines  for  raising  water,  and  the  old  cylindrical  pump 
still  retains  the  preeminence,  notwithstanding  the  almost  innumerable  pro- 
jects  that  have  been  brought  forward  to  supersede  it. 

The  preceding  machines  resemble  in  some  degree  the  apparatus  for 
drinking  which  the  Creator  has  furnished  to  us  and  to  such  quadrupeds 
as  do  not  lap.  When  an  ox  or  a  horse  plunges  his  mouth  into  a  stream, 
he  dilates  his  chest  and  the  atmosphere  forces  the  liquid  up  into  his  sto¬ 
mach  precisely  as  up  the  pipe  of  a  pump.  It  is  indeed  in  imitation  of 
these  natural  pumps  that  water  is  raised  in  artificial  ones.  The  thorax  i3 
the  pump;  the  muscular  energy  of  the  animal,  the  power  that  works  it; 
the  throat  is  the  pipe,  the  lower  orifice  of  which  is  the  mouth,  and  which 
he  must  necessarily  insert  into  the  liquid  he  thus  pumps  into  his  stomach  ; 

27 


210 


Natural  Tumps. 


[Book  XL 


and  whenever  the  depth  of  water  is  insufficient  to  cover  the  opening  be¬ 
tween  his  lips,  the  animal  instinctively  draws  closer  those  portions  of  them 
above  it,  and  contracts  the  orifice  below,  just  as  we  do  under  similar  cir¬ 
cumstances,  and  which  we  constantly  practice  in  sipping  tea  or  coffee  from 
a  cup,  or  any  other  beverage  of  which  we  wish  to  partake  in  small  quan¬ 
tities.  The  capacious  chest  of  the  tall  camel,  or  of  the  still  taller  came- 
leopard  or  giraffe,  whose  head  sometimes  moves  twenty  feet  from  the 
ground,  is  a  large  bellows  pump  which  raises  water  through  the  long 
channel  or  pipe  in  his  neck.  The  elephant  by  a  similar  pneumatic  appa¬ 
ratus,  elevates  the  liquid  through  that  flexible  ‘suction  pipe,’  his  proboscis; 
and  those  nimble  engineers,  the  common  house-flies,  raise  it  through  their 
minikin  trunks  in  like  manner. 

We  may  here  remark,  that  among  the  gigantic  animals  which  in  remote 
ages  roamed  over  this  planet,  and  which  quenched  their  thirst  as  the  ox 
does,  there  could  have  been  none  which  stood  so  high  as  to  have  their 
stomachs  thirty  feet  above  the  water  they  thus  raised  into  them.  And  on 
the  table  lands  of  Mexico,  and  the  still  higher  regions  of  Asia,  Africa,  and 
South  America,  animals  of  this  kind,  if  such  there  were,  must  have  had 
their  stomachs  placed  still  lower. 

The  mandibles  of  some  insects  are  hollow,  and  are  used  as  sucking 
pumps.  They  serve  also  sometimes  as  sheaths  to  poniards,  with  which 
nature  has  furnished  them,  as  weapons  of  offence  and  defence.  Those 
of  the  lion-ant  are  pierced,  and  “no  doubt  act  as  suckers.”  This  little 
animal  constructs  a  minute  funnel-shaped  excavation  in  dry  sand,  and  co¬ 
vering  its  body  at  the  bottom  lays  in  wait,  like  an  assassin,  for  its  prey : 
“no  sooner  does  an  industrious  ant,  laden  perhaps  with  its  provision,  ap¬ 
proach  the  edge  of  the  slope,  than  the  finely  poised  sand  gives  way,  and 
the  entrapped  victim  rolling  to  the  bottom,  is  instantly  seized  and  sucked 
to  a  shadow  by  the  lurking  tyrant,  who,  soon  after  by  a  jerk  of  his  head 
tosses  out  the  dead  body.”  Weasels  and  other  animals  suck  the  blood 
of  their  prey.  The  tortoise  drinks  by  suction,  for  which  purpose  he 
plunges  his  head  deep  into  the  fluid,  so  as  even  to  cover  his  eyes.  There 
are  several  species  of  birds  denominated  * suctorial *  on  account  of  their 
obtaining  food  by  means  of  atmospheric  pressure,  which  they  bring  into 
action  by  apparatus  analogous  to  the  pump.  The  grallatores  or  waders, 
“suck  up  their  food”  out  of  water. 

It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  the  structure  and  habits  of  animals, 
without  being  surprised  at  the  extent  to  which  this  principle  of  raising  li¬ 
quids  has  been  adopted  by  the  Almighty  in  the  formation  of  insects,  rep¬ 
tiles,  fishes,  birds,  amphibia  and  land  animals  ;  and  also  at  its  adaptation 
to  their  various  forms,  natures,  and  pursuits.  Had  we  the  necessary 
knowledge  of  their  physiology,  we  would  desire  no  greater  pleasure,  no 
other  employment  than  to  examine  and  describe  these  natural  pneumatic 
machines,  and  the  diversified  modes  of  their  operation. 

For  other  natural  pumps,  see  remarks  at  the  end  of  Chapter  2,  on  bel¬ 
lows  forcing  pumps,  in  the  next  Book. 

The  vessels  or  vases  figured  in  this  chapter  are  ancient.  Those  in 
which  the  tubes  are  inserted  in  illustrations  Nos.  80  and  81,  are  of  glass; 
the  one  under  the  pump  spout  in  No.  83,  is  a  bronze  bucket;  all  from 
Pompeii.  The  latter  is  referred  to  at  page  67.  The  globular  vessel  in 
No.  84,  is  a  figure  of  a  brazen  cauldron,  also  Roman,  from  Misson.  See 
page  19  of  this  volume. 


Ohap.  6.1 


The  Common  Atmospheric  Pump. 


213 


CHAPTER  VI. 


The  atmospheric  pump  supposed  by  somo  persons  to  be  of  modern  origin— Injustice  towards  the  an 
dents—' Their  knowledge  of  hydrodynamics— Absurdity  of  an  alledged  proof  of  their  ignorance  of 
a  simple  principle  of  hydrostatics— Common  cylindrical  pump— Its  antiquity— Anciently  known  un 
der  the  name  of  a  siphon-The  antlia  of  the  Greeks-Used  as  a  ship  pump  by  the  Romans-Bilge 
pump  Portable  pumps— Wooden  pumps  always  used  in  ships— Description  of  some  in  the  U.  S.  Navy 
— Ingenuity  of  sailors— Singular  mode  of  making  wooden  pumps,  from  Dampier— Old  draining  pump— 
Pumps  in  public  and  private  wells-In  mines-Pump  from  Agricola,  with  figures  of  various  boxes- 
Double  pump  formerly  used  in  the  mines  of  Germany,  from  Fludd’s  works-The  wooden  pump  not  im 
proved  by  the  moderns — Its  use  confined  chiefly  to  civilized  states. 


Some  persons  are  unwilling  to  admit  that  the  atmospheric  pump  was 
known  to  the  ancients,  and  yet  they  are  unable  to  prove  its  origin  in  later 
times  or  by  more  recent  people.  The  passages  in  ancient  authors  in  which 
it  is  supposed  to  be  mentioned  or  alluded  to,  are  deemed  inconclusive, 
because  the  terms  by  which  it  is  designated  were  also  applied  to  othei 
devices.  rr 

To  confine  the  knowledge  of  the  ancients  to  such  departments  of  the 
arts  as  are  either  expressly  mentioned  or  referred  to  in  Greek  and  Roman 
authors,  and  to  those,  specimens  of  which  have  been  preserved  to  our 
times,  is  neither  liberal  nor  just.  Let  us  suppose  Europe  and  the  United 
States,  in  the  course  of  future  time,  thrown  back  into  barbarism,  and  all 
records  perished,  save  a  few  fragments  of  the  works  of  our  dramatists, 
poets  and  historians ; — and  that  after  the  lapse  of  some  1500  or  2500 
years  these  should  be  discovered — and  also  some  relics  of  our  archi¬ 
tecture,  pottery,  and  works  in  the  metals  :  Now  we  should  think  the 
writers  of.  those  days  illiberal  m  the  extreme,  who  should  conclude  that 
we  were  ignorant  of  nearly  all  branches  of  science  and  of  the  arts ;  and 
of  every  machine  which  was  not  particularly  mentioned  or  illustrated  in 
AJ°rrner  or.°^  which  specimens  were  not  found  among  the  latter. 
And  yet  something  like  this,  has  been  the  treatment  which  the  ancients 
have  received  at  our  hands. 

It  cannot  however  be  denied,  that  remains  of  their  works  still  extant, 
exhibit  a  degree  of  skill  in  architecture,  sculpture,  metallurgy,  pottery,  en¬ 
graving,  &c.  which  excels  that  of  modern  artists.®  And  as  regards  their 
knowledge  of  hydrodynamics — let  it  be  remembered,  that  we  are  in¬ 
debted  to  them  for  canals,  aqueducts,  fountains,  jets  d’eau,  syringes,  for¬ 
cing  pumps,  siphons,  valves,  air  vessels,  cocks,  pipes  of  stone,  'earthen¬ 
ware,  wood,  of  lead  and  copper:  yet  notwithstanding  all  these,  and  their 
numerous  machines  for  raising  and  transferring  water,  and  the  immense 
quantities  of  tubes  for  conveying  it,  which  are  found  scattered  over  all 
Asia  as  well  as  Italyb  and  Greece,  it  has  been  gravely  asserted,  that  they 
were  ignorant  of  one  of  the  elementary  and  most  obvious  principles  of 


mamiSre^of S  t.he.late  Mr-  Wedgewood,  who  was  doubtless  the  most  skilful 

rjidenre  of  an  a'»  m  0Ur  0wn  times’ that  the  famou9  Barbarini  Vase  afforded 

evidence  of  an  art  of  pottery  among  the  ancients  of  which  we  are  as  yet  ignorant, 
even  of  the  rudiments.  Edin.  Encyc.  vol.  ii,  203.  '  8  ' 

°f  haden  ?‘pes  found  at  Pompeii  induced  the  Neapolitan  go¬ 
vernment  to  sell  them  as  old  metal.  Pompeii,  vol.  i,  104. 


212 


The  Antlia, 


[Book  II 


hydrostatics:  viz.  that  by  which  water  in  open  tubes  finds  its  own  level  • 
a  fact,  of  which  it  may  safely  be  asserted,  it  was  impossible  for  them  not 
to  have  known — a  fact  with  which  the  Indians  of  Peru  and  Mexico  were 
familiar;  and  one  expressly  mentioned  by  Pliny:  “  water,  (he  observes) 
always  ascends  of  itself  at  the  delivery  to  the  height  of  the  head  from 
whence  it  gave  receipt — if  it  be  fetched  a  long  way,  the  work  [pipe]  will 
rise  and  fall  many  times,  but  the  level  [of  the  water]  is  still  rflaintained.” 
Besides  the  testimony  of  Pliny,  fountains  and  jets  d’eau  are  incontro¬ 
vertible  proofs  that  a  knowledge  of  the  fact  is  of  stupendous  antiquity  ; 
they  having  been  used  in  the  east  from  immemorial  ages. 

But  the  proof  adduced  to  establish  their  ignorance  in  this  particular,  is 
as  singular  as  the  position  it  is  brought  forward  to  sustain,  since  it  equally 
establishes  our  own  ignorance  of  the  same  principle  !  It  has  been  said, 
had  the  ancients  known  that  water  finds  its  level  at  both  extremities  of  a 
crooked  tube,  they  would  have  conveyed  it  through  pipes  to  supply  their 
cities,  instead  of  erecting  those  expensive  aqueducts  which  were  among 
the  wonders  of  the  world,  and  remains  of  which  still  strike  the  be¬ 
holder  with  admiration: — in  reply  to  this  it  need  only  be  observed,  that 
should  any  remains  of  the  Croton  aqueduct,  now  constructing  to  supply 
this  city  (New-York)  with  water,  be  found  two  thousand  years  hence, 
they  may,  by  the  same  argument,  be  adduced  as  proofs  that  the  present 
engineers  of  the  United  States  were  ignorant  that  water  poured  into  an 
inverted  siphon  would  stand  at  the  same  level  in  both  its  branches. 

The  fact  is,  the  ancients  did  sometimes  convey  water  over  eminences  in 
siphons  of  an  easy  curvature.8  And  aqueducts  were  in  some  few  instan¬ 
ces  carried  through  valleys  by  inverted  siphons.  In  the  reign  of  Claudius , 
an  aqueduct  was  formed  to  convey  water  from  Fourvieres  to  the  highest 
part  of  the  city  of  Lyons.  As  valleys  of  great  depth  were  in  the  line  of 
its  course,  works  of  an  enormous  expense  would  have  been  required, 
which  might  have  prevented  the  execution  of  the  project ;  consequently, 
instead  of  an  elevated  canal,  leaden  pipes  were  substituted,  forming  an 
inverted  siphon.*3 

It  is  uncertain  when  or  by  whom  the  common  atmospheric  pump  was 
invented.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  known  to  the  old  Egyptians,  and 
to  have  been  used  in  the  ship  in  which  Danaus  and  his  companions  sailed 
to  Greece.*1  As  the  antlia  of  the  Greeks,  it  could  not  have  originated 
with  Ctesibius,  to  whom  it  has  sometimes  been  attributed,  since  it  or  some 
other  machine  or  device  is  mentioned  under  that  name,  by  Aristophanes 
and  ether  writers  who  flourished  ages  before  him.d  There  are  other  in¬ 
dications  that  it  was  previously  known,  for  either  it  or  something  very 
like  it  is  mentioned  under  the  name  of  a  siphon.  This  term  it  is  known 
was  a  generic  one,  being  applied  to  hollow  vessels,  as  funnels,  cullenders, 
pipes;  and  generally  to  instruments  that  either  raised  or  dispersed  water, 
as  syringes,  catheters,  fire-engines,  sprinkling-pots,  &c.e  That  the  ma¬ 
chine  to  which  we  refer  raised  water  by  ‘suction,’  is  apparent  from  an¬ 
cient  allusions  to  it.  According  to  Bockler,  “the  Platonic  philosophers 
asserted  that  the  soul  should  partake  of  the  joys  of  heaven  as  through  a 
siphon;”  and  by  it  Theophrastus  explained  the  ascent  of  marrow  in 
bones;  and  Columella  the  rise  of  sap  in  trees.  In  these  instances,  it.  is 
obvious  that  neither  the  ordinary  siphon  nor  the  syringe  could  be  intended, 
but  the  atmospheric  pump;  a  machine  that  Agricola  described  as  a 


a  Fosbroke’s  Encyc.  Antiq.  i,  41.  bHvdraulia,  Lon.  1835,  p.  254.  cSee  Edin. 
Encyc.  Art.  Chronology,  vol.  vi,  263.  d  Robinson’s  Antiquities  of  Greece,  cap.4  On 
Military  Affairs.  e  See  Ainsworth’s  Diet. 


L-hap.  6.J 


An  Atmospheric  t*ump. 


213 

siphon;  and  one  to  which  the  remark  of  Switzer  only  can  apply— “the  si- 
nhon  waS  undoubtedly  the  chief  instrument  known  in  the  first  ages  of  the 
world,  (besides  the  draw-well)  for  the  raisij  g  of  water.”** 

Nor  is  there  any  thing  in  the  account  given  by  Vitruvius  of  ‘the  Ma¬ 
chine  of  Ctesibius,  which  indicates  that  the  atmospheric  pump  was  not  in 
previous  use.  His  description  is  obviously  that  of  a  forcing  pump,  (and 
appears  to  have  been  so  understood  by  all  his  translators,)  one  whose 
working  parts  were  placed  not  above  but  in  the  water  it  was  employed 
to  elevate ;  whose  piston  was  solid,  and  which  by  means  of  pipes  forced 

1  u- Tatfr  ,Usctf>  that  raised  the  water  “very  high;” — attributes 
which  do  not  belong  to  the  common  pump.  It  is  true  he  has  not  men- 
tioned  the  latter,  perhaps  because  it  was  not  then  employed  as  now  in 
civil  engineering  and  therefore  not  within  the  scope  of  his  design  in  wri- 
mg  his  work.  _  The  manner  in  which  Pliny  speaks  of  it,  shows  that  it 
was  an  old  device  in  his  time,  since  it  was  one  with  which  even  country- 
people  or  farmers,  (the  last  to  adopt  new  and  foreign  inventions)  were  fa¬ 
miliar.  In  his  19th  Book,  ‘On  Gardens,’  cap.  4,  he  observes:  when  a 
stream  of  water  is  not  at  hand,  the  plants  should  be  watered  from  tanks 
or  wells  the  water  of  which  may  be  drawn  up  by  plain  poles,  hooks  and 
buckets,  by  swapes  or  cranes,  [windlass]  “or  by  pumps  and  such  like” 
And  that  these  were  no  other  than  the  old  wooden  pump  of  our  stree’ts 
and  such  as  our  farmers  use,  is  obvious  from  a  passage  in  his  16th  Book 
cap.  42  where  speaking  of  the  qualities  and  uses  of  different  kinds  of 
wood,  he  remarks,  “pines,  pitch  trees  and  allars,  are  very  good  to  make 

pumps  and  conduit  pipes  to  convey -water;  and  for  these  purposes  their 
wood  is  bored  hollow.  r  r 

Although  sufficient  time  may  be  supposed  to  have  elapsed  from  the  aee 
of  Ctesibius  to  that  of  Pliny  for  the  introduction  of  the  atmospheric 
pump  to  the  countrymen  of  the  latter,  (supposing  it  to  have  been  invented 
by  the  former)  we  can  hardly  believe,  if  it  were  not  of  more  remote 
origin,  that  it  could  even  in  that  time  have  found  its  way  into  Roman 
farm-yards  and  gardens;  much  less  that  it  should  have  superseded,  (as  it 
appears  to  have  done)  every  other  device  on  board  of  their  ships.  '  New 
and  foreign  inventions  were  neither  circulated  so  easily  nor  adopted  so 
readily  in  ancient  as  in  modern  days;  and  even  now  a  long  time  would 
elapse  before  inventions  of  this  kind  would  find  their  way  through  the 
world  and  longer  before  they  became  generally  adopted.  But  had  the 
pumps  of  which  Pliny  speaks  been  of  recent  introduction,  he  would  cer¬ 
tainly  have  said  so;  and  had  they  been  the  ‘water  forcers’  of  Ctesibius 

to  which  he  alludes  in  his  7th  Book,  he  could  scarcely  have  avoided  re¬ 
cording  the  fact. 

That  the  antlia  was  the  atmospheric  pump  would  also  appear  from  its 
employment  in  ships.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  more  than  three 
Kinds  of  marine  pumps  were  ever  in  use — the  chain  pump,  the  screw,  and 
the  common  pump.  In  the  chapter  on  the  former  we  have  shown  that  it 
was  not  known  or  used  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  The  screw  was  first 
adopted  as  a  ship  pump  by  Archimedes,  (see  page  133)  and  hence  it 
ou  d  seem  that  the  last  only  could  be  intended  by  more  ancient  as  well 
as  subsequent  authors  when  speaking  of  the  antlia:  that  it  was  so,  anti¬ 
quarians  generally  admit.  “The  well,  (says  Fosbroke  in  his  article  on  the 
vessels  of  the  classical  ancients)  was  emptied  by  the  winding  screw  of 
Archimedes  now  m  use  ;  but  in  other  ships  by  the  antlia  or  pump.”  It  is 
ofdie  latter  that  Pollux  speaks,  and  to  it  Tacitus  refers  when  mentioning 


"Hydrostatics,  294. 


214 


The  Bilge  Pump. 


[Book  II 


the  tvreck  of  some  vessels  in  which  Germanicus  and  his  legions  sailed 
down  the  Amisia  into  the  German  ocean:  “the  billows  broke  over  them 
with  such  violence,  that  all  the  pumps  at  work  could  not  discharge  the 
water.”  [B.  ii,  23.  Murphy’s  Translation.] 

Martial,  the  Roman  poet,  speaks  of  the  antlia  as  a  machine  ‘  to  draw  up 
water according  to  Ainsworth,  ‘  a  pump.’  Kircher  figures  and  describes 
the  old  wooden  pump  as  the  antlia.  [Mundus  Subterraneus,  tom.  ii,  196.] 

The  Romans  appear  to  have  employed  it  exclusively  or  nearly  so  in 
their  navy;  and  even  in  that  of  the  Greeks  it  is  not  probable  that  the 
screw  was  extensively  adopted,  on  account  of  its  not  being  so  well  adap¬ 
ted  for  ships  as  the  other.  Of  this  the  former  people  seem  to  have  been 
convinced ;  they  preferred  the  pump  and  all  modern  nations  have  con 
firmed  their  judgment.  Had  they  used  the  screw  to  any  extent  it 
would  have  been  continued  in  European  vessels  after  the  fall  of  the  Em¬ 
pire,  when  most  of  their  arts  and  customs  were  naturally  and  necessarily 
continued — their  ship  pumps  as  well  as  their  ships.  But  as  the  atmos¬ 
pheric  pump  only  has  so  come  down,  we  infer  that  the  machine  now  com¬ 
monly  used  to  discharge  water  from  the  holds  of  our  vessels  is  identical, 
or  nearly  so,  with  that  employed  by  Roman  sailors  of  old. 

The  oldest  modification  of  the  ship  pump  appears  to  have  been  that 
formerly  known  as  the  ‘bilge’  or  ‘  burr’  pump;  and  it  was  the  simplest, 
for  it  had  but  one  distinct  valve,  viz.  ‘the  lower  box,’  as  the  one  which 
retains  the  water  in  a  pump  is  sometimes  named.  This  pump  kept  its 
place  in  ships  till  the  last  century,  and  may  yet  occasionally  be  met  with 
in  those  of  Europe.  It  was  often  worked  without  a  lever,  but  its  pecu¬ 
liarity  consisted  principally  in  the  construction  of  the  piston  or  sucker.® 
It  differed  from  the  ordinary  pump  “in  that  it  hath  a  staff,  six,  seven  or 
eight  foot  long,  with  a  bur  of  wood  whereunto  the  leather  is  nailed,  and 
this  serves  instead  of  a  box ;  so  two  men  standing  over  the  pump,  thrust 
down  this  staff,  to  the  middle  whereof  is  fastened  a  rope  for  six,  eight  or 
ten  to  hale  by,  and  so  they  pull  it  up  and  down.”  This  account  published 
nearly  200  years  ago,  might  be  sufficiently  descriptive  then,  when  the 
pump  was  in  common  use,  but  few  persons  could  now  realize  from  it  a 
correct  idea  of  the  substitute  for  the  ordinary  sucker.  It  is  however  ra¬ 
ther  more  explanatory  than  the  accounts  given  in  later  works.  In  some  it 
has  been  described  as  “a  long  staff  with  a  burr  at  the  end  to  pump  up  the 
bilge  water.”  Here  the  burr  only  is  mentioned,  not  the  leather,  and  the 
idea  imparted  is  that  of  a  solid  piston,  such  as  are  used  in  forcing  pumps. 

The  sucker  of  the  bilge  pump  consists  of  a  hollow  cone  or  truncated  cone 
of  strong  leather,  the  base  being  equal  in  diameter  to  that  of  the  pump 
chamber  or  cylinder.  It  is  inverted  and  nailed  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
rod.  The  lower  edge  of  the  leather  resting  against  the  burr.  When 
thrust  down  it  collapses  and  permits  the  water  to  pass  between  it  and  the 
sides  of  the  chamber,  and  when  its  motion  is  reversed,  the  weight  of  the 
liquid  column  above  it,  presses  it  out  again.  To  prevent  the  cone  from 
sagging,  three  strips  of  leather  are  se  ved  to  its  upper  part  at  equal  dis¬ 
tances  from  each  other,  and  their  other  ends  nailed  to  the  rod.  (See 
No.  85.)  The  action  of  this  sucker  is  something  like  moving  a  parasol 
up  and  down  in  water;  the  sides  close  as  the  rod  descends  and  open 
when  it  rises.  It  is  the  simplest  modification  of  the  sucker  known  and 
probably  the  most  ancient.  It  is  figured  by  Agricola,  ( vide  C  in  No.  88)  but 


“This  part  of  an  atmospheric  pump  is  sometimes  named  the  sucker,  the  bucket,  the 
upper  box,  the  piston  : — we  shall  generally  use  the  first  when  speaking  of  the  atmo 
spheric  pump  ;  and  me  last  when  referring  to  forcing  pumps. 


Chap.  6.] 


Portable  Pumps. 


215 


is  not  mentioned  by  Belidor,  Switzer,  Desaguliers  or  Hachette;  nor  has  it 
been  noticed  by  more  recent  writers,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Milling¬ 
ton®  and  perhaps  one  or  two  others.  It  has  long  been  known  in  some 
parts  of  the  United  States.  We  noticed  it  twenty  years  ago  at  New 
Rochelle,  Westchester  county,  in  this  state,  (New- York)  and  were  in¬ 
formed  by  a  pump  maker  there,  that  they  “always  had  it.”  ,It  is  not 
however  universally  known,  for  in  1831  a  patent  was  taken  out  for  it.b 

There  is  another  application  of  the 
burr  pump  in  ships  that  is  probably 
due  to  old  navigators.  We  allude  to 
the  use  of  those  portable  instruments 
which,  says  an  old  author,  “are  made 
of  reed,  cane,  or  laten,  [brass]  that  sea¬ 
men  put  down  into  their  casks  to  pump 
up  the  drink,  for  they  use  no  spick- 
ets.”  No.  85  represents  one,  with  a 
separate  view  of  the  sucker,  from  an 
illustrated  edition  of  Virgil,  of  the  16th 
century.  They  appear  to  be  of  con¬ 
siderable  antiquity  and  were  perhaps 
used  for  the  same  purpose  by  the  an¬ 
cient  sailors  of  Tyre  afid  Carthage, 
Greece  and  Rome.  No.  86  is  a  figure 
of  the  common  liquor  pump,  derived 
from  the  former.  It  is  from  L’Art  du 
Dislillateur,  in  *  Descriptions  des  Arts  ei 
Metiers ,’  folio,  Paris,  1761.  The  se¬ 
parate  section  of  the  lower  part  shows 
the  ‘boxes’  to  have  been  similar  to 
those  now  often  used.  Another  sucker 
is  figured  with  a  spherical  valve ;  a  boy’s  marble,  or  a  small  ball  of  metal 
being  placed  loosely  over  the  orifice,  instead  of  a  clack.  It  was  at  that 
time  made  both  of  tin  plate  and  of  copper  as  at  present.  One  of  these 
pumps  is  mentioned  by  Conrad  Gesner,  as  constituting  part  of  a  portable 
Italian  distillery,  in  the  former  part  of  the  16th  century,  at  which  period 
it  seems  to  have  been  common.  See  a  reference  to  it,  page  218. 

Ship  pumps  seem  to  have  been  made  of  bored  wooden  logs  since  the 
days  of  the  elder  Pliny,  and  probably  were  so  by  both  Greeks  and  Ro¬ 
mans  long  before  his  time.  We  learn  that  they  were  made  by  ship¬ 
wrights,  i.  e.  by  a  certain  class  of  them.®  At  the  present  day,  every 
person  knows  that  wooden  pumps  are  oftener  to  be  found  in  ships  than 
any  other :  this  has  always  been  the  case.  It  is  to  them  only  that  refe¬ 
rence  is  made  in  the  relations  of  early  voyages.  The  vessels  of  Colum¬ 
bus, d  Vasco  de  Gama  and  Magalhanes,  were  furnished  with  them;  indeed 
no  other  kind  appears  to  have  been  used  by  old  European  navigators. 
From  the  importance  of  efficient  machines  to  raise  water  from  ships,  it 
may  reasonably  be  supposed  that  if  any  nation  had  possession  of  a  supe¬ 
rior  one,  it  would  soon  have  been  adopted  by  the  rest ;  but  there  is  not 
the  slightest  intimation  of  any  difference  between  them.  The  pump  in 
Spanish,  Portuguese,  English  and  French  vessels,  is  spoken  of  as  com¬ 
mon;  as  much  so  as  the  anchor  or  rudder:  thus — wken  the  Vitoria  one 


ih 


No.  S3.  Sailors’ 
Portable  Pump. 


P 

No.  86.  Liquor 
Pump. 


“Epitome  of  Philosophy,  Lon.  1823,  p.  199.  b  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Insti 
state,  vol.  ix,  235.  c  Lordner’s  Arts  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  vol.  i,  350.  d  Ir 
ving’s  Columbus,  vol.  ii,  127. 


416  Pumps  in  American  Ships.  [Book  II. 

of  Magalhanes’  fleet,  put  into  St.  Jago  on  her  return  in  1522,  a  boat  was 
sent  ashore  for  provisions,  and  “some  negroes  to  assist  in  working  the 
pumps ,  many  of  the  ship’s  company  being  sick,  and  the  leaks  having  in¬ 
creased.”®  In  the  account  of  Frobisher’s  third  voyage  in  search  of  a 
north-west  passage  in  1578,  the  Anne  Francis  having  run  on  a  sunken 
rock,  “they  had  above  two  thousand  strokes  together  at  the  pumpe  be 
fore  they  could  make  their  shippe  free  of  the  water,  so  sore  she  was 
brused.”b  In  the  voyage  of  some  English  vessels  to  the  north  the  fol¬ 
lowing  year,  one  was  nearly  lost;  “by  mischance  the  shippe  was  bilged 
on  the  grapnell  of  the  Pavos,  [another  vessel]  whereby  the  company 
[owners]  had  sustained  great  losses,  if  the  chiefest  part  of  their  goods 
had  not  been  layde  into  the  Pavos ;  for  notwithstanding  their  pumping 
with  three  pumpes,  heaving  out  water  with  buckets  and  all  the  best  shifts 
they  could  make,  the  shippe  was  halfe  full  of  water  ere  the  leake  could 
be  found  and  stopt.”c  In  November  1599,  two  large  Portuguese  ships 
arrived  at  Terceira  in  distress,  having  been  separated  in  a  storm,  during 
which  they  “were  forced  to  use  all  their  pumpes ”  to  keep  afloat/*  Ta¬ 
vernier  sailed  in  1652,  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  Maslipatan  ’in  a  large 
ship  belonging  to  the  king  of  Golconda; — a  storm  arose  and  became  so 
violent  that  the  water  “  rowl’d  in  from  stem  to  stern,  and  the  mischief 
was  that  our  pumpes  were  nought.”  Fortunately  several  bales  of  leather 
were  on  board,  of  which  they  made  bags  or  buckets,  “which  being  let 
down  from  the  masts  with  pulleys  through  certain  great  holes  which  were 
cut  in  the  deck,  drew  up  a  vast  quantity  of  water.”e 

Wooden  pumps,  with  and  without  metallic  cylinders  and  boxes,  are  still 
common  in  European  and  American  ships  of  war.  The  latter  with  few 
exceptions  have  no  other.  A  description  of  those  on  board  the  North  Ca¬ 
rolina,  a  ship  of  the  line,  may  possibly  interest  some  readers.  This  ves¬ 
sel  has  six.  They  are  large  trees  bored  out  and  lined  with  lead.  They 
reach  from  the  surface  of  the  main  gun  deck  to  the  well,  a  distance  of 
twenty-three  feet.  A  brass  cylinder,  2  feet  9  inches  long  and  9  inches 
bore,  in  which  the  piston  works,  is  let  into  the  upper  part  of  each; 
The  piston  rods  (of  iron)  pass  through  the  centre  of  a  guide  piece,  se¬ 
cured  over  every  pump,  and  are  thus  kept  from  deviating  from  a  perpen¬ 
dicular  position.  They  are  connected  to  the  levers  by  slings  as  in  the 
common  brass  lifting  pump  and  some  others.  The  levers  are  double,  and 
shaped  like  those  of  fire-engines,  staves  of  wood  being  slipped  through 
the  rings  whenever  the  pumps  are  worked.  Each  lever  works  two  pumps; 
and  the  length  of  stroke,  or  the  distance  through  which  the  pistons  move 
in  the  cylinders,  is  14  inches.  The  pistons  or  upper  boxes  are  of  brass 
with  butterfly  valves;  the  band  of  leather  round  each  is  secured  by 
screws,  (in  place  of  nails  in  the  wooden  box.) 

‘  Necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention :’  the  truth  of  this  proverb  is  often 
illustrated  by  seamen,  especially  as  regards  the  raising  of  water.  Nu¬ 
merous  are  the  instances  in  which  they  have  relieved  themselves  from 
situations  so  alarming  as  to  paralyze  the  inventive  faculties  of  most 
other  men ;  either  by  devices  to  work  the  ordinary  pumps  when 
their  strength  was  exhausted,  or  in  producing  substitutes  for  them  when 
worn  out.  A  singular  example  of  the  latter  is  mentioned  by  Dampier, 
which  may  be  of  service  to  sailors.  It  is  attributed  to  a  people  who  are 
not  remarkable  for  their  contributions  to  the  useful  arts,  and  on  that  account 


•Burney’s  Voyages,  vol.  i,  112.  b  Hackluyt’s  Collection  of  Voyages,  &c.  Lon. 
1598,  black  letter,  vol.  iii,  88.  c  Ibid,  vol.  i,  421.  dAstIey’s  Collection  of  Voyages 
Lon.  1746,  vol.  i, 227.  'Travels  in  India,  Lon.  1678,  p.  90. 


Chap.  6.]  Various  modes  of  working  Ship  Tumps.  217 

it  would  hardly  be  just  to  omit  it.  In  the  course  of  Dampier’s  voyage 
round  the  world,  while  sailing  (in  1687)  along  the  west  side  of  Minda¬ 
nao,  one  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  he  concluded  to  send  the  carpenters 
ashore  to  cut  down  some  trees  for  a  bowsprit  and  topmast.  “And  our 
pumps  being  faulty  and  not  serviceable,  they  did  cut  a  tree  to  make  a 
pump  They  first  squared  it,  then  sawed  it  in  the  middle,  and  then  hol- 
owed  each  side  exactly.  The  two  hollow  sides  were  made  big  enough 
to  contain  a  pump-box  in  the  midst  of  them  both,  when  they  were  joined 
together;  and  it  required  their  utmost  skill  to  close  them  exactly  to  the 
making  a  tight  cylinder  for  the  pump-box,  being  unaccustomed  to  such 
work.  We  learned  this  way  of  pump-making  from  the  Spaniards,  who 
make  their  pumps  that  they  use  in  their  ships  in  the  South  Seas  after  this 
manner  ;  and  I  am  confident  that  there  are  no  better  hand-pumps  in  the 
world  than  they  have.”  (Dampier’s  Voyages,  vol.  i,  443.)  In  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  tools  to  bore  logs  the  device  is  an  excellent  one,  and  in  some 
particulars  such  a  pump  would  be  superior  to  the  common  one.  It  is 
not  so  readily  made  as  one  of  planks,  but  it  is  more  durable. 

Various  ingenious  modes  of  working  their  pumps  have  been  devised 
by  seamen  and  others  ;  the  power  of  the  men  has  been  applied  as  in  the 
act  of  rowing— this  plan  by  far  the  most  efficient  is  adopted  in  the  French 
navy.  A  rope  crossed  over  a  pulley  and  continued  in  opposite  directions 
on  a  ship  s  deck,  so  that  any  number  of  men  may  be  employed  at  the 
same  time,  has  been  exfensively  used  in  pumps  with  double  suckers,  as 
shown  at  No.  92.  Ropes  passed  through  blocks  and  connected  to  the 
brake  ol  the  common  pump  have  also  been  worked  in  a  similar  way. 
Captain  Leslie,  in  a  voyage  from  Stockholm  to  this  country,  adopted  the 
following  plan,  which  in  a  heavy  gale,  may  be  very  efficient :  ‘  He  fixed 
a  spar  aloft,  one  end  of  which  was  ten  or  twelve  feet  above  the  top  of  his 
pumps,  and  the  other  projected  over  the  stern  :  to  each  end  he  fixed  a 
block  or  pulley.  He  then  fastened  a  rope  to  the  pump  rods,  and  after 
passing  it  through  both  pulleys  along  the  spar,  dropped  it  into  the  sea 
astern.  To  the  rope  he  fastened  a  cask  of  110  gallons  measurement  and 
containing  about  60  gallons  of  water.  This  cask  answered  as  a  balance 
weight,  and  every  motion  of  the  ship  from  the  roll  of  the  sea  made  the 
machinery  work.  When  the  stern  descended,  or  when  a  sea  or  any  agi 
tation  of  the  water  raised  the  cask,  the  pump  rods  descended  ;  and  the 
contrary  motion  of  the  ship  raised  the  rods,  when  the  water  flowed  out 
ihe  ship  was  cleared  out  in  four  hours,  and  the  exhausted  crew  were 
of  course  greatly  relieved.’ 

A  ship  pump  made  of  such  boards  or  plank,  as  are  commonly  found  on 
boaro  of  large  vessels,  was  devised  by  Mr.  Perkins,  for  which  he  received 
a  gold  medal  from  the  London  Society  of  Arts.  It  is  figured  and  described 
m  the  38th  volume  of  the  Society’s  Transactions. 

I  he  facility  with  which  wooden  pumps  are  made  and  repaired,  the 
cheapness  of  their  material,  the  little  amount  of  friction  from  pistons 
working  in  them,  and  their  general  durability,  have  always  rendered  them 
more  popular  than  others.  Like  many  of  our  ordinary  machines,  they 
seem  to  have  been  silently  borne  down  the  stream  of  past  ages  to  the 
Loth  and  16th  centuries,  when,  by  means  of  the  printing  press,  they  first 
emerge  into  notice  in  modern  times.  The  earliest  representation  of  one 
we  have  met  within  print  is  in  the  German  translation  of  Vegetius,  on  the 
same  page  with  No.  82,  the  bellows  pump:  No.  87,  on  next  page,  is  a  copy. 

It  is  square,  made  of  plank  and  apparently  designed  to  drain  a  pond  or 
mars  i.  ic  piston  or  sucker,  which  is  separately  represented,  is  cylin¬ 
drical  and  was  perhaps  intended  to  show  a  variation  in  the  construction 

28 


218  Pumps  in  the  1 6th  Century.  [Book  IL 

of  that  instrument.  It  has  no  valve  or 
clack,  but  appears  to  be  a  modi!  cation  of 
the  one  used  in  the  old  bilge  pump,  which 
was  sometimes  compared  to  a  ‘gunner’s 
sponge.’ 

There  are  numerous  proofs  in  old  au¬ 
thors,  that  pumps  were  common  in  wells  in 
the  15th  century,  since  they  are  mentioned 
in  the  early  part  of  the  following  one,  as 
things  in  ordinary.  In  1546,  they  were 
used  to  some  extent  in  those  of  London. 
In  the  ‘Practice  of  the  New  and  old  Phi- 
sicke,’  by  Conrad  Gesner,  (who  died  in 
1565)  translated  by  George  Baker,  ‘one  of 
the  Queene’s  maiesties  chiefe  chirurgians  in 
ordinary,’  and  dedicated  to  Elizabeth,  (Lon. 
black  letter,  1599,)  is  a  description  of  a 
Florentine  distilling  apparatus,  to  which  a 
portable  pump  was  attached ;  the  latter  is 
described  as  “an  instrument  which  is  so 
formed  that  the  water  by  sucking  is  forced  to  rise  up  and  run  forth,  as  the 
like  practice  is  often  used  in  pits  of  water  or  welles.”  Folio  215.  The  cele¬ 
brated  mathematician,  necromancer,  and  alchymist,  Dr.  John  Dee,  who 
was  frequently  consulted  by  queen  Elizabeth,  had  a  pump  in  the  well  be¬ 
longing  to  his  house.  In  Beroald’s  commentary  on  the  44th  proposition  of 
Besson,  (the  chain  of  pots)  he  observes  that  it  “  opere  sans  intermission  en 
tirant  l’eau  de  tout  puits  facilement  sans  pompcs Sarpi,  who  first  dis¬ 
covered  the  valves  of  the  veins,  compared  them  to  those  of  a  pump, 
‘opening  to  let  the  blood  pass,  but  shutting  to  prevent  its  return.’ 

But  pumps  had  not  wholly,  in  the  16th  century,  superseded  the  old 
mode  of  raising  water  with  buckets  in  European  cities.  At  that  time  a 
great  portion  of  the  wells  were  open — of  this,  numberless  intimations 
might  be  found.  Thus  in  Italy,  the  poet  Aurelli,  who  was  made  gover¬ 
nor  of  a  city  by  Leo  X.  was  murdered  by  the  inhabitants  on  account  of  his 
tyranny,  and  his  body  with  that  of  his  mule  thrown  into  a  well.  In  Lon¬ 
don,  it  was  not  till  the  latter  part  of  the  following  century  that  the  chain 
and  pulley  disappeared.  This  is  evident  from  the  following  enactment  of 
the  common  council  of  that  city  the  year  after  the  great  fire.  (1667)  “And 
for  the  effectual  supplying  the  engines  and  squirts  with  water,  pumps  are 
to  be  placed  in  all  wells  :’’b — a  proof  that  many  were  open  and  the  water 
raised  in  buckets. 

Pumps  are  also  described  in  old  works  on  husbandry,  gardening,  &c. 
from  w^iich  it  appears  that  they  were  often  used  to  raise  water  for  irriga¬ 
tion.  In  the  ‘Systema  Agriculture,  being  the  mystery  of  Husbandry 
discovered  and  laid  open,’  Lon.  1675,  directions  are  given  respecting  va¬ 
rious  modes  of  making  and  working  them;  and  it  is  particularly  di¬ 
rected  that  the  rods  be  made  of  such  a  length  as  to  permit  the  suckers  or 
‘upper  boxes’  to  descend  at  every  stroke  below  the  surface  of  the  water 
in  the  well;  this  it  is  observed,  ‘saves  much  trouble.’  The  same  remark 
accompanies  an  account  of  windmills  for  watering  land  [pumps  driven 
by  them]  in  the  old  ‘Dictionarum  Rusticum.’ 

In  the  mines  of  Hungary  pumps  were  early  introduced,  but  at  what 
period  is  uncertain.  It  is  not  improbable  that  those  described  by  Agri- 


»  Theatre  des  Instrumens,  1579.  b  Maitland’s  History  of  Loudon,  p.  297. 


219 


Chap.  6.J 


Pumps  in  German  Mines. 


No.  88.  Pump  and  Pistons  from 
Agricola. 


cola,  were  similar  to  such  as  were  used  in  some  of  the  same  mines  by  the 

ancients,  and  have  always  formed  part  of 
the  machinery  for  discharging  water  from 
them  since  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire. 
All  that  are  figured  in  (he  De  Re  Metallica, 
are  extremely  simple,  and  with  one  excep¬ 
tion  are  atmospheric  or  sucking  pumps. 
They  are  all  of  bored  logs.  Some  are  sin¬ 
gle  pumps,  and  are  worked  by  men  with 
levers,  cranks,  and  also  by  a  kind  of  pendu¬ 
lum.  Others  are  double,  triple,  &c.,  and 
worked  by  water  wheels.  Of  the  last  some 
are  arranged  in  rows,  and  the  piston  rods 
raised  by  cams  as  in  a  stamping  mill;  the 
weight  of  the  rods  carrying  them  down. 
Others  are  placed  in  tiers  one  above  ano¬ 
ther;  the  lowest  one  raises  the  water  from 
the  bottom  of  the  shaft  or  well,  and  dis¬ 
charges  it  into  a  reservoir  at  its  upper  end: 
into  this  reservoir  the  next  pump  is  placed, 
which  raises  it  into  a  higher  one,  and  so  on 
to  the  top.  A  pump  of  this  kind  from  Ag 
ricola,  has  been  often  republished.  It  was 
copied  by  Bockler  and  others.  A  figure  of 
it  is  inserted  in  Gregory’s  Mechanics,  Ja¬ 
mieson’s  Dictionary,  &c. 

We  have  selected  No.  88,  as  a  specimen 
of  a  single  pump,  and  of  upper  and  lower 
boxes.  A,  A,  represent  two  of  the  latter ;  the  upper  part  of  one  is  tapered  to 
fit  it  into  the  lower  end  of  the  pump  log  as  is  yet  sometimes  done.  D,  B,  an 
upper  box,  of  a  kind  occasionally  used  at  the  present  time.  The  valve  or 

clack  is  a  disk  laid  loosely  over 
the  apertures,  and  is  kept  in  its 
place  by  the  rod,  which  passes 
through  its  centre  and  admits  it 
to  rise  and  fall.  C,  the  conical 
sucker  referred  to,  p.  214. 

The  annexed  figure  of  a 
double  pump  is  from  Fludd’s 
works.  It  appears  to  have 
been  sketched  by  him  while  in 
Germany,  from  one  in  actual 
use.  It  is  represented  as 
worked  by  a  water  wheel, 
that,  by  means  of  cog  wheels 
transmitted  motion  to  the  hori¬ 
zontal  shaft;  the  cams  on  which 
alternately  depressed  one  end 
of  the  levers  to  which  the  pump 
rods  were  attached,  and  thus 
raised  the  latter.  They  de¬ 
scended  by  their  own  weight, 
as  will  appear  from  an  inspec¬ 
tion  of  the  figure.  The  separate  view  of  a  rod  is  intended  to  show  the 
application  of  cranks  on  the  horizontal  shaft,  in  place  of  cams  and  le- 


No.  89.  Double  Pump  in  German  mines.  A.  D.  1618. 


220 


Tie  Tump  confined  chiefly  to  civilized  States.  [Book  JX 

vers.  The  lower  ends  of  the  pumps  are  inserted  in  baskets  which  act  as 
strainers.  A  double  series  of  pumps,  (one  over  the  other)  as  employed 
in  a  mine  at  Markirch  in  Germany,  is  also  figured  by  Fludd.  It  is  inte¬ 
resting  on  account  of  the  mode  of  communicating  motion  to  the  rods.  A 
crank  on  the  axle  of  a  water  wheel  imparts  motion  to  a  walking  beam,  as 
in  a  steam  engine ;  (in  the  latter  the  operation  is  reversed)  and  the  pump 
rods  are  attached  to  both  ends  of  the  beam.8 

The  idea  may  probably  occur  to  the  general  reader,  that  the  mechani 
cal  talent  and  enterprise  of  the  preceding  and  present  century,  which 
have  produced  so  many  original  machines  and  scarcely  left  an  ancient 
device  unimproved,  must  have  imparted  to  the  old  atmospheric  pump  new 
features,  and  made  it  capable  of  increased  results.  It  is  true  that  few  de¬ 
vices  have  occupied  a  greater  share  of  attention,  and  on  none  have  more  ef¬ 
forts  to  improve  them  been  bestowed;  but  how  far  these  have  been  suc¬ 
cessful  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact — that  notwithstanding  the  endless 
variety  of  forms  into  which  its  working  parts  have  been  changed,  and 
the  great  number  of  alledged  improvements  in  suckers,  pistons,  valves,  &c. 
the  machine  as  made  by  the  ancients,  still  generally  prevails ;  so  that 
were  some  of  their  pump  makers  to  reappear,  and  visit  their  fellow  crafts¬ 
men  throughout  the  world,  they  would  find  little  difficulty  in  resuming 
their  occupation. 

The  pump,  although  a  simple  instrument,  is  confined  chiefly  to  civilized 
states,  while  the  extent  to  which  it  is  employed,  indicates  pretty  correctly 
the  degree  of  refinement  attained  by  the  people  who  possess  it.  Whether 
it  was  known  to  the  Egyptians  under  the  Pharaohs  or  not,  may  be  a 
question ;  but  when  Egypt  under  the  Greeks  realized  a  partial  revival  of 
her  former  glory,  the  forcing  pump  we  know  made  its  appearance  there; 
and  under  the  second  Ptolemy,  when  that  country  was  a  school  for  the 
rest  of  the  world,  its  most  valuable  modifications  were  known.  In  suc¬ 
ceeding  ages,  the  atmospheric  pump  has  been  a  regular  attendant  on  the 
revival  of  learning  and  of  the  arts.  Wherever  these  have  made  the  most 
progress,  there  the  pump  is  mostly  used.  In  Germany,  France,  Holland, 
Great  Britain,  and  the  United  States,  it  is  most  extensively  employed.  In 
Spain,  Portugal,  Mexico  and  South  America,  but  partially  so.  In  Turkey, 
Egypt,  Greece,  &c.  still  less  ;  while  in  Asia  and  Africa,  generally,  it  is  un¬ 
known.1*  Egypt,  even  under  the  auspices  of  Mohammed  Ali,  is  not  yet  pre¬ 
pare  to  receive  it  again.  Its  history  in  any  country  is  that  of  the  people. 
Take  Russia  for  an  example  :  of  the  devices  for  raising  water  there,  we 
are  informed  the  inhabitants  use  the  swape,  a  rope  passing  over  a  pulley, 
(Nos.  13  and  14)  a  drum  on  which,  a  rope  is  wound,  (No.  23)  horizontal 
and  vertical  wheels,  and  lastly  pumps';  these  last  it  is  said,  were  formerly 
very  rare ,  but  are  now  become  common .c  Just  so  of  the  people,  they  were 
formerly  very  rude  and  ignorant,  but  are  now  becoming  enlightened. 


aDe  Naturoe  Simia  seu  Technica  macrocosmi  historia,  pp.  453,  455. 
b  As  regards  a  knowledge  of  the  pump  in  China,  see  remarks  on  Chinese  bellows,  in 
the  next  Book. 

“Lyell’s  Character  of  the  Russians,  and  a  detailed  history  of  Moscow.  Lon.  1823,  p.  63. 


Chap.  7.] 


Metallic  Pumps. 


221 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Metallic  pumps  Of  more  extended  application  than  those  of  wood-  Description  of  one— Devices  ta 
prevent  water  in  them  from  freeZing-Wclls  being  closed,  no  obstacle  in  raising  water  from  them-Ap. 
plication  of  the  atmospheric  pump  to  draw  water  from  great  distances  as  well  as  depth— Singular  cir¬ 
cumstance  attending  the  trial  of  a  Spanish  pump  in  Seville— Excitement  produced  by  it— Water  raised 
to  great  elevations  by  atmospheric  pressure  when  mixed  with  air-Deceptions  practised  on  this  prin¬ 
ciple— Device  to  raise  water  fifty  feet  by  atmospheric  pressure— Modifications  of  the  pump  innumerable 
—Pumps  with  two  pistons— French  marine  pump— Curved  pump— Muschenbroeck’s  pump— Centrifugal 
pump-West-s  pump-Jorge’s  improvement-Original  centrifugal  pump-Ancient  buckets  figured  in  this 


hat  the  public  hydraulic  machinery  of  the  Romans  was  of  the  most 
durable  materials  sufficiently  appears  from  Vitruvius.  The  chain  of  pots 
described  by  him  was,  contrary  to  the  practice  in  Asia  and  Egypt,  wholly 
of  metal— the  chain  was  of  iron  and  the  buckets  of  brass.  The  pumps 
of  Ctesibius  that  were  employed  in  raising  water  to  supply  some  of  the 
public  fountains,  he  informs  us,  were  also  of  brass  and  the  pipes  of  cop¬ 
per  or  lead.  Some  of  the  oldest  pumps  extant  in  Europe  are  formed  al¬ 
together  of  the  latter.  Leaden  pumps  were  very  common  in  the  16th 
century.  They  are  mentioned  by  old  physicians  among  the  causes  of  cer¬ 
tain  diseases  in  families  that  drank  water  out  of  them.  The  pump  of  the 
celebrated  alchymist,  Dee,  alluded  to  in  the  last  chapter,  was  a  leaden 
one  ;  and  which  he  expected  to  be  able  to  transmute  into  gold,  by  means 
of  the  elixir  or  the  philosopher’s  stone,  which  he  spent  his  life  and  fortune 
m  seeking.  In  the  vicinity  of  some  English  lead  mines  such  pumps  have 
lor  many  centuries  been  in  use.  The  Italian  pump  that  led  to  the  disco¬ 
very  of  atmospheric  pressure  was  also  a  metallic  one. 

The  introduction  of  metals  in  the  construction  of  pumps  greatly  ex¬ 
tended  their  application  and  usefulness,  for  they  were  then  no  longer  re¬ 
quired  to  be  placed  directly  over  the  liquids  they  raised.  Those  of  wood 
were  necessarily  placed  within  the  wells  out  of  which  they  pumped 
water;  but  when  the  working  cylinder  and  pipes  were  of  copper  or 
ead,  the  former  might  be  in  the  interior  of  a  building,  while  the  reservoir 
or  well  from  whence  it  drew  vvater,  was  at  a  distance  outside;  the 
pipes  forming  an  air-tight  communication  between  them  under  the  surface 
of  the  ground. 

ihe  following  figure,  (No.  90)  represents  a  common  metallic  sucking 
pump  ;  tile  cylinder  of  cast-iron  or  copper,  and  the  pipes  of  lead.  It 
will  serve  to  explain  the  operation  of  such  machines  in  detail,  and  to 
show  the  extent  of  their  application.  When  this  pump  is  first  used,  water 
is  poured  into  the  cylinder  to  moisten  the  leather  round  the  sucker,  and 
the  pieces  which  form  the  clacks  or  valves ;  it  also  prevents  air  from  pas¬ 
sing  down  between  the  sucker  and  the  sides  of  the  cylinder  when  the 
former  is  raised.  Now  the  atmosphere  rests  equally  on  both  orifices  of 
the  pipe,  the  open  one  in  the  well,  and  the  other  covered  by  a  valve  at 
t  e  bottom  of  the  cylinder :  in  other  words,  it  presses  equally  on  the 
water  in  the  cylinder  and  in  the  well  which  covers  both  ;a  but  when  by 


‘Not  absolutely  so  or  in  a  strict  philosophical 
an  altitude  of  25  or  28  feet,  (the  ordinary  limits' 
point  of  view.  J  ‘ 


sense,  but  the  difference  is  so  slight  in 
as  to  be  inappreciable  in  a  practical 


222 


Common  Pumps. 


[Book  II 


the  depression  of  the  handle  or  lever,  the  sucker  is  raised,  this  equality  is 
destroyed,  for  the  atmospheric  column  over  the  cylinder,  and  consequently 

over  the  valve  O  is  lifted  up,  and 
sustained  by  the  sucker  alone;  it 
therefore  no  longer  presses  on  the 
upper  orifice,  while  its  action  on  the 
lower  one  remains  undiminished. 
Then  as  the  external  air  cannot  en¬ 
ter  the  pipe  to  restore  the  equili¬ 
brium  except  through  its  orifice  im¬ 
mersed  in  the  well ;  in  its  efforts  to 
do  so,  (if  the  expression  is  allowa¬ 
ble)  it  necessarily  drives  the  water 
before  it  on  every  ascent  of  the 
sucker,  until  the  air  previously  con¬ 
tained  in  the  pipe  is  expelled,  and 
both  pipe  and  cylinder  become  filled 
with  water. 

The  subsequent  operation  is  ob¬ 
vious.  When  the  sucker  descends, 
the  clack  on  its  upper  surface  is  rai¬ 
sed  by  the  resistance  of  the  water 
through  which  it  passes  ;  and  when 
at  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder,  this 
clack  closes  by  its  own  weight :  so 
that  when  the  sucker  is  again  eleva¬ 
ted,  besides  overcoming  the  resis¬ 
tance  of  the  atmosphere,  it  carries 
up  all  the  water  above  it,  and  which  it  discharges  at  the  spout — at  the 
same  time  the  atmosphere  resting  undisturbed  on  the  water  in  the  well, 
pushes  up  a  fresh  portion  into  the  vacuity  formed  in  the  cylinder,  and  the 
valve  O  prevents  its  return. 

The  horizontal  distance  between  the  cylinder  or  working  part  of 
the  pump  and  the  well  is,  in  theory  unlimited,  but  in  practice  it  seldom 
exceeds  one  or  two  hundred  feet.  In  all  cases  where  long  pipes  are 
used,  their  bore  should  be  enlarged  in  proportion  to  their  length,  or  the 
velocity  with  which  the  sucker  is  raised,  should  be  diminished  ;  and  for 
this  reason — time  is  required  to  overcome  the  inertia  and  friction  of  long 
columns  of  water  in  pipes  ;  hence  a  sucker  should  never  be  raised  faster 
than  the  pipe  can  furnish  water  to  fill-  the  vacuity  formed  by  its  ascent. 
In  pumps  whose  pipes  have  too  small  a  bore,  it  frequently  happens  that 
the  sucker  is  forcibly  driven  back  when  quickly  raised,  because  the  water 
had  not  time  to  rush  through  the  pipe  and  fill  the  vacuity  in  the  cylinder 
as  rapidly  as  it  was  formed.  The  bore  of  wooden  pumps  being  equal 
throughout,  the  water  is  not  pinched  or  wire-drawn  while  passing 
through  them,  as  in  most  of  those  of  metal.  This  is  one  reason  why  they 
generally  work  easier  than  the  latter.  It  is  immaterial  in  what  part  of 
the  pipe  the  valve  O  is  :  it  is  usually  placed  at  the  upper  end  for  the  con¬ 
venience  of  getting  to  it  when  requiring  repairs.  When  it  fits  close  to 
its  seat,  the  water  always  remains  suspended  in  the  pipe,  (unless  the  latter 
should  be  defective)  as  mercury  is  sustained  in  a  barometer  tube. 

In  cold  climates  it  is  a  matter  of  some  importance  to  prevent  water  in 
pumps  from  freezing.  Metallic  pumps  are,  from  the  superior  conducting 
property  of  their  material,  more  subject  to  this  evil  than  those  of  wood. 
Of  various  devices  a  few  may  be  mentioned.  The  old  mode  of  enclosing 


No.  90.  Common  Metallic  Pump. 


223 


Chap.  7.]  Limits  of  the  perpendicular  length  of  Suction  Pipes. 

the  pump  in  a  case  containing  tanners’  bark,  charcoal,  the  dung  of  hor¬ 
ses,  &c.  is  continued.  Others  are  to  prevent  the  valve  O  from  sitting  close 
to  its  seat,  or  to  open  it,  by  pressing  the  sucker  upon  a  pin  attached  to 
it,  so  that  the  contents  of  the  cylinder  and  pipe  may  descend  into  the  well ; 
hence  every  time  the  pump  is  used  a  fresh  portion  is  required  to  ‘  prime 
it.  A  more  common  method  is  to  connect  the  lower  part  of  the  cylinder 
with  the  suction  pipe  by  a  stop  cock  and  short  tube,  as  at  C.  By  opening 
the  cock  the  water  in  the  pump  descends  through  it  into  the  pipe.  But 
the  usual  practice  in  this  country,  is  to  make  the  cylinder  of  such  a  length 
that  two  or  three  feet  of  it  may  be  below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  frost ;  about  a  foot  above  the  valve  O  or  lower 
box,  a  plain  cock  is  inserted  :  in  winter  this  cock  is  left  partially  open, 
and  the  water  above  escapes  slowly  through  it  into  the  ground  ;  while 
that  below,  into  which  the  sucker  is  made  to  extend  at  its  lowest  position, 
serves  instead  of  fresh  ‘priming.’ 

A  similar  device  is  attached  to  the  lateral  pipes  that  convey  the  water 
of  the  Schuylkill  into  the  houses  of  Philadelphia. 

Some  persons  can  scarcely  conceive  how  the  atmosphere  can  have  ac¬ 
cess  to  a  well,  while  the  latter  is  covered  with  slabs  of  stone  or  timber, 
and  a  thick  bed  of  clay  or  mould  over  all.  They  forget  that  it  is  the  ra¬ 
rity  of  air,  the  extreme  minuteness  of  its  particles,  which  enables  it  to 
circulate  through  the  finest  soils,  as  freely  as  people  pass  through  the  va¬ 
rious  chambers  and  passages  of  their  dwellings.  Were  the  sides  of  a 

well  coated,  and  its  mouth  covered  with  the  best  hydraulic  cement _ no 

sooner  could  the  sucker  or  piston  of  a  pump  produce  a  partial  vacuum 
within  it,  than  the  air  would  stream  through  the  cement  as  water  through 
a  colander  or  shower  bath.  And  if  the  top  and  sides  were  rendered  per¬ 
fectly  air-tight,  it  would  then  enter  the  bottom  and  ascend  through  the 
water  without  any  perceptible  obstruction.  If  it  were  possible  to  make 
a  well  impervious  to  air,  no  water  could  be  raised  from  it  by  one  of  these 
pumps:  no  movement  of  the  sucker  could  then  bring  it  up.  We  mio-ht 

examine  the  apparatus  with  solicitude — remove  its  defects  with  care* _ 

consult  the  learned  with  the  Florentines,  or  get  enraged  like  the  Spanish 
pump  maker  of  Seville  i — ' — still,  the  water,  like  Glendower’s  spirits  of  the 
deep,  would  in  spite  of  all  our  efforts  refuse  to  rise. 

When  the  atmospheric  pump  is  required  to  raise  water  from  a  perpen¬ 
dicular  depth,  not  exceeding  26  or  28  feet,  (i.  e.  in  those  parts  of  the  earth 
where  the  mercury  in  the  barometer  generally  stands  at  30  inches)  the 
length  of  the  cylinder  need  not  exceed  that  which  is  required  for  the 
stroke  of  the  sucker.  In  all  cases,  the  perpendicular  distance  between 
the  sucker,  when  at  the  highest  point  of  its  stroke  and  the  level  of  the 
water,  should  never  exceed  the  same  number  of  feet  as  the  tube  of  a  ba¬ 
rometer,  at  the  place  where  the  pump  is  to  be  used,  contains  inches  of  mer¬ 
cury.  But  in  the  temperate  zones  where  pumps  are  chiefly  used,  the  pres¬ 
sure  of  the  air  varies  sometimes  to  the  extent  of  two  inches  of  mercury,  or 
between  two  and  three  feet  of  water;  hence  the  distance  should  be  some- 
thingless.  And  as  the  level  of  water  in  wells  is  subject  to  changes,  it  is  the 
laudable  practice  of  pump  makers  to  construct  the  cylinder  and  rod  of  the 

sucker,  of  such  a  length,  that  the  latter  may  always  work  within  26  or  28 
feet  of  the  water. 

By  keeping  the  above  rule  in  view,  water  may  be  raised  by  these 
pumps  from  wells  of  all  depths ;  for  after  it  has  once  entered  the  cy¬ 
linder,  it  is  raised  thence  by  the  sucker  independently  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  to  any  height  to  which  the  cylinder  is  extended.  This  seems  to  have 
been  well  understood  by  old  engineers.  The  remark  of  those  who  made 


224 


Singular  incident  in  trying  a  Pump  at  Seville.  [Book  11. 

the  Florentine  pump  is  a  proof ;  and  others  might  be  adduced  from  much 
older  authorities.  Plate  48,  in  Besson’s  Theatre,  represents  an  atmos¬ 
pheric  pump  raising  water  from  a  river  to  the  top  of  a  high  tower.  The 
cylinder  is  square,  formed  of  plank  and  bound  with  iron  clamps.  It  is 
shown  as  nearly  four  times  the  length  of  the  suction  pipe,  which  is  round. 
When  pump  rods  are  required  of  great  length,  they  should  be  made  of 
pine.  This  wood  does  not  warp,  and  as  it  is  rather  lighter  than  water,  its 
weight  has  not  to  be  overcome  (like  iron  rods)  when  raising  the  sucker. 

A  circumstance  to  which  we  have  slightly  alluded,  was  announced  in 
the  public  papers  of  Europe,  in  the  year  1766,  which  roused  the  attention 
of  philosophers  ;  for  it  seemed  to  threaten  a  renewal  of  the  disputes  about 
a  vacuum,  and  the  ascent  of  water  in  pumps  and  siphons,  &c.  A  tinman 
of  Seville,  in  Spain,  undertook  to  raise  water  from  a  well  60  feet  deep, 
by  the  common  pump.  Instead  of  making  the  sucker  play  within  30  feet 
of  the  water,  he  made  the  rod  so  short,  that  it  did  not  reach  within  50 
feet  of  it.  As  a  necessary  consequence,  he  could  not  raise  any.  Being 
greatly  disappointed,  he  descended  the  well  to  examine  the  pipe,  while 
a  person  above  was  employed  in  working  the  pump;  and  at  last  in  a  fit 
of  despair,  at  his  want  of  success,  he  dashed  the  hatchet  or  hammer  in 
his  hand,  violently  against  the  pipe.  By  this  act  a  small  opening  was 
made  in  the  pipe  about  ten  feet  above  the  water — when,  what  must  have 
been  his  surprise!  the  water  instantly  ascended  and  was  discharged  at 
the  spout ! 

The  fact  being  published,  it  was  by  some  adduced  as  a  proof  that  the 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere  could  sustain  a  perpendicular  column  of  water 
much  longer  than  32  or  34  feet,  and  consequently  that  the  experiments  of 
Torricelli  and  Pascal  were  inconclusive.  M.  Lecat,  a  surgeon  at  Rouen 
in  Normandy,  repeated  the  experiment  with  a  pump  in  his  garden:  he 
bored  a  small  hole  in  the  suction  pipe  ten  feet  above  the  water,  to  which 
he  adapted  a  cock.  When  it  was  open,  the  water  could  be  discharged 
at  the  height  of  55  feet,  instead  of  30  when  it  was  shut. 

As  might  be  supposed,  these  experiments  when  investigated,  instead 
of  overthrowing  the  received  doctrine  of  atmospheric  pressure,  more 
fully  confirmed  it.  It  was  ascertained  that  the  air  on  entering  the  pipe 
became  mixed  with  the  water;  and  which  therefore,  instead  of  being  car¬ 
ried  up  in  an  unbroken  column,  was  raised  in  disjointed  portions,  or  in  the 
form  of  thick  rain.  This  mixture  being  much  lighter  than  water  alone, 
a  longer  column  of  it  could  be  supported  by  the  atmosphere  :  and  by  pro¬ 
portioning  the  quantity  of  air  admitted,  a  column  of  the  compound  fluid 
may  be  elevated  one  or  two  hundred  feet  by  the  atmospheric  pump;  but 
there  is  no  advantage  in  raising  water  in  this  manner  by  the  pump ,  and 
we  believe  it  is  seldom  or  never  practiced.  In  a  paper,  on  the  duty  per¬ 
formed  by  the  Cornwall  Steam  Engines  in  raising  water,  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Franklin  Institute  for  May,  1837,  it  is  stated  that  a  little  air  is 
sometimes  admitted  in  the  pump  pipes,  which  it  is  alledged,  “made  the 
pump  work  more  lively,  in  consequence  of  the  spring  it  gave  to  the  co¬ 
lumn  of  water,  and  caused  less  strain  to  the  machinery.”  In  the  same 
paper  Mr.  Perkins  states  that  forty  years  before,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
impose  upon  him  in  this  country,  a  pump  which  raised  water  by  atmo¬ 
spheric  pressure  100  feet :  but  he  detected  “a  small  pin  hole”  in  the  pipe 
through  which  the  air  was  admitted. 

The  same  deception  it  seems  gave  rise  to  the  humorous  poetical  satire, 
*  Terrible  Tractoration.'  The  ingenious  author  states  in  his  preface,  that 
he  was  employed  in  1801,  as  agent  for  a  company  in  Vermont,  and  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  to  proceed  to  London,  and  secure  a  patent  for 


Chap.  7.]  Modifications  of  Atmospheric  Tumps.  225 

‘  a  new  invented  hydraulic  machine.’  “I  was  ureed  to  T,™  ^  i 

f  peZ'a  hl^e“42f^Lne:  3  f' 

)srN.t^a  si  ^  ?rawei  ™&>“ — d° 

passage  the  4th  of  July.  I  waited  on  M^Kirur  ^?ndon  after  a  tedious 
gentleman  I  had  several  interviews  on  the  subiect  of  mv  h  A  r  ™ 

tuatTnlfTe' te'l  *"««“ 
Company,  informing  me  there  was  a  deception  in  the"  patent ^  thatT  ^ 

experiments  made  subsequent  to  my  departure  it  soopI! .  f 

could  be  raised  by  Langdon’s  invention  higher  than  by  the  common  Z^n 

a  PeJf°rv  tni!n  J6  Pipe’  Which  made  whatJthe  inventor  called 
hole,  and  which  by  him  had  been  kept  a  secret.  Mr.  Nicholson  in 
formed  me  that  a  similar  deception  had  been  practised  on  the  A, A 

bv  their ' insvbut  -that  lhe  trick  Was  discovercd  by  the  hissing  noise  mwle 
by  the  air  rushing  into  the  aperture."  From  the  disappointment  Mr  Fe 

^SF1 %  ?  f  tts  °LS2 

fony  years  zzz  azznf  r;  (r;e:rd3li 

S3  S  SdeadTn  Xtis  Sm^o 

f  nofe;3d  souted  to  %  x  d:rzdt::I  £ 

SnShm  T,  h  6  PUmp'  l,a,V'nS  “  C°ok  soIdered  l°P tlle  end.  This’ cock 
be  ng  shot  and  the  pump  worked,  the  air  in  the  pipes  and  the  vessel  was 

sphere  he  ,h"  ^  latter  consequently  filled  with  water  by  the  atmo- 
r™ he  *e"  opened  the  cock  which  admitted  the  atmosphere  to  act  on 
the  surface  „f  the  water  m  the  vessel,  and  by  again  workinf  the  '  mn  the 
contents  of  the  vessel  were  raised  and  discharged  in  the  ga°rret  PRva  so 

other^water  ^^Tabof/ e^ct 

It  U  £  uf  b  d  m  thlS  manner  to  any  elevation. 

the  same  devices  pm  ij  .u  thought,  and  hit  upon  the  same  or  nearly 
it  would  we  have  no  doubt33tw' H T7  if*'8  mlchine.be  procured, 
celebrated  French  surgeon,  L-similet  S  wh! 1  of“i3ut 

2  9 


226 


Pump  with  two  Pistons. 


[Book  II. 


subsequently  found  in  Pompeii)  not  a  few  of  its  diversified  modifications 
were  anticipated  by  Greek  and  Roman  machinists.  Why  then  were  they 
not  preserved  or  continued  in  usel  For  the  same  reason  that  the  old 
pump  is  still  generally  preferred  :  and  were  it  not  for  the  art  of  printing 
it  is  probable  that  not  one  of  the  modern  improvements  of  this  machine 
would  be  known  2000  years  hence,  any  more  than  those  devised  by  the 
ancients  are  now  known  to  us.  Those  persons  who  are  familiar  with  it, 
well  know  that  a  large  majority  of  its  supposed  improvers,  have  returned 
from  long  and  laborious  mental  pilgrimages  in  its  behalf,  laden,  like  old 
devotees,  with  little  else  than  stores  of  worthless  relics. 

Of  innumerable  variations  in  its  construc¬ 
tion,  the  greater  part  consists  of  different 
modes. of  communicating  motion  to  the  rod, 
by  wheels,  cranks,  racks  and  pinions,  cams, 
plain  and  jointed  levers,  pendulums,  balance 
poles,  vibrating  platforms,  &c.  Of  these  it 
would  be  useless  to  speak.  Others  consist  in 
two  or  more  suckers  in  the  same  cylinder;  in 
altering  the  form  of  the  latter  ;  and  some  in 
imparting  motion  to  the  cylinder,  and  dispen¬ 
sing  with  the  sucker.  We  shall  notice  some 
of  these  here,  and  others  in  the  next  Book. 

The  introduction  of  two  suckers  or  pistons 
into  one  cylinder  has  long  been  a  favorite 
project.  Dr.  Conyers  in  1673  proposed  a 
pump  of  this  kind.  He  made  it  of  plank, 
square  and  tapered ,  (in  the  form  of  an  inver¬ 
ted  and  truncated  pyramid,)  feet  long,  20 
inches  square  at  the  upper  end,  and  8  at  the 
bottom  where  the  valve  or  lower  box  was 
placed.  He  fixed  two  suckers  on  the  same 
rod,  one  at  its  lower  end  and  the  other  so  as 
to  play  half  way  down  the  trunk.  This  pump 
he  said,  raised  “  at  least  twice  as  much  water 
as  the  ordinary  one  of  the  same  size.”  If 
such  was  the  fact,  it  was  by  the  expenditure 
of  twice  as  much  force.  Had  the  bore  of 
the  trunk,  where  the  upper  sucker  played, 
been  uniform  throughout,  and  the  lower 
sucker  laid  aside,  and  with  it  the  force  ex¬ 
pended  in  moving  it,  the  result  would  clearly 
have  equalled  that  of  both.  Phil.  Trans. 
\  8  Abridg.  Vol.  i,  545. 

No.  91.  Double  Piston  PumpL  About  the  year  1780,  Mr.  Taylor  of  South¬ 

ampton,  Eng.  introduced  two  suckers  or  pis¬ 
tons  into  one  cylinder,  each  united  to  a  separate  rod,  that  one  might  as¬ 
cend  as  the  other  descended,  and  thus  discharge  double  the  quantity  of 
water:  No.  91  is  a  figure  of  it.  The  rod  of  the  lower  sucker  slides 
through  the  centre  of  the  upper  one ;  and  also  through  its  valve,  which 
is  a  spherical  or  hemispherical  piece  of  brass,  placed  loosely  over  its  seat 
and  to  which  the  rod  acts  as  a  guide.  The  upper  parts  of  the  rods  ter¬ 
minate  in  racks,  between  which  a  cog  wheel  is  placed,  having  an  alternate 
movement  imparted  to  it,  by  a  lever  attached  to  its  axis,  as  in  the  common 
air  pump. 

Anothei  mode  of  working  this  pump,  is  by  means  of  a  drum  fixed  to 


Chap.  7.] 


227 


Working  Ship  Tumps  by  Ropes. 

one  end  of  the  shaft  of  the  cog  wheel;  over  this  a  rope  is  passed  and 
crossed  below,  to  which  any  number  of  men,  on  each  side,  may  apply 
their  strength.  Both  parties  pull  the  rope  towards  them  by  turns,  and 
thereby  impart  the  requisite  movement  to  the  cog  wheel,  and  consequently 
to  the  pump  rods  and  suckers,  as  shown  in  No.  92.  Mr.  Adams,  in  his 
Lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy,  published  in  1794,  observed  that  these 
kind  of  pumps  had  been  “in  general  use  in  the  royal  navy  for  five  or  six 
years.”  Vol.  iii,  392. 


No.  99.  Working  Ship  Pumps  by  Ropes. 

In  1813,  the  London  Society  of  Arts  awarded  a  medal  and  twenty 
guineas  to  Mr.  P.  Hedderwick,  for  various  modes  of  imparting  motion  to 
two  pistons  in  the  same  cylinder,  by  a  series  of  levers ,  instead  of  cog  wheels 
and  racks.  Trans,  vol.  xxxii,  98. 

Atmospheric  pumps  with  two  pistons  are  used  in  the  French  marine, 
and  are  arranged  so  as  to  be  worked  by  the  men  as  in  the  act  of  rowing. 
Neither  racks  nor  pinions  are  used  in  communicating  motion  to  the 
rods.  The  upper  ends  of  these  are  continued  outside  the  cylinders  and 
bent  a  little  outwards,  and  then  connected  by  a  bolt  to  each  end  of  a  short 
vibrating  beam  which  is  moved  by  the  men.  The  rods  do  not  descend 
in  the  centre  of  the  cylinder,  as  in  the  preceding  figure,  but  are  attached 
to  one  side  of  the  suckers.  The  lower  rod  passes  through  an  opening  in 
the  upper  sucker,  which  is  closed  by  a  collar  of  leather.  Hachette’s 
Traite  Elementaire  des  Machines.  Paris,  1819,  p.  153. 

Pumps  with  double  pistons  are  not  of  modern  date  :  there  is  one  figured 
in  Besson’s  Theatre  des  Instrumens. 

The  alledged  superiority  of  these  pumps  is  more  specious  than  real. 
It  is  true  the  inertia  of  the  water  in  ascending  the  pipes  has  not  to  be 
overcome  at  every  stroke,  as  in  the  common  pump,  since  its  motion  through 
them  is  continuous ;  nor  is  its  direction  changed,  as  when  two  separate 
cylinders  are  used,  being  then  diverted  into  them  from  the  pipes  at  angles 
more  or  less  acute.  These  are  real  advantages;  but  if  we  mistake  not, 
they  are  the  only  ones,  unless  taking  up  less  room  on  ship  board  be  an¬ 
other.  But  from  the  cylinders  being  twice  the  ordinary  length,  these 
machines  are  really  double  pumps ;  having  not  only  two  suckers  and  two 
rods,  but  also  two  cylinders,  and  requiring  twice  the  power  to  work  them. 
The  principal  difference  between  them  and  the  usual  double  pump,  is  that 
the  cylinders  are  united  together  on  the  same  axis,  while  in  the  latter, 
they  are  placed  parallel  to  each  other.  In  point  of  economy,  we  think 
pumps  with  two  distinct  cylinders  are  preferable;  they  are  less  complex, 
and  of  course  less  liable  to  derangement :  a  longer  stroke  can  be  ob¬ 
tained  in  them,  and,  what  is  of  more  importance,  when  one  is  disordered, 
the  other  can  be  continued  in  use.  On  these  considerations  we  believe 
double  piston  pumps  were  abandoned  in  the  British  navy. 

A  singular  modification  of  the  common  pump  was  devised  in  England 
in  1819,  for  which  the  Society  of  Arts  awarded  a  premium  of  twenty 
guineas.  The  chamber  was  curved,  and  the  centre  of  the  circle,  of  which 


228 


Muscfienbroeck' s  Pump.  [Book  II. 

it  formed  a  part,  served  as  a  fulcrum  on  which  the  rod  and  handle  (both  of 
one  piece)  moved.  The  rod  was  curved  so  as  to  move  in  the  centre  of 
the  chamber. 


No.  93.  Curved  Pump. 

The  objects  supposed  to  have  been  attained  by  this  arrangement,  were 
“  greater  simplicity  of  workmanship,”  and  “  greater  steadiness  and  preci¬ 
sion  of  action”  (of  the  sucker.)  The  device  is  ingenious,  but  can  never  be 
generally  adopted.  The  spring  of  the  rod  with  the  wear  of  the  bolt  on 
which  it  turns,  must  soon  render  the  play  of  the  sucker  and  wear  of  the 
chamber  unequal :  the  difficulty  and  expense  of  making  the  latter  curvi¬ 
linear,  and  of  repairing  it  when  bruised  or  otherwise  injured,  are  fatal 
objections.  The  pipe  must  be  separated  from  the  chamber  to  get  at  the 

lower  box  or  valve;  and  the  application 
of  the  pump  is  limited  to  depths  within 
30  feet.  We  have  noticed  it,  lest  the 
same  idea  occurring  to  some  of  our  me¬ 
chanics,  should  lead  them  to  a  useless 
expenditure  of  time  and  money.  In  the 
same  year  a  patent  was  issued  in  Eng¬ 
land  for  making  the  cylinder  in  the  form 
of  a  ring,  or  nearly  so,  the  centre  of 
which  was  the  fulcrum  on  which  the  pis¬ 
ton  turned,  and  an  alternating  motion 
was  imparted  to  the  latter.  Repertory 
of  Arts,  vol.  xxxv.  1819. 

An  interesting  modification  of  the  at¬ 
mospheric  pump  was  described  by  Mus- 
chenbroeck  in  his  Natural  Philosophy. 
Instead  of  a  piston  or  sucker  working 
inside  of  the  cylinder,  the  latter  itself  is 
moved,  being  made  to  slide  over  the  pipe 
somewhat  in  the  manner  of  telescope 
tubes.  No.  94  represents  this  pump. 
The  upper  end  of  the  suction  pipe,  being 
No.  94.  Muschenbroeck’s  Pump.  made  of  copper  or  brass,  and  its  exte¬ 

rior  smooth  and  straight,  is  passed 
t..  ough  the  bottom  of  a  small  cistern.  Its  orifice  is  closed  by  a  valve 
opening  upwards.  A  short  cylinder  whose  diameter  exceeds  that  of  the 
suction  pipe  is  slipped  over  the  latter;  and  to  its  lower  end  a  stuffing  box 
is  adapted  to  prevent  air  or  water  from  passing  between  them.  Its  upper  . 


Chap'  7'J  Centrifuged  Pump.  229 

end  is  covered  by  a  valve  also  opening  upward.  The  pump  .rod  is  at- 
i^el  th,e  same  end  by  a  fork,  as  represented  in  the  figure.  By  mo 
°A  •indef  Up  and  down>  the  air  within  ^  and  the  pipe  is  soon  ex 
Fovver ’r/rf06  °CCUpied>  a  portion  of  the  waK  which  the 

°f  He  uUCt’pn  Fpe  18  immersed-  When  the  cylinder  is  then 
raised  the  atmosphere  forces  up  water  into  it,  and  when  it  is  depressed 

the  water  being  prevented  by  the  valve  on  the  end  of  the  pipe  frem  de’ 
spending  mto  the  well,  escapes  out  of  that  on  the  top  of  the^Flinder  ure- 
cisely  as  in  the  bellows  pumn  (r>  2f)f!  ^  R-ir  L-~  •  P  .  T  ,  Pre 

air  is  effectnallv  i?P'  lP'  y  keeping  water  in  the  cistern, 

box  even  if  .bf^,  ?  r  frP  .<Tr“S  between  *8  pipes  at  the  stuffing 

endoFthe  cvlinHer  toP'  r  *  W-  A  CUP  °rd!sh  fOTmed  ™  the  uppef 
ena  ot  the  cylinder  to  contain  a  little  water  over  the  valve  would  be  an 

at  tTd^tS  tS'b11  1  ^  f°r  def6CtS  whiS 

*  e7  w°uld  be  fatal,  as  a  vacuum  could  not  then  be 

formed  within  the  cylinder,  and  of  course  no  water  raised  by  Our 

vXr^Frthat  w°h  hbe  jdm°St,Usele^  if  was  not  kepF  o^er  the 

Tn  th  i  h  renderS  them  air  and  consequently  efficient 

sure  of  ,hearlrV°f  '*?  18f  *  ”ew  method  exciting  the  pet 

j.  atmosphere  for  the  purpose  of  raising-  water  was  ndnnt-erl  Tto 

piuW^:stbtSehfdtterSbWith  Wj'Ch  l0"S  estabI!shed  modes  of  ac'com- 

entS  and  the  rt F?  efmbarrassed  ?“mmon  minds.  He  left  the  old  track 
tireiy,  and  the  result  of  his  researches  was  a  philosophical  machine  that 

bears  no  resemblance  to  those  by  which  it  was  preceded. 

Most  people  are  practically  acquainted  with  the  principle  of  the  Ccntri 

Th  "t1011  1  b°dy  a  ZtCZas 

is  thrown  from  ,h  !  e  a  force  Proportioned  to  its  velocity :  thus  mud 
wet  rot)/  ,  h  nmS  vf  CT*Ze  Wheeh’  when  they  move  rapidly  over 
of  Ito  iT'  i”  ?  S,h”.f  darts  off  P  moment  it  is  released  f  a  bucket 

evel  when  The  h  ^‘r  ed  6  a  T  m  a  8,P  and  the  eontents  retained 
en  when  the  bottom  is  upwards.  A  sailor  on  ship  board,  or  a  house- 

wateivnardclir  m°P  ^  "'a"'!'”8  7  til1  tbe  force  communicated  to  the 
watery  particles  overcomes  their  adhesion  to  the  woolen  fibres  Bovs 

and  ISrawinr!161*  m'T?11  °’T  ?  11,6  end  °f  a  sw!,ch  or  flexible  rod, 

and  then  drawing  it  quickly  through  the  air,  the  force  imparted  to  the  balU 
— J~  7  sends  them  to  their  destination.  If  a 

tube  be  substituted  for  tbe  rod,  and 
the  end  that  is  held  m  the  hand  clo¬ 
sed,  by  a  similar  movement,  balls 
dropped  or  water  poured  into  it, 
would  be  thrown  forward  in  like 
manner,’  and  if  by  some  arrange¬ 
ment  the  movement  of  the  tube  was 
made  continuous,  projected  streams 
of  either  balls  or  water  might  be 
rendered  constant:  the  centrifugal 
gun  is  a  contrivance  to  accomplish 
the  one — the  centrifugal  pump  the 
other. 

This  pump  generally  consists  of 
tubes,  united  in  the  form  of  a  cross 
or  letter  T,  placed  perpendicularly 
The  lower  enrl  i  .  tb®  water  to  be  raised.  (No.  95.  i 

the  water  and  •  Up,P°rted  on  a  Plvot  5  perforations  are  made  to  admit 
‘n  mluon  Thf.  P"1  a  Val''e  to  retain  it  when  the  pump  is  no, 

n  s  of  the  transverse  part  are  bent  downwards  to  dis- 


No.  95.  Centrifugal  Pump. 


230 


Centrifugal  Pumps. 


[Book  II. 


charge  the  water  into  a  circular  trough,  over  which  they  turn.  To  charge 
it,  the  orifices  may  be  closed  by  loosely  inserting  a  cork  into  each,  and 
then  filling  the  pump  through  an  opening  at  the  top  which  is  then  closed 
by  a  screw  cap.  A  rapid  rotary  motion  is  imparted  to  the  machine  by  a 
pulley  fixed  on  the  axis  and  driven  by  a  band,  from  a  drum,  &c.  The 
centrifugal  force  thus  communicated  tt)  the  water  in  the 
arms  or  transverse  tube,  throws  it  out;  and  the  atmo¬ 
sphere  pushes  up  the  perpendicular  one  fresh  portions 
to  supply  the  place  of  those  ejected.  These  pumps  are 
sometimes  made  with  a  single  arm  like  the  letter  L  in¬ 
verted ;  at  others  quite  a  number  radiate  from  the  up¬ 
right  one.  It  has  also  been  made  of  a  series  of  tubes 
arranged  round  a  vertical  shaft  in  the  form  of  an  inver¬ 
ted  cone.  A  valuable  improvement  was  submitted  by 
M.  Jorge  to  the  French  Academy  in  1816.  It  consists 
in  imparting  motion  to  the  arms  only,  thus  saving  the 
power  consumed  in  moving  the  upright  tube,  and  by 
which  the  latter  can  be  inclined  as  circumstances  or  lo¬ 
cations  may  require. 

A  combination  of  the  centrifugal  pump  with  Parent’s 
or  Barker’s  mill,  was  proposed  by  Dr.  West,  which  in 
some  locations  may  be  adopted  with  advantage.  It  is  sim¬ 
ply  a  vertical  shaft  round  which  two  tubes  are  wound : 
(No.  96)  the  upper  one  is  the  pump;  the  lower  one  the 
mill.  The  area  of  the  lower  one  should  be  to  that  of  the 
upper  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  the  perpendicular  height, 
and  as  much  more  as  is  necessary  to  overcome  the  fric¬ 
tion.  The  cup  or  basin  into  which  the  stream  (part  of 
which  is  to  be  raised)  is  directed,  may  be  attached  to  the  shaft  and  turn 
with  it,  or  the  latter  may  pass  through  it.  Tilloch’s  Phil.  Mag.  vol.  xi. 

The  first  centrifugal  pump  appears  to  have 
been  invented  by  M.  Le  Demour,  who 
sent  a  description  of  it  to  the  French 
Academy  in  1732.  (Machines  approuve. 
Tom.  vi,  p.  9.)  It  was  merely  a  straight 
tube  attached  in  an  inclined  position  to  a 
vertical  axis,  and  whirled  round  by  the 
handle — the  tube  was  fastened  by  liga¬ 
tures  to  three  strips  of  wood  projecting 
from  the  axis,  as  shown  at  No.  97. 

With  this  pump  we  close  our  remarks 
on  devices  for  raising  water  by  atmo¬ 
spheric  pressure;  more  might  have  been 
added,  but  as  nearly  all  the  machines  yet 
to  be  described  illustrate  the  same  prin¬ 
ciple,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  fol¬ 
lowing  Books,  and  particularly  to  the  at¬ 
mospheric  and  forcing  pumps  described  in 
the  next  one. 

[The  vessels  under  the  pump  spouts  in  Nos.  90,  93  and  94,  are  Roman 
bronze  buckets  from  Pompeii.] 


END  OF  THE  SECOND  BOOK. 


I 


BOOK  III. 


MACHINES  FOR  RAISING  WATER  BY  COMPRESSURE  INDEPEIffr 
ENTLY  OF  ATMOSPHERIC  INFLUENCE. 


CHAPTER  I  . 

Definition  of  machines  described  in  this  Book — Forcing  Pumps — Analogy  between  them  andbe<l-~- 
— History  of  the  bellows  that  of  the  pump— Forcing  pumps  are  water  bellows— The  Bellows  of  ant»«» 
luvian  origin— Tubal  Cain— Anacharsis— Vulcan  in  his  forge— Egyptian,  Hindoo,  and  Peruvian  blowing 
tubes— Primitive  bellows  of  goldsmiths  in  Barbary— Similar  instruments  employed  to  eject  liquids— de¬ 
vices  to  obtain  a  continuous  blast— Double  bellows  of  the  Foulah  blacksmiths,  without  valves— Simple 
Asiatic  bellows— Domestic  bellows  of  modern  Egypt— Double  bellows  of  the  ancient  Egyptians— Bel¬ 
lows  blowers  in  the  middle  ages— Lantern  bellows  common  over  all  the  East— Specimens  from  Agricola 
—Used  by  negroes  in  the  interior  of  Africa— Modern  Egyptian  blacksmiths’  bellows— Vulcan’s  bellows 
—Various  kinds  of  Roman  bellows— Bellows  of  Grecian  blacksmiths  referred  to  in  a  prediction  of  the 
Delphic  oracle — Application  of  lantern  bellows  as  forcing  pumps — Sucking  and  forcing  bellows  pumps 
_ Modern  domestic  bellows  of  ancient  origin — Used  to  raise  water — Common  blacksmiths’ bellows  em¬ 
ployed  as  forcing  pumps — Ventilation  of  mines. 

Machines  of  the  third  class  described  in  this  Book,  are  such  as  act  by 
compressure :  the  water  is  first  admitted  into  close  vessels  and  then  for¬ 
cibly  expelled  through  apertures  made  for  that  purpose.  This  is  effected 
in  some  by  compressing  the  vessels  themselves,  as  in  bellows  pumps  in 
others  by  a  solid  body  impinging  on  the  surface  of  the  liquid,  as  in  fire  en¬ 
gines — sometimes  a  column  of  water  is  used  for  the  same  purpose,  at 
others  the  expansive  force  of  compressed  air.  Of  the  last  two,.  Heron  s 
fountain,  air  engines,  and  soda  fountains,  are  examples.  Strictly  con¬ 
sidered,  these  machines  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  pressure  of  the  at¬ 
mosphere,  (the  active  principle  of  those  of  the  second  class,)  but  in  prac¬ 
tice  it  is  very  generally  employed.  When  the  working  cylinder  of  a  for¬ 
cing  pump  is  immersed  in  the  water  it  is  intended,  to  raise,  or  when  the 
latter  flows  into  it  by  gravity,  it  is  a  forcing  pump  simply;  but  when  the 
cylinder  is  elevated  above  the  water  that  supplies  it,  and  consequently  is 
then  charged  by  atmospheric  pressure,  the  machine  is  a  compound  one, 
embracing  the  peculiar  properties  of  both  sucking  and  forcing  pumps. 
The  latter  therefore  differ  from  the  former  in  raising  water  above  their 
cylinders;  and  to  elevations  that  are  only  limited  by  the  strength  of  their 
materials  and  the  power  employed  to  work  them.  They  have  been  con¬ 
sidered  by  some  writers  as  the  oldest  of  all  pumps.  We  shall  consider 
their  varieties  in  the  order  in  which  we  suppose  they  were  developed. 

An  intimate  connection  has  ever  subsisted  between  the  forcing  pump 
and  the  bellows ;  they  are  not  only  identical  in  principle,  but  every  form 
adopted  in  one  has  been  applied  to  the  other.  The  bellows,  from  the 
simple  sack  or  skin  employed  by  the  negroes  of  Africa  to  the  complex 
and  efficient  instrument  of  China,  and  the  enormous  blowing  machines  of 


232 


Antiquity  of  Bellows. 


[Book  III. 


our  foundries,  has  been  used  to  raise  water :  and  every  modification  of  the 
pump,  not  even  excepting  the  screw,  has  been  applied  as  a  bellows.®  A 
singular  proof  of  the  analogy  between  them  and  of  their  connection  in 
ancient  times,  is,  that  in  one  of  the  earliest  accounts  we  have  of  the  cylin¬ 
drical  pump,  (viz.  by  Vitruvius)  it  was  used  as  a  bellows  “to  supply 
wind  to  hydraulic  organs.”  And  that  rotary  pumps  are  as  numerous  as 
rotary  bellows,  is  known  to  every  mechanic.  Thus,  while  pumps  have 
been  used  as  bellows,  bellows  have  been  employed  as  pumps;  and  every 
device  to  obtain  a  continuous  current  of  air  in  the  one,  has  been  adopted 
to  induce  an  unbroken  stream  of  water  in  the  other. 

The  history  of  the  bellows  is  also  that  of  the  pump;  and  if  we  mistake 
not  it  affords  the  only  legitimate  source  now  open  in  which  the  origin  of 
the  latter  can  be  sought  for  with  any  prospect  of  success.  Under  this 
impression  we  shall  examine  the  bellows  of  various  people,  and  in  doing 
so  the  reader  will  find  an  auxiliary,  but  very  important  branch  of  the  sub¬ 
ject,  illustrated  at  the  same  time,  viz.  that  which  relates  to  valves,  for  the 
bellows  was  probably  the  first  instrument  of  which  they  formed  a  part. 
No  other  machine  equally  ancient  can  be  pointed  out  in  which  they  were 
required.  In  fine,  the  forcing  pump  is  obviously  derived  from  the  bel¬ 
lows,  or  rather  it  is  an  application  of  that  instrument  to  blow  water  in¬ 
stead  of  air — an  application  probably  coeval  with  its  invention. 

The  origin  of  the  arts  is  generally  considered  as  a  subject  of  mere  con¬ 
jecture.  Antiquarians  and  historians  despair  of  discovering  any  thing  of 
importance  relating  to  the  early  history  of  any  of  the  simple  machines.  In 
the  present  case,  however,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  first  bellows  was 
the  mouth ;  and  it  was  the  first  pump  too,  both  atmospheric  and  forcing. 
The  representation  of  it  when  employed  as  a  bellows  was  a  favorite  sub¬ 
ject  with  ancient  statuaries  and  painters.  Pliny  gives  several  examples, 
and  among  others,  Stipax  the  Cyprian,  who  cast  an  elegant  figure  of  a 
boy  “roasting  and  frying  meat  at  the  fire,  puffing  and  blowing  thereat 
with  his  mouth  full  of  wind,  to  make  it  burn.”  Aristoclides,  was  also  cele¬ 
brated  for  a  painting  of  a  boy,  “blowing  hard  at  the  coals  ;  the  whole  in¬ 
terior  of  the  room  appeared  to  be  illuminated  with  the  fire  thus  urged  by 
the  boy’s  breath,  and  also  what  a  mouth  the  boy  makes.”  Holland’s 
Translation. 

That  the  bellows  is  of  antediluvian  origin,  there  can  be  little  doubt, 
for  neither  Tubal  Cain  nor  any  of  his  pupils  could  have  reduced  and 
wrought  iron  without  it.  The  tongs,  anvil  and  hammer  of  Vulcan,  (or  Tubal 
Cain)  have  come  down  to  our  times,  and  although  the  particular  form  of 
his  bellows  be  not  ascertained,  that' instrument  is,  we  believe,  as  certainly 
continued  in  use  at  the  present  day,  as  the  tools  just  named.  Nor  is  there 
any  thing  incredible  in  such  belief,  for  if  even  the  common  opinion,  that 
the  whole  globe  was  enveloped  in  the  deluge,  be  true,  Noah  and  his  sons, 
aware  that  the  destinies  of  their  posterity,  so  far  as  regarded  the  arts  of 
civilization,  must  in  a  great  measure  depend  upon  them,  would  naturally 
secure  the  means  of  transmitting  to  them  the  knowledge  of  those  ma¬ 
chines  that  related  to  metallurgy,  as  among  the  most  essential  of  all.  Of 
these,  the  bellows  was  quite  as  important  as  any  other ;  without  it,  other 
tools  would  have  been  of  little  avail.  Now  if  we  refer  to  oriental  ma¬ 
chinery,  (among  which  the  bellows  of  the  son  of  Lamech  is  to  be  found 
if  at  all,)  we  shall  find,  in  accordance  with  its  characteristic  unchangeable¬ 
ness,  that  the  instrument  now  used  over  all  Hindostan  and  Asia  in  gene¬ 
ral,  and  by  the  modern  blacksmiths  of  Cairo  and  Rosetta,  is  identical  with 


Hachette’s  Traitc  61ementaire  des  Machines,  p.  142. 


Chap.  1.] 


Its  Origin. 


233 

tlnthWfihiC\the  SmituS  of  MemPhis>  and  Thebes,  and  Heliopolis, 
to  fhl^Z  Tk  beUvJen  three  and  four  thousand  years  ago,  and  is  similar 
to  those  found  figured  in  the  forges  of  Vulcan  on  ancient  medals  and 

“  tU,refS;iNumer°U1%Were  ttieIorms  in  which  the  bellows  was  anciently 
made,  but  the  general  features  of  the  one  to  which  we  allude,  (the  lantern 

selvesVS  haVe  remained  as  unchangeable  as  those  of  blacksmiths  them- 

Strabo  attributed  the  bellows  to  Anacharsis  who  lived  about  600  years 
‘  •/  but  f  JS  Prchable  that  some  particular  form  of  it  only  was  intended, 
oi  it  is  not  credible  that  the  Greeks  m  Solon’s  time  could  have  been  igno¬ 
rant  of  an  instrument  that  is  coeval  with  the  knowledge  of  metals  ;  and 
without  which  the  iron  mmey  of  Lycurgus,  two  centuries  before,  could 
never  have  been  made.  Pliny  (B.  vii,  56)  attributes  it  with  greater  pro¬ 
priety  to  the  Cyclops,  who  are  supposed  to  have  flourished  before  the 
deluge.  The  prophet  Jeremiah,  who  lived  long  before  Anacharsis,  speaks 
of  it  in  connection  with  metallurgical  operations.  “The  bellows  are 
burned,  the  lead  is  consumed  of  the  fire,  the  founder  melteth  in  vain  ” 
Isaiah,  who  lived  still  earlier,  viz.  in  the  8th  century  B.  C.  alludes  to  the 
blacksmith  s  bellows— “the  smith  that  bloweth  the  coals  in  the  fire.”  And 
Job  nine  or  ten  centuries  before  the  Scythian  philosopher  flourished 
speaks  of  a  fire  not  blown.”  The  prophet  Ezekiel  also  speaks  of  the’ 
blastfurnace  as  common— “they  gather  silver,  and  brass,  and  iron,  and 
lead,  and  tin,  into  the  midst  of  the  furnace,  to  blow  the  fire  upon  it  to  melt 
}  ,  XKXU’  20I  Homer,  as  might  be  supposed,  could  not  fully  describe 
the  labors  of  Vulcan,  without  referring  to  this  instrument.  His  account 
of  the  great  mechanic  at  work,  is  equally  descriptive  of  a  smith  and  his 
torge  of  the  present  day. 

Obscure  in  smoke,  his  forges  flaming  round, 

While  bathed  in  sweat  from  fire  to  fire  he  flew  • 

And  puffing  Joud,  the  roaring  bellows  blew. 

****** 

Just  as  the  god  directs,  now  loud,  now  low, 

Ihey  raise  a  tempest,  or  they  gently  blow. 

Iliad,  xvm,  435,  545.  Pope. 

The  first  approach  made  to  artificial  bellows  was  the  application  of  a 

mouth"  °»  T  "“T1  E  tl,r°Ugh  wUoh  t0  a  streumPoPfa“frl  fhe 
•  ‘)T  dev,,ce  ‘i'f  has  never  passed  into  desuetude.  Such  was  the  ori- 

fh»  °fthe.modern  blow-pipe,  an  instrument  originally  designed  to  increase 

were  deTdonedl  t'l ary  M  b“  Whi°h  subse<l“ently  becfme  (as  the  arts 

loped)  indispensible  to  primitive  workers  in  metal  How  lono- 

blowing  tubes  preceded  the  invention  of  other  devices  for  the  faml  Z? 

pose  13  uncertain;  but  from  the  fact  that  oriental  jewelers  and  goldsmiths 

s  dl  fuse  metal  in  pots  by  them,  it  may  be  inferred  they  were  the only  n 

SZZXSt**-  befT  tbe  bellows  Pr»P-  was' known,  a  drcE 
rreemls\rlteciatnd  ,he  ^ "W""*  of  by  meES 

would  naturallv  V  ^  ontnvance  for.  urging  fires  m  primitive  times,  men 

the  East  theirila  T°me  ^  “  USlnS  them’  and’  as  in  a11  the  arts  of 
dren  and  be  T  7  “  tHlS  reSPeCt  WOuld  be  inberited  by  their  chil- 

hEart  y6  evrten  knTT  '™h  ^  ^  knacky  to 

mode  of  usL  k  hf„Z  ,n  S7  7-  “  anC,ent  too1  or  *0  ancient 

mer,  a  pab  of  tongs  andabE'^  1  &7  .imPle™nts;  a  file,  a  ham- 
budget  °f  an  African  or  Askitic^jewele^contains. m  ^  ^  ^ 

we  ave  civen  gures  of  sacking  tubes  to  illustrate  the  origin  of 


234 


Egyptian,  Hindoo,  and  Peruvian  Blowpipes .  [Book  III. 


the  atmospheric  pump,  we  here  insert  some  of  blowing  tubes,  as  showing 
the  incipient  state  of  the  forcing  pump. 


No.  98.  Egyptian  using  a  reed.  1600  B.  C.  No.  99.  Ancient  Egyptian  Goldsmith. 


No.  98,  represents  an  Egyptian  blowing  a  fire  with  a  reed.  It  is  from 
the  paintings  at  Beni  Hassan,  and  extends  back  through  a  period  of  3,500 
years.  According  to  Mr.  Wilkinson,  the  figure  is  that  of  a  goldsmith, 
“  blowing  the  fire  for  melting  the  gold,”  but  from  the  comparative  large 
size  of  the  vessel,  it  would  seem  rather  to  be  a  cauldron  in  which  the  ar¬ 
ticles  were  pickled.  No.  99,  is  the  figure  of  a  goldsmith  either  soldering 
or  fusing  metal  with  the  blow-pipe,  from  the  sculptures  at  Thebes.  The 
portable  furnace  has  raised  cheeks  to  confine  and  reflect  the  heat.  The 
pipe  is  of  metal  with  the  end  enlarged  and  pointed.® 

Sonnerat,  has  given  (in  the  volume 
of  illustrations  to  his  voyages,)  a  plate 
representing  modern  goldsmiths  of 
Hindostan,  from  which  the  annexed 
figure  (No.  100)  is  copied.  It  will 
serve  to  show,  when  compared  with 
the  preceding  cuts,  what  little  chan¬ 
ges  have  taken  place  in  some  mechani¬ 
cal  manipulations  in  the  East,  from 
very  remote  times.  A  similar  figure  is 
in  Shoberl’s  Hindostan.  The  same 
mode  of  fusing  their  metals  was  prac¬ 
ticed  by  the  ancient  gold  and  silver 
smiths  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  Instead 
of  bellows,  says  Garcilasso,  the  latter 
had  blow-pipes  “  made  of  copper, 
about  a  yard  long,  the  ends  of  which 
were  narrow,  that  the  breath  might  pass  more  forcibly  by  means  of  the 
contraction,  and  as  the  fire  was  to  be  more  or  less;  so  accordingly  they 
used  eight,  ten,  or  twelve  of  these  pipes  at  once,  as  the  quantity  of  metal 
did  require.”  (Commentaries  on  Peru,  p.  52.) 

The  next  step  was  to  apply  a  leathern  bag  or  sack,  formed  of  the  skin 
of  some  animal,  to  one  end  of  the  tube  (shown  in  No.  80)  as  a  substitute 
for  the  mouth  and  lungs.  The  bag  was  inflated  by  the  act  of  opening  it, 
or  by  blowing  into  it,  and  its  contents  expelled  by  pressure.  To  such 
Homer  seems  to  allude  in  his  account  of  Eolus  assisting  Ulysses: 

The  adverse  winds  in  leathern  bags  he  braced, 

Compressed  their  force,  and  locked  each  struggling  blast.  Odys.  10. 


No.  100.  Goldsmith  of  Hindostan 


‘Ancient  bronze  tongs  or  forceps,  similar  to  those  in  the  cut,  have  been  found  in 
Egypt,  which  retain  their  spring  perfectly.  Crucibles  similar  to  those  used  at  the 
present  day  have  also  been  discovered.  Wilkinson’s  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  An¬ 
cient  Egyptians,  vol.  iii,  224. 


Chap.  1.]  Origin  of  the  Valve. — African  Bellows.  235 

And  Ovid: 

A  largess  to  Ulysses  he  consigned, 

And  in  a  steer’s  tough  hide  enclosed  a  wind.  Met.  xiv. 

The  goldsmiths’  bellows  of  Barbary  consists  of  a  goat’s  skin,  having  a 
reed  inserted  into  it:  ‘he  holds  the  reed  with  one  hand  and  presses  the 
bag  with  the  other.’  (Ed.  Encyc.  vol.  iii,  258.)  The  Damaras,  a  tribe  of 
negroes  in  Southern  Africa  mentioned  by  Barrow,  manufacture  copper 
rings,  &c.  from  the  ore.  The  bellows  they  use,  he  observes,  “is  made  of 
the  skin  of  a  gemsbok,  (a  species  of  deer)  converted  into  a  sack,  with  the 
horn  of  the  same  animal  fixed  to  one  end  for  a  pipe.” 

Simple  instruments  of  this  description  have  always  been  applied  to 
eject  liquids.  Small  ones  were  commonly  used  by  ancient  physicians  in 
administering  enemas ;  a  purpose  for  which  they  are  still  used.  Large 
ones  were  recommended  by  Apollodorus  the  architect,  a  contemporary  of 
Pliny  and  Trajan,  as  a  substitute  for  fire  engines,  when  the  latter  were 
not  at  hand.  When  the  upper  part  of  a  house  was  on  fire,  and  no  ma¬ 
chine  for  throwing  water  to  be  procured,  hollow  reeds,  he  observed, 
might  be  fastened  to  leathern  bags  filled  with  water,  and  the  liquid  pro¬ 
jected  on  the  flames  by  compressing  them. 

As  the  current  of  wind  from  a  single  sack  or  bag,  necessarily  ceased 
as  soon  as  it  was  collapsed,  some  mode  of  rendering  the  blast  continuous 
was  desirable ;  and  in  the  working  of  iron  indispensible.  The  most  ob¬ 
vious  plan  to  accomplish  this  was  to  make  use  of  two  bags,  and  to  work 
them  so  that  one  might  be  inhaling  the  air,  while  the  other  was  expelling 
it — that  is,  as  one  was  distended,- the  other  might  be  compressed.  This 
device  we  shall  find  was  very  early  adopted,  and  by  all  the  nations  of 
antiquity. 

But  by  far  the  most  important  improvement  on  the  primitive  bellows  or 
bag,  was  the  admission  of  air  by  a  separate  opening — a  contrivance  that 
led  to  the  invention  of  the  valve,  one  of  the  most  essential  elements  of 
hydraulic  as  well  as  pneumatic  machinery.  The  first  approach  to  the 
ordinary  valve,  was  a  device  that  is  still  common  in  the  bellows  of  some 
African  tribes.  A  bag  formed  of  the  skin  of  a  goat,  has  a  l’eed  attached 
to  it  to  convey  the  blast  to  the  fire  ;  and  the  part  which  covered  the  neck 
of  the  animal  is  left  open  for  the  admission  of  air.  This  part  is  gathered  up 
in  the  hand  when  the  bag  is  compressed,  and  opened  when  it  is  distended. 


No.  101.  Bellows  of  the  Foulah  Blacksmiths. 

An  improvement  upon  this  primeval  device  is  exhibited  in  the  bellows 
of  the  Foulah  blacksmiths,  on  the  western  coasts  of  Africa.  It  consists 


236  'Primitive  Bellows  of  Asia.  [Book  III 

of  two  calabashes  connected  together  by  two  hollow  bamboos  or  reeds,  in¬ 
serted  into  their  sides,  and  united  at  an  angle  to  another  which  leads  to  the 
fire,  as  represented  in  the  figure.  A  large  opening  is  made  on  the  top 
of  each,  and  a  cylindrical  bag  or  tube  made  of  soft  goats’  skins  stitched 
or  otherwise  secured  round  the  edges.  The  workman  seats  himself  on 
•  the  ground,  and  placing  the  machine  between  his  legs,  he  grasps  the  ends 
of  the  bags,  and  by  alternately  raising  each  with  the  mouth  open,  and 
pushing  it  into  the  calabash  when  closed,  the  air  in  the  latter  io  forced 
into  the  fire,  and  a  uniform  blast  maintained.  The  action  is  very  similar 
to  that  of  gathering  in  the  hands  the  lower  edges  of  two  hat  linings,  and 
constantly  drawing  one  out  and  thrusting  the  other  in. 

The  negroes  of  the  Gold  Coast  are  represented  to  have  other  kinds  of 
bellows.  The  principal  tools  of  their  smiths,  are  “a  hard  stone  for  an 
anvil,  a  pair  of  tongs  and  a  small  pair  of  bellows,  with  three  or  more 
pipes,  which  blow  very  strong — an  invention  of  their  own.”  We  have 
not  been  able  to  find  any  description  of  these.  See  Grand  Gazetteer, 
Art.  Guinea ;  and  Histoire  Generale,  tom.  v,  214. 

Another  species  equally  simple  but  more  efficient,  is  common  in  Asia, 
Africa,  and  also  in  Wallachia,  Greece  and  other  parts  of  Europe.  The 
contrivance  for  admitting  the  air  is  an  improvement  upon  the  last,  but  the 
orifice  is  still  opened  and  closed  by  the  fingers  of  the  blower.  Instead 
of  the  mouth  of  each  bag  being  drawn  up  in  the  hand,  it  is  stretched  out 
in  the  form  of  a  long  slit;  to  the  lips  of  which  two  strips  of  wood  are 
sewed.  The  inner  side  of  each  strip  is  made  straight  and  smooth,  so  that 
when  brought  together,  they  form  a  close  joint.  They  are  grasped  in 
the  middle  by  the  workman,  who  alternately  opens  them  when  he  raises 
the  mouth  to  admit  the  air,  and  closes  them  when  he  expels  it. 

No.  102  represents  the  assist¬ 
ant  of  a  Hindoo  blacksmith,  urg¬ 
ing  his  fire  with  a  pair  of  these 
instruments,  (copied  from  the 
volume  of  plates  to  Sonnerat’s 
Voyages.)  From  an  inspection 
of  the  figure,  it  will  be  perceived 
that  the  strips  facilitate  the  act  of 
compressing  each  bag,  by  their  ex¬ 
tending  quite  over  it,  as  well  as  by 
their  stiffness:  in  these  respects 
they  may  be  considered  as  the 
nucleus  of  the  boards  in  the  com¬ 
mon  bellows.  In  this  device,  the 
valve  becomes  further  developed. 
To  similar  instruments,  Mr. 
Emerson  refers  in  his  ‘Letters  from  the  Egean.’  The  crew  of  a  Hy¬ 
driot  vessel  having  taken  her  ashore  at  Paros  to  repair  the  iron  clasp  of 
her  rudder,  an  opportunity  occurred  of  examining  their  bellows.  Mr.  E. 
describes  them  as  “a  very  antique  device,”  consisting  of  “two  sheepskins, 
united  by  an  iron  pipe  introduced  into  the  fire,  which  were  alternately 
dilated  with  air  and  compressed,  by  an  Arab  slave  who  knelt  above 
them.”  With  the  exception  of  their  not  being  made  of  bull’s  hide  but  of 
sheepskin,  he  observes  they  would  completely  suit  the  description  of  the 
bellows  given  by  Virgil  in  the  Fourth  Georgic.  Blacksmiths  in  Ceylon 
use  the  same  kind,  but  made  of  bullocks’  hides,  and  furnished  with  noz¬ 
zles  of  bamboo.  The  blower  seats  himself  on  the  ground  between  the 
two  bags,  and  works  them  with  his  hands,  pulling  up  one  and  pushing 


No.  102.  Primitive  Bellows  of  Asia. 


237 


Chap.  1.]  Ancient  Egyptian  Bellows. 

down  the  other.  (See  a  figure  in  Davis’  history  of  that  island,  and  also 
in  the  Register  of  Arts,  vol.  i,  300.)  The  domestic  bellows  of  Egypt  is 
made  in  the  same  way,  and  probably  has  always  been  so :  to  it,  Job  most 
likely  alluded,  (chap,  xx,  26.)  “  The  ordinary  hand  bellows  now  used 

for  small  fires  in  Egypt,  (says  Mr.  Wilkinson)  are  a  sort  of  bag  made  of 
the  skin  of  a  kid,  with  an  opening  at  one  end  like  the  mouth  of  a  common 
carpet  bag,  where  the  skin  is  sewed  upon  two  pieces  of  wood;  and  these 
being  pulled  apart  by  the  hands  and  closed  again,  the  bag  is  pressed 
down  and  the  air  thus  forced  through  the  pipe  at  the  other  end.” 

The  next  improvement  seems  to  have  been  that  by  which  the  slit  was 
superseded  by  a  flap  or  clack,  so  as  to  be  self-acting,  as  in  the  ordinary 
European  or  American  bellows — in  other  words  a  valve,  that  opened  by 
the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  when  the  bag  was  raised,  and  which  was 
closed  by  its  own  weight  or  by  the  elasticity  of  the  confined  air.  Among 
the  intei  estmg  discoveries  which  recent  examinations  of  Egyptian  monu¬ 
ments  have  brought  to  light,  figures  of  such  bellows  have  been  found 
sculptured  in  a  tomb  at  Thebes,  which  bears  the  name  of  Thothmes  III, 
one  of  the  Pharaohs  who  was  contemporary  with  Moses.  No.  103  repre¬ 
sents  four  employed  at  one  fire,  each  pair  being  worked  by  the  hands  and 
feet  of  a  laborer,  and  in  a  manner  singularly  ingenious  and  effective;  Drov¬ 
ing  that  the  Egyptians  of  those  times  well  knew  how  to  combine  muscu¬ 
lar  energy  with  the  weight  of  the  body  to  produce  a  maximum  effect. 


No.  103.  Egyptian  Bellows  and  Bellows  Blowers.  1500  B.  C. 


Lhe  bags  were  secured  to  frames  or  to  the  ground,  and  appear  to  have 
had  rings  of  cane  within  them  to  keep  the  leather  extended  in  a  horizontal 
direction.  A  separate  pipe  proceeded  from  each  to  the  fire.  The  valves 
or  clacks  are  not  shown  because  being  placed  underneath  they  were  out 
of  sight.  In  working  them  a  laborer  stood  upon  two,  one  under  each 
foot,  and  taking  two  cords  in  his  hands,  the  lower  ends  of  which  were 
secured  to  the  top  of  the  bags ;  he  alternately  rested  his  weight 
upon  each  to  expel  the  air,  and  inflated  them  when  exhausted  by  pulling 
the  cords;  thus  the  whole  weight  of  his  body  was  uninterruptedly  em&- 
ployed  in  closing  one  bellows,  while  the  muscular  force  of  his  arms  was 
incessantly  engaged  in  opening  another.  We  question  if  a  more  simple 
and  efficient  application  of  human  effort  can  be  produced. 

Such  bellows  were  used  in  Egyptian  kitchens,  and  were  indeed  neces¬ 
sary  when  the  massive  cauldrons  and  huge  joints  of  meat  boiled  in  them, 
are  considered.*  The  same  practice  continued  through  the  middle  ages, 
in  urope,  w  en  bellows  blowers’  formed  part  of  the  establishment  of 


*  \\  ilkinson  s  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  ii,  384.  Vol.  iii,  339 


238 


Ancient  Egyptian  Bellows. 


[Book  HI. 


royal  kitchens,  and  whose  duty  it  was  “to  see  that  soup  when  on  the  fire 
was  neither  burnt  nor  smoked.”3  Among  the  relics  that  formerly  be¬ 
longed  to  Guy,  the  famous  Earl  of  Warwick,  is  a  cauldron  or  kitchen 
boiler,  made  of  bell-metal,  which  contains  120  gallons,  but  whose  capacity 
does  not  equal  that  of  more  ancient  ones.b  To  the  old  custom  of  em¬ 
ploying  persons  exclusively  at  the  bellows,  as  in  the  preceding  cut,  Vir¬ 
gil  alludes  in  the  following  line : 

One  stirs  the  fire  and  one  the  bellows  blows.  En.  viii. 

Every  modern  bellows  maker  would  be  convinced  from  an  inspection 
of  the  last  figures,  that  valves  were  employed,  since  the  instruments  could 
not  possibly  have  acted  without  them ;  but  all  doubts  respecting  an  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  the  valve  in  those  remote  ages  when  the  sculptures  were 
executed,  is  removed  by  two  other  bellows  portrayed  in  the  same  tomb, 
and  shown  in  the  next  cut.  These  differ  from  the  preceding  and  were 


No.  104.  Egyptian  Bellows  in  use  before  the  Exodus. 


perhaps  intended  to  show  another  Variety  of  the  instrument  as  made  in 
those  times.  Their  upper  surfaces  seem  to  have  been  of  wood,  in  the 
centre  of  which,  the  orifices  of  the  valves  are  distinctly  shown;  the  valves 
or  clacks  were  therefore  inverted,  as  in  our  ordinary  bellows  turned  up¬ 
side  down.  To  persons  not  familiar  with  the  subject,  this  circumstance 
might  excite  surprise,  but  the  class  to  which  these  belong  have  almost  al¬ 
ways  had  the  valve  in  the  moveable  board ;  and  in  whatever  position  they 
were  used — whether  horizontally  as  in  these  figures,  or  vertically  as  in 
the  next.  In  Ceylon  and  other  parts  of  the  East  they  are  used  as  shown 
in  No.  104. 

But  are  not  both  bellows  in  the  last  cut  double-acting,  that  is,  impelling 
air  from  them  both  when  moved  up  as  well  as  when  pushed  down?  From 
the  figures  it  would  seem  that  such  were  intended;  for  two  pipes  are  rep¬ 
resented  as  proceeding  from  each ,  while  one  only  is  connected  to  those  in 
No.  103 ;  and  one  instrument  was  deemed  sufficient  to  occupy  one  la¬ 
borer — to  this  there  possibly  may  be  an  allusion  in  the  knots  on  the  ends 
of  the  cords,  which,  in  the  hierogly.phical  language  of  Egypt  may  sig¬ 
nify  the  greater  liability  of  slipping  through  the  hands,  in  consequence 
of  the  superior  force  required  to  work  them.  Indeed  four  different  bel¬ 
lows  are  represented.  In  No.  103,  two  are  made  of  single  bags,  and  two 
of  double  ones,  as  appears  by  the  bands  around  them  :  and  in  No.  104, 
one  is  round  like  the  lantern  bellows,  and  the  other  oblong,  both  kinds  of 
which  are  common  at  this  day  in  the  East;  and  both,  as  already  re¬ 
marked,  seem  to  be  double  acting  like  those  of  our  smiths. 

This  variety  was  probably  designedly  introduced  into  the  sculptures  to 
aid  in  conveying  to  posterity  a  knowledge  of  the  state  of  the  arts  at  that 
time  in  Egypt.  The  circumstance  is  an  interesting  one,  and  should  lead 
to  a  more  thorough  examination  of  those  wonderful,  those  eternal  records 
of  the  arts  and  sciences  of  past  ages,  than  has  ever  been  given  them ;  not 
only  every  group  but  every  figure  among  the  millions  imprinted  on  these 


*  Fosbroke’s  Encyc.  Antiq.  b  Moule's  English  Counties.  Lon.  1831. 


Lantern  Bellows. 


239 


Chap.  1.] 

imperishable  pages,  deserves  not  merely  to  be  scrutinized,  but  accurately 
copied.  Many  of  them  are  fraught  with  information  of  the  highest  in¬ 
terest  to  the  arts;  and  whether  the  mass  of  hieroglyphical  records  be  ever 
understood  or  not,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  comprehending  the  most  in¬ 
teresting  of  these. 

One  of  the  figures  in  the  last  illustration  is  obviously  a  modification  of 
the  )ld  lantern  bellows  (so  named  from  its  resemblance  to  the  paper 
lantern,  still  common  in  Egypt:)  they  consist  of  two  circular  boards 
united  to  the  ends  of  a  cylindrical  bag  of  flexible  leather.  In  the  centre 
of  one  board  is  an  opening  covered  by  a  flap  opening  inwards,  and  to  the 
other  the  tuyere  is  attached.  In  working  them,  the  board,  through  which 
the  air  is  admitted,  is  moved,  and  the  other  kept  stationary.  They  are 
quite  common  in  Asia,  Egypt,  and  generally  throughout  the  oriental 
world ;  and  appear  to  have  undergone  no  change  whatever,  either  in  their 
materials,  form,  or  modes  of  working  them,  since  the  remotest  times: 
even  working  them  by  the  feet,  as  practiced  by  Egyptians  under  the  Pha¬ 
raohs,  is  still  common  at  the  native  iron-forges  of  Ceylon.  Dr.  Davy  in 
his  account  of  that  island  has  given  a  figure  of  them,  a  copy  of  which  is 
inserted  in  the  Register  of  Arts  for  1828,  page  267:  the  cords  for  raising 
them  are  attached  to  an  elastic  stick,  instead  of  being  held  in  the  hands 
as  in  the  two  last  cuts. 

They  are  used  by  modern  blacksmiths  of  Egypt  in  a  horizontal  position, 
(as  in  the  next  figure)  and  worked  by  an  upright  lever,  which  the  assist¬ 
ant  pushes  from  and  draws  towards  him.  M.  P.  S.  Girard  has  given  a 
figure  and  description  of  them  in  the  Grande  Description ,  tom.  ii,  E.  M. 
p.  618,  planche  21.  He  observes  that  the  coppersmiths  of  Cairo  and 
Alexandria  use  the  same;  and  further  that  they  are  common  in  the  inte¬ 
rior  of  Africa:  “leur  forme  est  probablement  tres  ancienne.  II  resulte 
en  effet  de  quelques  reseignemenS'  que  m’ont  donnes  des  marchands  venus 
avec  les  caravanes  de  Darfour,  que  des  soufflets  de  la  m6me  forme  sont 
employe  par  les  peuples  de  Vinterieur  de  V Afrique.” 

Lantern  bellows  were  formerly  common  in  Europe.  They  were  em¬ 
ployed  in  old  organs.  See  L’Art  du  Facteur  d’Orgues,  Arts  et  Metieres, 
p.  667,  plates  132  and  135.  Sometimes  the  blowers  had  their  feet  fixed 
upon  the  upper  boards,  and  holding  by  a  horizontal  bar  they  inflated  one 
bellows  by  raising  one  foot,  and  compressed  the  other  by  pushing  down 
the  other  foot.  (Encyc.  Antiq.)  The  scabilla  of  the  Romans  were  small 
bellows  of  the  same  kind,  one  of  which  was  attached  to  one  foot  for  the 
purpose  of  beating  time,  and  with  castanets  were  used  to  animate  dancers. 
Several  are  figured  by  Montfaucon.  The  ancients  varied  the  form  of  the 
bellows  almost  infinitely  in  adapting  them  to  various  purposes.  Some 
were  attached  to  altars  to  aid  in  the  combustion  of  victims  :  one  for  this 
purpose  is  represented  on  one  of  the  Hamilton  vases.  Lantern  bellows 
were  also  common  in  European  blast  furnaces.  No.  105  shows  their  ap¬ 
plication  to  this  purpose,  copied  from  the  De  Re  Metallica  of  Agricola. 
Similar  bellows,  except  the  boards  being  of  an  oblong  form  like  the  one 
in  103,  are  common  in  Hindostan,  and  worked  by  hand  as  in  the  next 
figure,  but  without  any  frame  to  support  them;  the  blower  kneels  and 
works  them  in  nearly  a  vertical  position.  See  a  figure  in  Shoberl’s  Hin¬ 
dostan,  vol.  v,  p.  9. 

The  bellows  of  Vulcan  were  probably  of  the  same  kind.  Those  repre¬ 
sented  in  tom.  i,  p.  24,  of  Montfaucon’s  Antiquities,  appear,  from  that 
portion  of  them  which  is  seen  projecting  from  the  back  of  the  forge,  to 
be  identical  with  those  in  No.  105,  and  worked  in  precisely  the  same 
way.  In  plate  xx,  on  Painting,  of  D’Agincourt’s  History  of  the  Fine 


240 


Blacksmith' s  Bellows  of  Ancient  Greece. 


[Book  III. 


Arts,  which,  contains  some  illustrations  of  the  Eneid,  executed  in  the  4th 
and  5t,h  centuries,  Vulcan’s  forge  is  represented  and  the  bellows  blower 
behind  it,  apparently  with  the  same  kind  of  instrument  as  here  shown. 


No.  105.  Lantern  Bellows  from  Agricola 


That  Vulcan’s  bellows  were  not  permanent  fixtures  as  those  of  our 
smiths  are,  but  were  similar  to  those  figured  above,  appears  from  their 
having  been  laid  aside  when  not  in  use,  in  common  with  other  implements 
of  the  forge  ;  a  practice  usual  at  the  present  time  in  various  parts  of 
the  east :  and  we  may  add  that  like  modern  blacksmiths  of  Asia,  he  sat  at 
work.  Thus,  when  his  wife  Charis  informed  him  of  the  arrival  of  Thetis 
at  their  dwelling,  he  replied  : — 

Haste,  then,  and  hospitably  spread  the  board 
For  her  regale,  while  with  my  best  despatch 
I  lay  my  belloics  and  my  tools  aside. 

He  spake,  and  vast  in  bulk  and  hot  with  toil. 

Rose  limping  from  his  anvil-stock, 

Upborne  with  pain  on  legs  tortuous  and  weak : 

First,  from  the  forge  dislodg’d  he  thrust  apart 
His  bellows,  and  his  tools  collecting  all, 

Bestowed  them  careful  in  a  silver  chest. 

And  when  he  subsequently  returned  to  make  the  armor  which  Thetis 
required  for  her  son,  he 

. to  his  bellows  quick  repaired, 

Which  turning  to  the  fire,  he  bade  them  move. — II.  xviii. — Cowper. 

A  singular  circumstance  is  related  by  Herodotus,  which  shows  that  the 
same  mode  of  obtaining  a  continuous  blast,  viz.  by  two  bellows,  (and  in  all 
probability  by  the  same  kind  as  th.ose  above  figured)  was  employed  by 
blacksmiths  in  ancient  Greece.  The  Lacedemonians  having  been  repeat¬ 
edly  defeated  by  the  Tegeans,  sent  an  embassy  to  the  Delphic  oracle,  to 
ascertain  the  means  by  which  they  could  overcome  them.  The  Pythian 
assured  them  of  success  if  they  recovered  the  body  of  Orestes,  the  son 
of  Agamemnon,  which  had  been  buried  several  centuries  somewhere  in 
Arcadia,  the  land  of  their  enemies.  Being  unable  to  discover  the  tomb 
they  sent  a  second  time  to  inquire  concerning  the  place  of  his  interment, 
when  they  received  the  following  answer* 


Chap.  1.] 


241 


Bellows  Forcing  Bumps. 


A  plain  within  th’  Arcadian  land  I  know, 

S  Where  double  winds  with  forced  exertion  blow, 

Where  form  to  form  witli  mutual  strength  replies, 

And  ill  by  other  ills  supported  lies; 

That  earth  contains  the  great  Atrides’  son ; 

Take  him  and  conquer  :  Tegea  then  is  won. 

On  the  receipt  of  this,  search  was  again  made  for  the  body  without  inter¬ 
mission,  and  at  last  it  was  discovered  in  a  singular  manner.  At  the  time  a 
commercial  intercourse  existed  between  the  two  countries,  a  Spartan  cav¬ 
alry  officer,  named  Lichas,  being  in  Tegea,  happened  to  visit  a  smith  at  his 
orge,  and  observing  with  particular  curiosity  the  process  of  working  the 
iron,  the  smith  desisted  from  his  labor  and  addressed  him  thus:  “Stranger 
o  Spaita,  you  seem  to  admire  the  art  which  you  contemplate;  but  how 
much  more  would  your  wonder  be  excited,  if  you  knew  all  that  I  am  able 
to  communicate !  Near  this  place,  as  I  was  sinking  a  ivell,  I  found  a 
coffin  seven  cubits  long.  I  never  believed  that  men  were  formerly  of 
aiger  dimensions  than  at  present,  but  when  I  opened  it,  I  discovered  a 
:>ody  equal  in  length  to  the  coffin — 1  correctly  measured  it,  and  placed  it 
where  I  found  it.”  Lichas,  after  hearing  this  relation,  was  induced  to 
believe  that  this  might  be  the  body  of  Orestes,  concerning  which  the 
oracle  had  spoken.  He  was  further  persuaded,  when  he  recollected 
that  the  bellows  of  the  smith  might  intimate  the  two  winds ;  the  anvil  and 
the  hammer  might  express  one  form  opposing  another;  the  iron  also, 
which  was  beaten,  might  signify  ill  succeeding  ill,  rightly  conceiving  that 
the  use  of  iron  operated  to  the  injury  of  mankind.  The  result  proved 
the  sagacity  of  the  Spartan :  the  body  was  recovered,  and  finally  the 
Tegeans,  says  Herodotus,  were  conquered.  Clio,  67,  68. 


No.  106.  Double  Lantern  Bellows  Pump.  No.  107.  Single  Forcing  Pump. 


The  application  of  lantern  bellows  as  forcing  pumps  is,  without  doubt, 
of  great  antiquity  :  their  adaptation  to  raise  water  was  too  obvious  not  to 
have  been  early  perceived,  and  hence  we  infer  that  they  were  at  least  oc¬ 
casionally  employed  for  that  purpose  by  most  of  the  nations  of  old.  Such 
pumps  are  mentioned  in  old  works  on  hydraulics ;  but  as  they  have  never 

31 


242 


Bellows  Forcing  Bumps. 


[Book  III 


come  into  general  use,  even  in  modern  times,  a  particular  account  of  them 
previous  to  the  art  of  printing,  is  not  to  be  expected.  A  writer  in  the 
Grancle  Description  of  Egypt ,  describing  the  smith’s  bellows  of  that  coun¬ 
try,  observes  : — “  Ces  sortes  de  soufflets  etoient  employes  verticalement 
dans  le  seizieme  siecle  tant  pour  animer  le  feu  des  forges  que  pour  clever 
V  eau,  soit  en  rarefiant  l’air  soit  en  le.  comprimant ;  ils  sont  decrits  dans 
l’ouvrage  de  Ramelli,  imprime  en  1558.” 

No.  106  represents  a  double  lantern  bellows-pump,  as  used  in  the  16th 
century.  The  mode  of  its  operation  is  too  obvious  to  require  detailed 
description.  As  one  bellows  is  distended  by  working  the  lever,  the  at¬ 
mosphere  drives  water  up  the  suction-pipe  into  its  cavity  ;  and  the  other 
at  the  same  time  being  compressed,  expels  its  contents  through  the 
ascending  or  forcing  pipe  :  the  valves  at  the  lower  part  of  the  latter,  and 
those  over  the  orifices  of  the  two  branches  of  the  suction-pipe  opening  and 
closing,  as  shown  in  the  figure.  There  is  a  pump  similar  to  this,  but 
geared  in  a  different  manner,  in  Hachette’s  Traite  elementaire  des  machi¬ 
nes.  Papin,  in  a  way  to  raise  water,  which  he  proposed  enigmatically 
in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  in  1685,  used  the  lantern  bellows  as  a 
forcing-pump.  In  a  solution  by  another  writer,  it  is  said  : — “  A  vessel 
made  like  the  body  of  a  pair  of  bellows,  or  those  puffs  heretofore  used  by 
barbers  being  filled  with  water,  a  piece  of  clockwork  put  under  it,  may 
produce  the  jets.”  Phil.  Trans.  Abridg.,  vol.  i.  539.  A  similar  appli¬ 
cation  of  the  bellows  was  described  in  Besson’s  Theatre,  in  1579,  the 
moveable  board  being  impelled  by  a  spring. 

No.  107  is  another  example  of  bellows  forcing-pumps.  It  consists 
of  the  frictionless  piston  of  Gosset  and  Deville,  (No.  S3,)  but  without  a 
valve ;  a  forcing  or  ascending  pipe,  having  its  lower  orifice  covered  by  a 
valve,  is  attached  to  the  cylinder  below  the  piston.  Pumps  of  this  kind 
have  also  been  made  double  acting,  by  passing  the  piston  rod  through  a 
stuffing  box  on  the  top  of  the  cylinder,  and  by  a  double  set  of  valves 
arranged  as  in  the  pump  of  La  Hire. 

Of  late  years  machines  like  those  figured  in  the  two  last  cuts,  have  been 
reintroduced  into  Europe  and  this  country. 

Although  we  have  not  heard  of  any  one  having  run  out  of  his  wits  for 
joy  at  their  discovery,  like  the  blacksmith  mentioned  by  Cardan,  we  have 
heard  of  some  who  were  nearly  in  that  predicament  from  disappointment 
in  having  found  themselves  anticipated.  A  few  years  ago  they  were  an¬ 
nounced  in  this  city  as  a  new  and  very  important  discovery ;  and  several 
gentlemen  allowed  their  names  to.  go  abroad  as  vouchers  of  their  origina¬ 
lity  and  superiority  over  the  common  pump. 

The  proofs  of  the  antiquity  of  many  of  our  ordinary  utensils  are  derived 
from  representations  of  them  on  vases,  candelabra,  and  other  works  of 
art  that  have  come  down.  Of  this,  the  domestic  bellows  is  an  example  ; 
the  only  evidence  of  its  having  been  known  to  the  Greeks  or  Romans, 
is  furnished  by  a  lamp  ;  but  for  the  preservation  of  which,  it  might  have 
been  deemed  a  modern  invention.  Of  no  other  article  of  ancient  house¬ 
hold  furniture  are  more  specimens  extant  than  of  lamps,  and  not  a  little  of  the 
public  and  private  economy  of  the  ancients  has  been  illustrated  by  them. 
Amo_:g  those  in  private  collections  and  public  museums,  are  some  that 
were  once  suspended  in  temples,  others  that  illuminated  theatres  and 
baths — that  decorated  the  banqueting-rooms  of  wealthy  patricians,  as  well 
as  such  as  glimmered  in  the  dwellings  of  plebeians ;  the  former  are  of 
bronze,  elaborately  wrought  and  enriched,  the  latter  mostly  of  earthen¬ 
ware.  The  fertility  of  conception  displayed  in  these  utensils  is  wonderful. 
All  nature  seems  to  have  been  ransacked  for  devices,  and  in  modifying 


243 


Ohap.  1.] 


Bellows  Bumps  from  Kircher. 


tlA^helZtfZ  tear  ,de’ignm  ™  wi,d  i  wWI'  -any 

and  some  are  obscene  Thero  10118  eX(j.u’s'te1^  ckaste>  others  are  bizarre 

represented  blowing  the  flame  v^thT'  °"  W!”Ch  an  individual  is 

fire;  and  in  another^! Tl *  hlSJrnoa1th’  as  “  the  act  of  kindling  a 
ment,  a  person  performing the™  lntV°duced’  as  an  appropriate  embellish- 
>-f  el/the  sa^etrTa?  b1°W5>  i 

this  lamp,  from  the  5th  volume  of  Montfaucon’s  LtiquMef  ‘  %Ure  °f 


No.  108.  Bellows  figured  ou  a  Roman  Lamp. 


No.  109.  Bellows  Forcing  Pumps  from  Kircher. 


has  a"r:s;  bleu  git™  T°h  ”?  -^T  “  “““pherio  P™P° 

from  Kircher’s  MuudusTbter  anlus  10?>  is  “P& 

“  ^presents  two  large  bellows  employed as "sucW  » J T '  ’  1665  : 
being  worked  by  a  water  wheel  mil.!  *  •  SJJ  k  ”£.an<j  forcing  pumps, 
sented  was  attachedWater  ’  l°  ^  ““  °f  which  the  crank  repre’ 

r simiiar  mTer' wre  - 

to  the  purpose  may  be  adduced  aV  «  e  /an°US  “odes  of  adapting  them 
pumpsf  SPometimYs 

quantities  to  render  the  LI  !  !  °  f°rCe  down  fresh  a“  “  sufficient 

Me;  at  others  they drew belor 
placed  near  the  mouth  nf  rho  l  tv  •  ^  1  * 16  ^rst  case>  thejr  were 

continued  down  to  the  °i  *  ’  a,  P'Pe.  was  attached  to  the  nozzle  and 

lows  were  Z.  1°  /  WheFe  the  m,ners  "»rked,  and  when  the  bel- 

latTer  clZ  ,h  ra°“0n'  CUFFents  of  fresh  air  were  supplied.  I„  the 
to  the  asp’irat'ingv'afre8  tCh,o"eChed  h°  ‘he,°Pe.ninSl in  the  under  board,  1.  e. 

through  it  when  the  bellowTwere  aPn'distended™  The'"  f‘'°m  'T™8 

when  the  bellows  we~  d'  ■  J  b  n  ' "*■  ,nS‘ead  of  thfi  >°wer  one,  and 
which  was  attached  t'l  l  t  '  ‘J*  ,ml>ure  «r  rushed  up  the  pipe 

covered  by  the  flap  when  the  bellows  werecbse^  Iseve^nT  °pe"in{r 

S oTL  -e^rttTt 

antages  ol  an  artificial  blast  must  have  been  obvious  from  the  first 


244 


Piston  Bellows. 


[Book  III. 

use  of  fire,  and  naturally  led  to  the  use  of  the  mouth  to  blow  It,  then  the 
reed,  sack,  and  subsequently  a  slit  or  valve  in  the  latter,  would  follow  as 
an  almost  necessary  sequence  ;  and  long  before  the  idea  of  increasing  the 
intensity  of  heat  by  flues  or  chimneys  could  have  been  thought  of.  No 
natural  occurrence  could  have  led  to  the  invention  of  these  before  the 
other,  nor  has  there,  as  yet,  been  found  any  account  or  representation  of 
draft  furnaces  of  equal  antiquity  with  those  of  bellows. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Piston  Bellows  :  Used  in  water  organs — Engraved  on  a  medal  of  Valentinian — Used  in  Asia  and 
Africa.  Bellows  of  Madagascar.  Chinese  bellows :  Account  of  two  in  the  Philadelphia  Museum — 
Remarks  on  a  knowledge  of  the  pump  among  the  ancient  Chinese — Chinese  bellows  similar  in  their 
construction  to  the  water-forcer  of  Ctesibius,  the  double  acting  pump  of  La  Hire,  the  cylindrical  steam- 
engine,  and  condensing  and  exhausting  air-pumps.  Double  acting  bellows  of  Madagascar — Alledged 
ignorance  of  the  old  Peruvian  and  Mexican  smiths  of  bellows :  Their  constant  use  of  blowing  tubes  no 
proof  of  this — Example*  from  Asiatic  gold  and  silver  smiths — Balsas — Sarbacans— Mexican  Vulcan. 
Natural  bellows-pumps:  Blowing  apparatus  of  the  whale— Elephant— Rise  and  descent  of  marine  ani¬ 
mals — Jaculator  fish — Llama — Spurting  Snake — Lamprey — Bees — The  heart  of  man  and  animals _ Every 

human  being  a  living  pump  :  Wonders  of  its  mechanism,  and  of  the  duration  of  its  motions  and  materials 
— Advantages  of  studying  the  mechanism  of  animals. 


The  bellows  described  in  the  last  chapter  are  all  formed  of  leather  or 
skins,  and  are  obvious  modifications  of  the  primitive  bag  or  sack ;  the 
wooden  ends  of  some  of  them  being  adopted  merely  to  facilitate  their 
distension  and  collapsion.  From  the  simplicity  of  their  construction  and 

general  efficiency  they  still  retain  a 
place  in  our  workshops  and  dwell¬ 
ings,  and  are  in  no  danger  of  being 
replaced  by  modern  substitutes  : 
but  the  ingenuity  of  ancient  bellows 
makers  was  not  exhausted  on  these, 
for  they  had  others,  differing  both 
in  form,  materials  and  mode  of  ac¬ 
tion  :  viz :  piston  bellows;  machines 


identical  with  cylindrical  forcing- 
pumps.  At  what  time  these  were 
first  devised  we  have  no  account ; 
but  as  they  are  described  by  Vitru¬ 
vius,  in  his  account  of  hydraulic  or¬ 
gans,  without  the  slightest  intima¬ 
tion  of  their  being  then  of  recent 
date,  they  may  safely  be  classed 
among  those  inventions,  the  origin 
of  which  is  too  remote  to  be  dis¬ 
covered. 

No.  1 10  represents  a  person  work¬ 
ing  two  of  them  to  supply  wind  for 
a  water  organ,  from  Barbaro’s  Vi¬ 
truvius,  Venice,  1567.  They  are  sub¬ 
stantially  the  same  as  those  figured 
^  by  Perrault  and  Newton  in  their 

translations,  and  by  Kircher  in  his  Musurgia  Universalis,  (tom.  ii,  332.) 


No.  110.  Roman  Piston  Bellows. 


Chap.  2.] 


Piston  Bellows  of  Mindanao. 


245 

The  blower,  by  alternately  raising  one  piston  and  depressing  the  other 
pumped  air  into  a  large  reservoir:  this  was  an  open  vessel  inverted 
into  another  containing  water,  and  as  the  air  accumulated  in  the  former 
he  liquid  was  gradually  displaced  and  rose  in  the  latter,  as  in  a  gas 
holder.  It  was  the  constant  pressure  exerted  by  this  displaced  water 
that  urged  the  air  through  the  pipes  of  the  organ,  whenever  the  valves  for 
its  adimssion  were  opened.  The  question,  perhaps  may  be  asked,  Why 
did  the  ancients  prefer  these  bellows  m  their  organs  to  those  formed  of 
leather  and  boards,  such  as  are  figured  at  Nos.  105,  10S,  109  1  Probably 
because  the  pressure  required  to  be  overcome  in  forcing  air  into  the  reser¬ 
voirs  was  greater  than  the  form  and  materials  of  the  latter  could  safely 
13  ver^  obv11°US  fr°m  the  brief  description  of  the  piston  bellows 
tl  ithat  dfy  wer®  calculated  to  produce  much  stronger  blasts 

thaiJcould  be  obtained  from  those  made  of  leather.  Vitruvius  informs  us 
that  the  cylinders  and  valves  were  made  of  brass,  and  the  pistons  were 
accurately  turned  and  covered  (or  packed)  with  strips  of  unshorn  sheep- 
S  a  ^ S*c  b  hey  seem  to  have  been  perfect  condensing  air-pumps. 

A  figure  of  an  ancient  hydraulic  organ  is  preserved  on  a  medal  of  Val- 
entinian  :  two  men,  one  on  each  side,  are  represented  as  pumping  and 
istening  to  its  music.  _  This  medal  is  engraved  in  the  third  volume  of 
Montfaucon  s  Antiquities  (plate  26,)  but  the  piston  rods  only  are  in  si-ht  • 

the  top  of  the  cylinders  being  level  with  the  base  on  which  the  blowers 
stand. 

As  piston  bellows  were  known  in  the  old  world,  it  might  be  supposed 
they  would  still  be  employed  in  those  parts  of  the  East  where  the  arts 
and  customs  of  former^ages  have  been  more  or  less  religiously  retained, 
feuch  is  the  fact;  for  like  other  devices  of  ancient  common  life,  they  are 
used  by  several  of  the  half  civilized  tribes  of  Asia  and  Africa— people 
among  whom  we  are  sure  to  meet  with  numerous  primitive  contrivances’ 
embodied  m  the  same  rude  forms  and  materials  as  they  were  before 
b-recian  taste  or  Roman  skill  improved  them.  It  is  chiefly  to  the  in¬ 
cidental  observations  of  a  few  travelers  that  we  are  indebted  for  a  know¬ 
ledge  of  these  implements  in  modern  days ;  but  when  the  times  arrive 
lor  voyages  of  discovery  to  be  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  describing 
the  machines,  manufactures  and  domestic  utensils  of  the  various  nations 
o  the  earth ;  (undertakings  of  equal  importance  with  any  other,)  these 
bellows  and  their  numerous  modifications  will  furnish  materials  for  a  chap¬ 
ter  in  the  history  of  the  useful  arts  that  will  be  replete  with  interesting 
information.  As  they  are  clearly  identified  with  the  forcing-pump,  an 
account  of  some  of  them  will  not  be  out  of  place.  ^ 

Dampier  thus  describes  the  bellows  used  by  the  blacksmiths  of  Min¬ 
danao  they  are  made  of  a  wooden  cylinder,  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  about 
ree  leet  long,  bored  hollow  like  a  pump,  and  set  upright  on  the  ground- 
on  which  the  fire  itself  is  made.  Near  the  lower  end  there  is  a  small  hole 
m  the  side  of  the  trunk  next  the  fire  made  to  receive  a  pipe  ;  through 
rblpcb  Wmd  18 J  driven  to  the  fire  by  a  great  bunch  of  fine  feathers, 
astened  to  one  end  of  a  stick,  which  closing  up  the  inside  of  the  cylinder, 

1  °Ut  t Cy'inder  tI’rouSh  the  pW  T'™  these^trunks! 

’  T  ?  aCG?  S°  mg;h  to&erher-  that  a  man  standing  between 
i  ™ay.W<?rk  tbe™  b°th  at  once,  one  with  each  hand.”11  Here  we  have 
ot  the  single  and  double  chambered  forcing-pump;  and  although  Dam- 
p  er  has  not  noticed  the  valves,  the  instruments  were  certainly  furnished 
with  them,  or  with  some  contrivance  analogous  to  them,  but  being  out  of 


a  Dampier’s  Voyages,  i.  332. 


246  Piston  Bellows  of  Madagascar,  [Book  IIL 

sight,  were  left  unnoticed  by  that  intelligent  sailor.  The  bellows  of  Mada¬ 
gascar,  says  Sonnerat,  “  is  composed  of  the  hollow  trunks  of  two  trees 
tied  together.  In  the  bottom  there  are  two  iron  funnels}  and  in  the  inside 
of  each  trunk  a  sucker  furnished  with  raffia,  which  supplies  the  place  of 
tow.  The  apprentice,  whose  business  it  is  to  use  this  machine,  alternately 
sinks  one  of  the  suckers  while  he  raises  the  other.”b  Similar  implements 
are  also  used  in  smelting  iron  as  well  as  in  forging  it.  In  the  first  volume 
of  Ellis’s  “  History  of  Madagascar,”  Lon.  1838,  there  is  a  representation 
of  two  men  reducing  iron  ore  by  means  of  four  piston  bellows.  No.  Ill 
is  a  copy. 


The  furnace  is  described  as  a  mere  hole  dug  in  the  ground,  lined  with 
rude  stonework  and  plastered  with  clay.  It  was  filled  with  alternate 
layers  of  charcoal  and  ore,  and  covered  by  a  conical  roof  of  clay,  a  small 
opening  being  left  at  the  apex.  The  bellows  were  formed  of  the  trunks 
of  trees,  and  stood  five  feet  above  the  ground,  in  which  they  were  firmly 
imbedded.  The  lower  ends  were  closed  “  air  tight,”  and  a  short  bamboo 
tube  conveyed  the  wind  from  each  to  the  fire,  as  represented.  “  A  rude 
sort  of  piston  is  fitted  to  each  of  the  cylinders,  and  the  apparatus  for  rais¬ 
ing  the  wind  is  complete.”  As  no  mention  is  made  of  valves  nor  of  the 
openings  through  which  air  entered  the  cylinders,  it  is  probable  that  the 
pistons  were  perforated  for  that  purpose,  and  the  passages  covered  by 
flaps  or  valves  opening  downwards,  a  device  which  the  artificers  of 
Madagascar  are  acquainted  with.  See  No.  114.  These  bellows  are  of 
various  sizes,  though  generally  from' 4  to  6  inches  in  diameter.  Sometimes 
only  one  is  used,  but  it  is  then  made  of  larger  dimensions,  and  the  blower 
stands  and  works  it  with  both  his  hands.  To  do  it  conveniently,  he  raises 
himself  on  a  bank  of  earth.  The  bellows  are  not  always  perpendicular, 
but  are  inclined  as  figured  in  the  back  ground  of  the  cut. 


b  Sonnerat’s  Voyages,  iii.  36, 


Chap.  2.]  Southern  Asia  and  Western  Africa.  247 

The  blacksmiths  of  Java  use  the  same  kind.  Raffles,  in  his  History  of 
the  Island,  (2  vol.  193,)  after  quoting  Dampier’s  description  of  the  bel¬ 
lows  of  Mindanao,  observes  his  account  “  exactly  corresponds”  with 
that  of  Java.  “The  blacksmiths’  bellows  of  Sumatra”  says  Mr.  Marsden, 

are  thus  constructed  :  two  bamboos  of  about  four  inches  diameter  and 
five  feet  in  length,  stand  perpendicularly  near  the  fire,  open  at  the 
upper  end  and  stopped  below.  About  an  inch  or  two  from  the  bottom  a 
small  joint  of  bamboo  is  inserted  into  each,  which  serve  as  nozzles,  point¬ 
ing  to  and  meeting  at  the  fire.  To  produce  a  stream  of  air,  bunches  of 
featheis,  or  other  soft  substance,  are  worked  up  and  down  in  the  upright 
tubes  like  the  piston  of  a  pump.  These,  when  pushed  downwards,  force 
the  air  through  the  small  horizontal  tubes  ;  and  by  raising  and  sinking 
each  alternately,  a  continual  current  of  air  is  kept  up.”c  The  Bashee 
Islanders  use  the  same  kind  of  bellows.d  The  smiths  of  Bali  have  them 
also:  “their  instruments  are  few  and  simple,  their  forge  small,  and 
worked  by  a  pair  of  upright  bellows,  such  as  we  find  described  in  Raf¬ 
fles’  Java.”e  They  are  not  confined  to  southern  Asia  and  the  Ethiopian 
Archipelago,  but  are  used  in  continental  Africa.  “  The  bellows  of  the 
negro  artificers  on  the  Gambia ,  are  a  thick  reed  or  a  hollow  piece  of  wood, 
m  which  is  put.  a  stick  wound  about  with  feathers,  [a  piston,]  which  by 
moving  of  the  stick,  makes  the  wind.”f  J 

Without  entering  into  the  controversy  respecting  the  origin  of  wooden 
bellows,  it  may  be  inferred  from  the  preceding  extracts,  that  such  have 
been  in  use  from  remote  times  ;  and  that  the  cylindrical  forcing-pump,  so 
far  as  regards  the  principle  of  its  construction,  is  equally  ancient:  of  this, 
the  instrument  now  to  be  described,  affords  another  indication.  It  is  the 

bellows  of  the  most  numerous  and  most  singular  of  all  existing  people _ 

a  people,  the  wisdom  of  whose  government  has  preserved  them  as  a  na¬ 
tion,  through  periods  of  time  unexampled  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and 
which  still  preserves  them  amidst  the  prostration  by  European  cupidity  of 
nearly  all  the  nations  around  them ;  a  people,  too,  who  notwithstanding 
all  that  our  vanity  may  suggest  to  depreciate,  have  furnished  evidence  of 
an  excellence  in  some  of  the  arts  that  never  has  been  surpassed.  The 
Chinese ,  like  the  ancient  Egyptians,  whom  they  greatly  resemble,  have 
been  the  instructors  of  Europeans  in  several  of  the  useful  arts;  but  the  pu¬ 
pils,  like  the  Greeks  of  old,  have  often  refused  to  acknowledge  the  source 
whence  many  inventions  possessed  by  them  were  derived,  but  have 
claimed  them  as  their  own :  of  the  truth  of  this  remark,  we  need  only 
mention  'printing,  the  mariner's  compass,  and  gunpoivder. 

In  the  bellows  of  the  Chinese,  we  perceive  the  characteristic  ingenuity 
and  originality  of  that  people’s  inventions.  A  description  and  figure  of  their 
bellows  were  published  in  London,  1757,  by  Mr.  Chambers,  in  a  work  en¬ 
titled  “  Designs  of  Chinese  Buildings,  Furniture,  Dresses,  Machines  and 
Utensils,  from  drawings  made  in  China.”  The  following  account  from 
the  fourth  volume  of  the  “  Chinese  Repository,”  a  very  interesting  work 
published  at  Canton  in  China,  is  substantially  the  same.  “  The  bellows 
used  by  them  is  very  aptly  called  ‘  Fung  Sedng,  ‘  wind  box,’  and  is 
contained  in  an  oblong  box  about  two  feet  long,  ten  inches  high,  and  six 
inches  wide.  These  dimensions,  however,  vary  according  to  the  whim  of 
the  maker,  and  they  occur  from  eight  inches,  to  four  feet  or  more  in  length, 
and  so  of  the  width  and  height.  The  annexed  profile  view  will  give 
some  idea  of  the  principle  upon  which  it  is  constructed.” 


c  History  of  Sumatra,  p.  181.  Dampier’s  Voyages,  i.  429.  e  Chinese  Repository, 
iv.  4o5.  Ogilry’s  Africa,  Lon.  1670,  p.  356. 


248 


Chinese  Bellows. 


[Book  III. 


1 

E 

L 

1 

IT 

No.  112.  Section  of  a  Chinese  Bellows. 


“  A,  B,  C,  D,  is  a  box  divided  into  two  chambers  at  the  line  O  H.  In 
the  upper  one  is  the  piston  E,  which  is  moved  backwards  and  forwards 
by  means  of  the  handles  attached  to  it;  and  is  made  to  fit  closely  by 

means  of  leather  or  paper. 
The  lid  of  the  box  slides 
upon  the  top,  and  is  suffi¬ 
ciently  thick  to  allow  the 
workman  to  labor  upon  it. 
At  F  J  are  two  small 
holes  each  covered  with  a 
valve ;  and  just  below 
them,  at  O  H  in  the  divi¬ 
sion  of  the  two  chambers,  are  larger  holes,  for  the  entrance  of  the 
wind  into  the  lower  chamber.  This  part  of  the  bellows  is  made  of  a 
thick  plank,  hollowed  into  an  ovoid  form,  and  is  about  an  inch  thick. 
The  clapper  G  is  fastened  to  the  back  side  of  the  box,  and  plays  hori¬ 
zontally  against  the  two  stops  placed  near  the  mouth  I.  It  is  made  as 
high  as  the  chamber,  and  when  forced  against  the  stop,  it  entirely  closes 
the  passage  of  air  beyond.  When  the  piston  is  forced  inwards,  as  repre¬ 
sented  in  the  cut,  the  valve  at  F  is  closed,  and  that  at  J  is  opened  ;  and 
thus  the  upper  chamber  is  constantly  filled  with  air.  The  wind  driven 
into  the  lower  chamber  by  the  piston  urges  the  clapper  G  against  the 
stop,  and  is  consequently  forced  out  at  the  mouth.  The  stream  of  air  is  unin¬ 
terrupted,  but  not  equable,  though  in  the  large  ones  the  inequality  is  hardly 
perceived.  An  iron  tube  is  sometimes  attached  to  the  mouth  which  leads 
to  the  furnace,  and  in  other  cases  the  mouth  itself  is  made  of  iron.”  The 
Chinese  generally  use  them  in  an  inclined  or  horizontal  position,  frequently 
making  use  of  the  upper  side  as  a  work  bench.  In  the  figure  (and  the 
one  given  by  Chambers)  two  rods  are  connected  to  the  piston  to  prevent 
it  from  springing  when  used  :  this  appears  to  be  the  practice  with  regard 
to  those  of  large  dimensions.  In  small  ones  a  single  rod  is  sometimes  used, 
and  the  chamber  is  cylindrical.  In  the  collection  of  M.  Bertin,  (a  French 
minister  and  secretary  of  state  in  the  former  part  of  the  last  century,) 
which  contained  “  about  400  original  drawings,  made  at  Pekin,  of  the 
arts  and  manufactures  of  China  ”  a  portable  and  single-acting  bellows  is 
represented  as  in  the  next  figure.11 


No.  113.  Chinese  Single  Bellows,  and  Tinker. 

die  air  is  forced  out  by  the  opposite  extremity.” 


“  This  instrument  is 
made  like  a  box  in 
which  is  a  piston,  so 
constructed  that  when 
it  is  drawn  out  behind, 
the  vacuum  which  it  oc¬ 
casions  in  the  box  makes 
the  air  rush  in  with  great 
impetuosity  through  a 
lateral  opening,  to  which 
a  sucker  [a  valve]  is  af¬ 
fixed  :  and  when  the  pis¬ 
ton  returns  in  an  inverse 
direction,  the  sucker 
[valve]  closes  itself,  and 
Navarette  preferred  the 


China,  its  Customs,  Arts,  &c.,  translated  from  the  French.  Lon.  1824  ;  vol.  i.  17. 


249 


Chap.  2.]  Chinese  Bellows  in  the  Philadelphia  Museum. 

Chinese  bellows  to  the  European  one,  he  said,  it  was  more  commodious 
and  efficient.11  It  is  employed  to  some  extent  in  Java,  having  been  intro¬ 
duced  from  China.® 

Since  the  preceding  remarks  were  written,  we  have  examined  two 
bellows  from  China,  in  the  splendid  “Chinese  Collection”  in  Philadelphia. 
One  of  them  belonged  to  a  traveling  blacksmith.  It  is  formed  of  a  cylin¬ 
drical  joint  of  bamboo,  2j  feet  in  length,  and  between  five  and  six  inches 
diameter.  The  piston  rod  is  a  wire  ^  or  f  of  an  inch  thick,  with  a  small 
gimlet  handle.  Air  is  admitted  through  a  cluster  of  five  or  six  small  holes 
in  each  end,  which  are  covered  in  the  inside  by  paper  flaps :  these  are  the 
induction  valves,  marked  J  F  in  No.  112.  Along  one  side  of  the  bellows 
a  strip  of  wood  2J  inches  wide  and  1^  thick,  is  secured  by  what  appears 
to  be  eight  small  thumb  screws,  and  the  junction  made  tight  by  cement  or 
wax ;  this  projecting  piece  resembles  those  on  the  sides  of  high  pressure 
steam-engine  cylinders,  and  is  intended  for  a  somewhat  similar  purpose,  its 
interior  being  hollowed  into  a  passage  for  the  wind  when  expelled  by  ’the 
piston  from  either  end  of  the  cylinder.  A  short  metallic  tube  conveys 
the  wind  from  the  middle  of  this  piece  to  the  furnace  as  in  No.  112.  The 
ends  of  the  bellows  are  secured  from  splitting  by  two  thin  and  narrow 
iron  hoops,  and  at  one  place  a  small  clamp  is  driven  across  a  crack,  as  is 
sometimes  practiced  in  mending  wooden  bowls.  The  instrument  resem¬ 
bles  the  one  in  the  last  figure,  but  is  double  acting:  the  figure  of  the  artist 
accompanying  it  is  seated  on  the  ground  and  works  it  with  one  hand  while 
he  attends  the  fire  with  the  other. 

The  other  bellows  consists  of  along  box  like  the  one  figured  at  No.  112. 
From  the  circumstance  of  its  not  being  confined  in  a  glass  case,  and  per¬ 
mission  to  examine  its  interior  having  been  politely  accorded,  we  had  an 
opportunity  of  ascertaining  some  particulars  that  are  not  mentioned  in  any 
published  account  of  these  instruments  that  has  fallen  in  our  way.  It  is 
twenty-two  inches  long,  seven  deep,  and  five  wide,  made  of  thin  boards 
of  a  species  of  fir  and  extremely  light :  the  sides  and  ends  are  dovetailed 
together  ;  and  the  bottom  appeared  to  be  intended  to  slide  over  the  sides, 
having  strips  projecting  from  it  and  no  pins  or  nails  visible  ;  this  arrange¬ 
ment  enables  a  person  to  examine  the  interior,  and  to  replace  or  repair  the 
valves,  &c.  with  great  facility.  The  boards  of  which  the  machine  is  made 
are  of  a  uniform  thickness  (about  f  of  an  inch)  except  the  top,  which  is 
.  »  inches.  The  reason  for  this  extra  thickness  was  perceived  as  soon  as 
it  was  removed,  (it  was  secured  to  the  sides  and  ends  by  long  wooden 
pins,)  for  a  deep  and  wide  groove  is  made  through  its  whole  length  with 
the  exception  of  ^  of  an  inch  at  each  end,  and  at  the  middle  of  the  groove 
a  passage  is  cut  at  right  angles  to  it  through  one  side  for  the  air  to  pass 
into  the  tuyere.  Upon  the  removal  of  this  thick  cover,  the  inside  of  the 
box  was  not  exposed,  for  another  thin  one  was  found  inserted  within  the 
sides,  and  flush  with  their  edges.  This  was  a  board  slipped  between  the 
sides  and  resting  upon  the. upper  edge  of  the  piston,  having  two  openings, 
one  at  each  end,  which  coincided  with  the  groove  in  the  outer  cover  (the’ 
inner  cover  is  represented  by  the  line  H  O  in  No.  112;)  hence  the  wind 
is  driven  by  the  piston  alternately  through  each  opening  into  the  groove, 
and  by  the  action  of  the  valve  in  the  middle  of  the  latter,  is  compelled 
to  pass  into  the  tuyere.  This  valve  is  represented  at  G  in  No.  112, 
and  from  an  inspection  of  that  cut,  it  will  be  apparent  that  some  contri¬ 
vance  o  t  ic  m  is  absolutely  necessary,  in  order  to  prevent  the  wind 
when  forced  from  one  end  of  the  bellows,  from  passing  along  the  groove 

b  Histoire  G£n6rale,  Tom.  viii.  106.  *  Raffles’  Java,  ii.  193. 

31  % 


250 


Analogy  between  the  Pump  and  Chinese  Bellows.  [Book  III. 

into  the  other  end  :  it  consists  of  a  narrow  piece  of  hard  wood  of  the  same 
depth  as  the  groove,  and  of  a  length  that  rather  exceeds  the  width  of 
the  groove.  A  hole  is  drilled  through  one  end  and  a  pin  driven  through 
it  into  the  solid  part  of  the  cover,  so  that  it  turns  freely  on  this  pin,  and 
closes  and  opens  a  passage  for  the  escape  of  the  wind  into  the  tuyere.  It 
is  driven  by  the  wind  at  every  stroke  of  the  piston  against  the  opposite 
cheek  of  the  groove,  and  thus  prevents  the  wind  from  passing  into  the 
other  end  of  the  cylinder,  as  shown  at  G  in  No.  112.  It  is  surprising  how 
easily  this  valve  plays  although  its  upper  and  lower  edges  rub  against  the 
surfaces  of  the  two  covers — a  trifling  movement  of  the  piston  drives  it 
against  the  cheek,  and  occasions  a  snapping  sound  somewhat  like  that 
from  the  contact  of  metal. 

When  the  inner  cover  was  raised  out  of  its  place,  the  piston  and  induc¬ 
tion  valves  were  exposed  to  view,  and  the  simplicity  and  efficiency  of 
these  parts  were  in  keeping  with  the  rest :  the  two  valves  are  mere  flaps 
of  paper,  glued  at  their  loiver  edges  to  the  under  side  of  the  openings, 
and  hence  they  stand  nearly  perpendicular,  instead  of  being  suspended  from 
above ;  the  slightest  impulse  of  air  closed  them.  The  piston  is  half  an 
inch  thick,  but  is  reduced  at  the  edges  to  a  quarter  of  one  ;  it  appears  to 
be  formed  of  two  thin  pieces  which,  united,  are  equal  in  thickness  to  that 
mentioned  ;  and  between  them  are  inserted  two  small  sheets  of  moderately 
stiff  paper,  which  project  an  inch  over  every  side.  The  part  that  pro¬ 
jects  is  folded  at  the  corners  and  turned  over  the  edges  of  the  piston  ; 
one  sheet  being  turned  one  way,  and  the  other  the  contrary,  so  that  when 
the  piston  is  moved,  the  air  presses  the  paper  against  the  sides  of  the  bel¬ 
lows  and  renders  the  piston  perfectly  tight,  on  the  same  principle  as  the 
double  cupped  leathers  of  fire-engines  and  other  forcing-pumps ;  and  at 
the  same  time  without  any  perceptible  increase  of  friction.  The  two  pis¬ 
ton  rods  are  half  inch  square,  and  work  through  holes  in  one  end  of  the 
box  without  any  stuffing-box.  The  whole  machine  is  of  wood,  except 
the  paper  for  the  piston  and  valves.  Although  the  instrument  appears  to 
be  a  rectangular  box,  it  is  not  exactly  so,  the  bottom  being  a  little  wider 
than  the  top. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  point  out  the  application  of  piston  bellows  to 
raise  water,  since  they  are  perfect  models  of  our  atmospheric  and  forcing- 
pumps.  Why,  then,  it  may  be  asked  are  not  the  Chinese  found  in  the 
possession  of  the  latter  '1  In  reply  to  this  question,  it  may  be  observed  :  1. 
That  from  our  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  people,  it  is  not  certain  that 
such  machines  have  not  been,  and  .are  not  used  to  a  limited  extent  in  the 
interior  of  that  great  empire.  2.  That  custom,  and  probably  experience, 
have  induced  them,  in  common  with  other  nations  of  the  Oriental  world, 
to  give  the  preference  to  more  simple  devices — to  their  chain  pump,  bam¬ 
boo  wheel,  &c.,  a  preference  which  we  know  is  in  some  instances  based 
on  solid  grounds:  for  example,  the  chain  pump  as  used  by  them,  raises 
more  water  with  the  same  amount  of  labor,  than  any  atmospheric  or  forc¬ 
ing-pump,  if  placed  under  the  same  circumstances.  And  as  for  the  noria 
or  bamboo  wheel,  which  driven  by  a  current,  raises  water  night  and  day, 
and  from  20  to  50  feet,  we  are  told  that  it  answers  the  purpose  “as  com¬ 
pletely  as  the  most  complicated  European  machine  could  do;  and  I  will 
answer  for  it  [says  Van  Braam]  that  it  does  not  occasion  an  expense  of 
ten  dollars.”  3.  A  circumstance  connected  with  one  of  their  ancient  as  well 
as  modern  scenic  representations,  shows  that  when  th e  forcing  or  spouting 
of  water  is  required,  their  artists  are  at  no  loss  for  devices  to  effect  it;  and 
that,  too,  under  very  unusual  circumstances.  One  of  the  pantomimes  per¬ 
formed  at  Pekin  is  the  “  Marriage  of  the  Sea  with  the  Land.”  The 


251 


Chap.  2.]  Antiquity  of  the  Chinese  Bellows. 

lattei  divinity  made  a  display  of  his  wealth  and  productions,  such  as  dra- 
gons,  elephants,  tigers,  eagles,  ostriches,  chestnut  and  pine  trees,  &c. 

he  Ocean ,  on  the  other  hand,  collected  whales,  dolphins,  porpoises  and 
other  sea  monsters,  together  with  ships,  rocks,  shells,  &c.,  “  all  these  ob¬ 
jects  were  _  represented  by  performers  concealed  under  cloths,  and  who 
placed  their  parts  admirably.  The  two  assemblages  of  productions,  ter¬ 
restrial  and  marine,  made  the  tour  of  the  stage,  and  then  opened  right  and 
left  to  leave  room  for  an  immense  whale,  which  placed  itself  directly 
before  the  emperor,  and  spouted  out  several  hogsheads  of  water,  which 
inundated  the  spectators  who  were  in  the  pit.”a  As  both  the  water  and 
forcing  apparatus  were  contained  within  the  moving  figure,  we  can  only 
imagine  the  jets  to  have  been  produced  by  means  of  piston  or  bellows 
forcing-pumps,  or  something  analogous  to  them— or  by  air  condensed  in 
one  or  more  vessels  containing  water,  like  soda  fountains.  4.  If  Chinese 
lads  never  discovered  a  source  of  amusement  in  the  application  of  their 
bellows  (some  of  which  are  only  eight  inches  long)  as  squirts  or  pumps, 
they  must  differ  essentially  from  lads  of  other  nations — a  position  that  few 
judges  of  human  nature  would  admit.  Boys  are  the  same  in  all  ages,  and 
the  mischievous  youngsters  of  the  Celestial  Empire  have  doubtless 
often  derived  as  much  pleasure  from  annoying  one  another  with  water 
ejected  from  these  implements,  as  those  of  Europe  and  this  country  do 
with  similar  devices.  Such  an  application  of  them  was  sure  to  be  found 
out  by  boys,  if  by  no  one  else.  Whether  the  bellows-pump  originated 
m  this  manner  or  not,  may  be  uncertain,  but  several  useful  discoveries 
have  been  brought  to  light  in  much  the  same  way  :  it  was  a  youth  who 
changed  the  whole  character  of  the  steam-engine,  by  giving  it  that  feature 
upon  which  its  general  utility  depends— his  ingenuity,  stimulated  by  a 
love  of  play,  rendered  it  self-acting. 

The  antiquity  of  the  Chinese  bellows  is  a  subject  of  much  interest.  It 
may  have  been  the  instrument  which  Anacharsis  introduced  into  Greece,  it 
having,  perhaps,  been  employed  by  his  countrymen,  the  ancient  Scythians, 
as  well  as  by  their  descendants,  the  modern  Tartars.  If  it  has  been  in 
use,  as  supposed,  from  times  anterior  to  Grecian  and  Roman  eras,  the 
origin  of  the  pump  in  the  second  century  B.  C.  can  hardly  be  sustained; 
for  when  the  induction  valves  of  one  of  these  bellows  are  placed  in  water, 
(as  we  suppose  has  occasionally  been  done  ever  since  its  invention,)  it  is 
then  the  “water  forcer”  of  Ctesibius ;  and  if  pipes  be  connected  to  F  and 
J,  (No.  112,)  and  their  orifices  placed  in  a  liquid,  the  apparatus  becomes 
the  double  acting  pump  of  La  Hire.  But  what  may  be  surprising  to  some 
persons,  its  construction  is  identical  with  that  of  the  steam-engine  ;  for  let 
it  be  furnished  with  a  crank  and  fly  wheel  to  regulate  the  movements  of 
its  piston,  and  with  apparatus  to  open  and  close  its  valves,  then  admit 
steam  through  its  nozzle,  and  it  becomes  the  double  acting  engine  of  Boul¬ 
ton  and  Watt.  Again,  connect  its  induction  orifices  to  a  receiver,  and  it 
becomes  an  exhausting  air-pump ;  apply  its  nozzle  to  the  same  vessel,  and 
it  is  a  condensing  one.  The  most  perfect  blowing  machine,  and  the  chef 
d' oeuvre  of  modern  modifications  of  the  pump,  are  also  its  fac-similes. 

It  would  seem  that  the  Chinese  have  other  kinds  of  bellows,  or  differ¬ 
ent  modes  of  working  these.  Bed,  in  his  account  of  the  Russian  embassy 
in  1720,  says  that  he  was  lodged  in  a  village  twelve  miles  from  Pekin  in 
a  cook’s  house,  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  observing  the  customs  of 
the  people  even  on  trifling  occasions  :  “  My  landlord,”  he  observes,  “  be¬ 
ing  in  his  shop,  I  paid  him  a  visit,  where  I  found  six  kettles  placed  in  a 


*  China,  its  Costumes,  &c.,  iii.  34. 


252  Double  acting  Bellows  of  Madagascar.  [Book  IIL 

row  on  furnaces,  having  a  separate  opening  under  each  of  them  for  re¬ 
ceiving  the  fuel,  which  consisted  of  a  few  small  sticks  and  straw.  On 
his  pulling  a  thong ,  he  blew  a  pair  of  bellows  which  made  all  his  kettles 
boil  in  a  very  short  time.”0  Like  other  Asiatics,  the  Chinese  have  proba¬ 
bly  a  variety  of  these  instruments.  The  van,  or  winnowing  machine, 
which  we  have  received  from  them,  is  a  rotary  bellows.  See  page  70 
of  this  volume. 

Various  rotary  bellows  are  described  by  Agricola,  as  employed  in  the 
ventilation  of  mines,  and  worked  by  men  with  cranks,  and  in  one  instance 
by  a  horse  treading  on  the  periphery  of  a  wheel.d  Rotary  blowing 
machines  have  been  represented  as  of  more  recent  origin,  but  they  are  in 
all  probability  of  great  antiquity.  The  Spaniards  introduced  them  into 
Peru  as  early  as  1545,  to  reduce  the  silver  ores,  but  they  were  soon  aban¬ 
doned.®  For  rotary  pumps,  see  a  subsequent  chapter  of  this  book. 

We  are  indebted  for  some  interesting  information  respecting  the  arts  of 
various  islanders  of  the  Indian  ocean  to  Mr.  William  Clark  of  Philadel 
ph  ia,  who,  besides  spending  several  years  in  whaling  voyages,  resided 
two  years  in  Southern  Africa.  The  vessel  to  which  he  was  attached  hav¬ 
ing  on  one  occasion  touched  on  the  coast  of  Madagascar,  some  native 
smiths  were  found  using  bellows  that  excited  particular  attention ;  some 
were  cylindrical,  being  formed  of  bored  logs,  others  were  square  trunks, 
five  or  six  inches  in  diameter,  and  about  five  feet  long ;  but  the  internal 
construction  of  both  was  the  same.  The  ship’s  carpenter  was  permitted 
to  open  one.  It  was  composed  of  four  planks  that  had  been  split  from 
trees,  the  insides  shaved  smooth  and  straight,  and  the  whole  put  together 
with  wooden  pins  instead  of  nails  or  screws.  It  was  divided  into  two 
parts  by  a  partition  or  disk,  which  was  permanently  secured  in  its  place, 
(shown  at  A  in  the  annexed  cut,)  where,  like  a  piston,  it  occupied  the 

entire  space  across.  On  one  side  of  the  trunk,  and 
opposite  the  edge  of  A,  an  opening  was  made  for 
the  insertion  of  the  tube  C  that  conveyed  the  wind 
to  the  fire,  the  edge  of  A  at  this  place  being  feather¬ 
ed,  and  a  small  projecting  piece  added  to  it,  in 
order  to  direct  the  current  of  air  from  either  side 
of  the  partition  into  C.  An  opening  was  made  in 
the  centre  of  A,  through  which  a  smooth  piston 
rod  B,  played ;  two  pistons  or  boards,  P  P,  accu¬ 
rately  fitted  to  work  in  the  trunk,  were  attached 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  partition  to  B ;  these  pis¬ 
tons  were  perforated,  and  the  openings  covered  by 
flaps  or  valves  like  those  of  a  common  pump  box, 
but  the  upper  one  was  secured  to  the  under  side 
of  the  piston  as  shown  in  the  figure.  The  trunk 
rested  on  four  short  pieces  of  wood  pegged  to  it. 
In  some,  holes  were  made  at  the  lower  part  for 
the  admission  of  air.  These  bellows  were  there¬ 
fore  double  acting,  and  consequently  one  of  them 
was  equal  in  its  effects  to  two  of  those  represented 
at  No.  Ill,  which  drive  the  air  out  only  on  the  de¬ 
scent  of  the  piston,  whereas  these  forced  it  into  the 
fire  both  on  ascending  and  descending.  Thus, 
when  the  blower  raised  the  rod  B,  the  flap  on  the 
lower  piston  closed,  and  the  air  in  that  division  of 


No.  114.  Double  Acting  Bel¬ 
lows  of  Madagascar. 


c  Bell’s  Travels,  i.  312.  d  De  Re  Metaliica,  pp.  162,  163,  164,  169.  •  Garcilasso’s 
Commentaries,  p.  347. 


253 


Chap.  2.]  On  the  Bellows  among  the  Peruvians. 

the  trunk  was  expelled  through  C  ;  at  the  same  time  the  flap  of  the  upper 
piston  was  opened  by  its  own  weight  and  the  air  passing  through  it,  and 
on  the  descent  of  B  all  the  air  in  the  upper  part  of  the  trunk  was  forced 
into  the  fire  in  like  manner;  hence  an  uninterrupted,  though  not  an  equable 
blast  of  wind  was  kept  up.  The  whole  apparatus  was  of  wood  except 
the  flaps,  which  were  pieces  of  green  hide  rendered  pliable  by  working 
them  in  the  hands ;  and  they  were  prevented  from  opening  too  far  by 
narrow  slips  of  the  same  material  pegged  over  them.  There  was  no 
packing  to  the  pistons,  but  they  were  moved  with  great  rapidity. 

These  bellows  are  different  from  those  described  by  Dampier,  Sonnerat 
and  Ellis,  as  used  in  the  same  island ;  but  they  serve  to  corroborate  a  re¬ 
mark  that  has  been  made  by  several  travelers,  viz :  that  the  negroes  of 
Africa  are  in  possession  of  a  great  variety  of  those  instruments.  -The  one 
above  described  is  a  fine  specimen  of  their  ingenuity,  for  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  it  is  original  with  them — it  evidently  is  not  derived  from  the 
double  acting  bellows  of  China,  nor  can  it  have  been  procured  from  Europe, 
since  nothing  of  the  kind  has,  we  believe,  ever  been  used  there.  It  is  the 
only  bellows  that  we  have  met  with  having  valves  in  the  pistons. 

It  need  hardly  be  observed  that  double  pumps  have  been  made  on  the 
same  principle.  There  is  one  figured  by  Belidor  in  the  second  volume  of 
his  Architecture  Hydraulique,  which  differs  from  the  above  figure  only  in 
having  two  short  piston  rods  connected  together  by  a  frame  on  the  outside 
of  the  cylinder,  instead  of  one  long  one  working  through  the  disk. 

No  stronger  proofs  could  possibly  be  adduced  of  the  analogy  between 
pumps  and  bellows,  than  what  the  figures  in  this  and  the  preceding  chapter 
afford. 

While  engaged  on  this  part  of  the  subject  we  were  induced  to  refer 
agiin  to  the  accounts  of  the  old  Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  in  hopes  of  find¬ 
ing  some  indications  of  the  pump  in  the  instruments  employed  to  urge  air 
into  their  furnaces;  but,  strange  as  it  will  appear  to  modern  mechanics,  they 
are  said  to  have  been  wholly  ignorant  of  the  bellows.  This,  if  true,  is  a 
very  singular  fact;  and,  considering  the  extent  to  which  they  practiced  the 
arts  of  metallurgy,  one  that  is  unexampled  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It 
appears,  moreover,  irreconcilable  with  the  opinion  of  their  oriental  origin ; 
for  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  emigrants  or  descendants  of  emigrants 
from  Asia,  could  have  been  ignorant  of  this  simple  instrument  which  has 
been  used  in  one  form  or  another  on  that  continent  from  the  earliest  times, 
and  which  is  still  employed  by  the  rudest  tribes  there,  and  also  in  all  those 
parts  whence  the  early  Peruvians  are  supposed  to  have  come.  The  bel¬ 
lows  is  common  almost  as  the  hammer,  from  the  peninsular  of  Malacca  to 
that  of  Ivampschatka,  and  from  the  Phillippine  islands  to  those  of  Japan. 
In  Africa,  too,  it  is  used  in  great  variety  and  by  people  whose  progress  in 
the  arts  is  far  behind  that  of  the  ancient  smiths  of  America. 

How  little  is  known  respecting  the  mechanical  implements  of  Mexican 
and  Peruvian  workmen  and  of  their  processes,  and  yet  but  three  centuries 
have  elapsed  since  the  latter  were  in  full  operation  !  We  are  not  aware 
that  a  single  tool  has  been  preserved,  much  less  their  modes  of  manufac¬ 
ture  ;  nor  is  this  much  to  be  wondered  at  when  the  spirit  that  animated 
the  conquerors  is  considered — it  was  the  acquisition  of  gold,  not  the  tools 
for  or  manner  of  working  it,  that  they  had  in  view  ;  and  had  it  not  been 
for  the  prodigious  amount  of  bullion  which  they  found  worked  into  va¬ 
rious  figures  and  utensils,  we  should  scarcely  have  ever  heard  of  the  latter; 
and  yet  the  workmanship  on  some  of  them,  exceeded  the  value  of  the  metal. 
That  there  are  errors  in  the  accounts  of  early  writers  on  the  arts  and  ap¬ 
paratus  of  old  American  mechanics  is  unquestionable,  and  among  them 


264 


On  the  Bellows  among  the  Peruvians,  [Book  III, 

may  be  mentioned  tbat  which  confined  the  materials  of  their  cutting  in¬ 
struments  to  obsidian  and  other  stones ;  whereas  it  is  now  certain  that 
they  had  chisels,  &c.  of  bronze  or  alloys  of  copper  and  tin ;  and  probably 
of  a  similar  composition  to  those  of  Egyptian  workmen.  As  for  bellows, 
it  was  no  easy  task  (supposing  it  had  been  undertaken  by  the  old  histo¬ 
rians  of  Mexico  and  Peru)  to  determine  positively  that  they  were  unknown 
throughout  those  extensive  countries.  To  ascertain  what  tools  were  and 
were  not  used,  required  something  more  than  a  superficial  knowledge  of 
the  people.  Before  a  stranger  could  speak  decidedly  on  the  subject  of 
bellows,  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  become  familiar  with  their  modes 
of  working  the  metals,  by  frequently  visiting  them  in  their  workshops  and 
dwellings;  and,  from  an  intimate  knowledge  of  their  language,  making  in 
quiries  respecting  the  tools  and  details  of  the  processes  adopted  by  artisans 
of  distant  tribes  ;  for  bellows  might  be  used  to  a  limited  extent  in  one 
country,  and  (from  variety  in  the  ores,  articles  manufactured  or  customs 
of  workmen)  not  at  all  in  another.  But  there  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  any  efforts  made  to  collect  information  of  this  kind  by  the  con¬ 
querors — its  value  was  not  appreciated  by  them  or  by  their  immediate 
successors,  and  hence  the  opportunity  was  neglected  and  could  never  be 
recalled ;  for  other  historians  agree  with  Clavigero,  that  the  wonderful 
arts  of  the  Mexican  and  Peruvian  founders  were  soon  lost,  “  by  the  de¬ 
basement  of  the  Indians  and  the  indolent  neglect  of  the  Spaniards.”  Even 
Garcilasso,  although  a  native  Indian,  by  his  mother’s  side,  does  not  seem 
to  have  possessed  any  particular  knowledge  on  the  subject  of  working  the 
metals  :  he  derived  his  information  from  Acosta,  to  whose  work  he  refers 
his  readers. 

But  what  are  the  proofs  that  bellows  were  unknown  to  the  subjects  of 
Manco  Capec  and  Motezuma  h  The  principal  one  is  derived  from  their 
fusing  metals  without  them:  they  kept  their  furnaces  in  blast,  it  is  alledged, 
by  the  breath  of  a  number  of  men  who  blew  on  the  fires  through  tubes  of 
bamboo.  That  this  was  often  practiced  there  is  no  doubt,  and  that  it  was 
the  general  custom  is  admitted ;  but  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that  they 
had  no  contrivances  for  producing  artificial  blasts  :  this  will  appear  from 
the  practice  of  oriental  gold  and  silver  smiths,  both  of  ancient  and  modem 
times.  The  fusion  of  gold  and  silver  with  blowing  tubes  is  a  device  of  remote 
antiquity,  and  like  all  ancient  customs  relating  to  the  useful  arts,  it  is  still 
practiced  by  the  Hindoos,  Malays,  Ceylonese,  Persians  and  other  Asiatics  ; 
and  also  by  Egyptians  and  numerous  African  tribes.  The  goldsmiths  of 
Sumatra,  Mr.  Marsden  observes,  “in  general  use  no  bellows,  but  blow  the 
fire  with  their  mouths  through  a  joint  of  bamboo ;  and  if  the  quantity  of 
metal  to  be  melted  is  considerable,  three  or  four  persons  sit  round  the  fur¬ 
nace,  which  is  an  old  broken  kwali,  or  iron  pot,  and  blow  together  :  at 
Padang  alone,  where  the  manufacture  is  more  considerable,  they  have 
adopted  the  Chinese  bellows.”8  We  have  already  described  the  single 
and  also  a  double  acting  bellows  of  these  people ;  besides  which  they  have 
that  of  China,  and  yet  it  seems  that  all  the  working  goldsmiths  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  except  those  of  a  single  town,  still  melt  their  metal  as  the  Mexicans 
and  the  Peruvians  did  :  hence  the  mere  fact  of  the  old  smiths  of  these  con¬ 
tinents  using  blowpipes  to  fuse  metal,  is  no  more  a  proof  of  their  igno¬ 
rance  of  bellows,  than  the  like  practice  is  of  modern  Asiatics  being  also 
ignorant  of  them. 

Nothing  is  easier  than  to  err  respecting  a  knowledge  of  bellows  in  for¬ 
mer  times,  by  inferences  drawn  from  the  use  of  blowpipes.  In  the  oldest 


*  History  of  Sumatra,  179. 


And  Mexicans. 


255 


Chap.  2.] 

monuments  of  Egypt  (those  of  Beni  Hassan)  the  latter  are  represented  in 
the  remote  age  of  Osirtasen,  1700  B.  C.  which  to  a  superficial  observer 
might  lead  to  the  supposition  that  the  former  were  then  unknown ;  but  a 
close  examination  of  the  sculptures  shows  the  fallacy  of  such  a  conclusion, 
since  blowing  tubes  are  also  figured  long  after  the  reign  of  Thothmes  in 
whose  time  bellows  were  certainly  common.®  Again,  on  the  last  day  of 
the  feast  of  Tabernacles,  the  Jews  were  allowed  by  rabbinical  precepts 
to  light  one  fire  from  another,  but  not  to  strike  new  fire  from  stone  or 
metal,  nor  to  quench  it,  although  to  save  their  goods,  “  nor  to  blow  it  with 
bellowes,  but  with  a  reede.”b  Now  a  stranger,  having  an  imperfect  know¬ 
ledge  of  J ewish  customs,  upon  witnessing  fires  thus  blown  would,  ip  some 
parts  of  the  world,  be  very  apt  to  conclude  that  they  had  no  bellows.  And 
again,  if  we  had  not  a  proof  that  our  domestic  bellows  was  known  to  the 
Romans,  we  might  ha,ve  inferred  from  Pliny’s  account  of  statuaries  and 
painters  representing  individuals  blowing  fires  with  their  mouths,  that  artifi¬ 
cial  instruments  for  the  purpose  were  then  unknown. 

Enough  may  be  gathered  from  early  writers  on  America  to  account 
for  bellows  not  being  employed  in  those  operations  in  which  they  would 
seem  to  have  been  most  required,  viz  :  in  smelting  of  metals.  According 
to  Acosta,  some  ores  could  not  be  reduced  by  bellows,  but  only  by  air 
furnaces.  Garcilasso,  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  eighth  book  of  his  Com¬ 
mentaries,  makes  the  same  remark.  In  smelting  the  silver  ore  of  Potosi, 
he  says  the  Indians  used  neither  bellows  nor  blowing  tubes,  but  a  natural 
wind,  which,  in  their  opinion,  was  the  best ;  they  therefore  fused  the  ore 
in  small  furnaces  placed  on  the  hills  in  the  night  time,  whenever  the  wind 
was  sufficient  for  the  purpose ;  and  it  was  a  pleasant  sight,  he  observes, 
“ to  behold  eight,  ten,  or  twelve  thousand  of  those  fires  at  the  same  time, 
ranged  in  order  upon  the  sides  of  the  mountains.”  The  Spaniards  suspect¬ 
ing  that  the  metal,  when  thus  diffused  among  a  great  number  of  hands, 
might  be  more  readily  purloined,  and  that  much  of  it  was  wasted  in  so 
many  fires,  introduced  blast  furnaces,  the  fires  in  which  were  urged  “  by 
large  bellows,”  but  these  not  succeeding,  (the  blast  being  too  strong,)  they 
had  recourse  to  rotary  bellows,  (“  engines  with  wheels,  carried  about  with 
sails  like  a  windmill  which  fanned  and  blowed  the  fire,”)  but  these  also 
failed  to  accomplish  the  purpose,  “  so  that  the  Spaniards  despairing  of  the 
success  of  their  inventions,  made  use  of  those  which  the  Indians  had  framed 
and  contrived .”  No  stronger  reason  could  be  adduced  why  the  bellows 
was  not  previously  used  in  the  reduction  of  ores. 

At  a  subsequent  fusion  of  the  metal  in  their  dwellings,  the  workmen 
(says  Garcilasso)  instead  of  bellows,  continued  to  use  blowing  tubes, 

“  though  our  [Spanish]  invention  of  bellows  is  much  more  easie  and  forci¬ 
ble  to  raise  the  fire.”  Supposing  they  were  ignorant  of  bellows  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  here  is  a  proof  that  after  they  became  acquainted 
with  these  instruments,  they  still  preferred  their  tubes,  as  the  gold  and 
silver  smiths  of  Asia  generally  do  at  this  day ;  and  hence  the  use  of  such 
tubes  does  not  show,  as  has  been  stated,  “  that  they  were  unacquainted 
with  the  use  of  bellows.” 

If  there  was  nothing  else  to  adduce  in  favor  of  the  old  Peruvians  being 
acquainted  with  bellows,  or  with  the  principle  of  their  construction  and  ap¬ 
plication,  than  the  balsas  or  blown  floats  which  their  fishermen  and  those 
of  Chili  used  instead  of  boats,  we  should  deem  them  sufficient.  These 
were  large  bags  made  of  skins  of  the  sea  wolf  and  filled  with  air.  They 

*  Wilkinson  s  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,  iii.  339.  b  Purchas’ 
Pilgrimage,  223.  ' 


256 


Natural  Pumps. 


:Jft'  , 

[Book  III. 


were  “  so  well  sewed,  that  a  considerable  weight  could  not  force  any  of 
it  out.”  They  carried  from  twelve  to  fourteen  hundred  pounds,  and  if  any 
air  escaped,  there  were  two  leathern  pipes  through  which  the  fishermen 
“blow  into  the  bags  when  there  is  occasion.”  Frezier’s  Voyage  to  the 
South  Seas,  page  121.  These  were  real  bellows,  only  applied  to  another 
purpose.  Had  they  not  been  found  less  efficient  or  less  economical  than 
blowing  tubes,  they  would  doubtless  have  been  used  as  substitutes  for  the 
latter  in  the  fusion  and  reduction  of  ores.  It  may  here  be  noticed  as  a 
singular  fact,  and  one  which  may  possibly  have  reference  to  bellows,  that 
Quetzalcoatl ,  the  Mexican  God  of  the  air  or  wind,  was  also  the  Vulcan 
of  all  the  nations  of  Anahuac.  k 

Both  Mexicans  and  Peruvians  were  accustomed  from  their  youth  to  use 
blowing  tubes,  for  the  primitive  air  gun,  through  which  to  shoot  arrows 
and  other  missiles  by  the  breath,  was  universally  used,  and  the  practice 
is  still  kept  up  by  their  descendants.  Motezuma,  in  his  first  interview 
with  Cortez,  shrewdly  compared  the  Spanish  guns,. as  tubes  of  unknown 
metal,  to  the  sarbacans  of  his  countrymen.  From  the  expertness  acquired 
by  the  constant  employment  of  these  instruments  in  killing  game,  it  was 
natural  enough  to  use  them  instead  of  bellows  tt>  increase  the  heat  of  their 
furnaces,  and  custom  rendered  them  very  efficient. 

We  have  prolonged  our  remarks  on  this  subject  because  it  has  been 
concluded  that  remains  of  furnaces,  found  far  below  the  surface  in  various 
parts  of  this  continent  and  in  regions  abounding  with  iron,  could  never 
have  been  employed  in  reducing  that  metal;  for  in  those  remote  ages  in 
which  such  furnaces  were  in  action,  the  bellows,  it  is  said,  was  unknown; 
a  position  that  we  think  untenable,  and  quite  irreconcilable  with  the 
advanced  state  of  metallurgy  in  those  times. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  bellows  and  bellows  pumps,  we  may  re¬ 
mark  that  numerous  illustrations  of  the  latter  may  be  found  in  the  natural 
world.  To  an  industrious  investigator,  the  animal  kingdom  would  furnish 
an  endless  variety ,  for  every  organized  being  is  composed  of  tubes  and 
of  liquids  urged  through  them.  The  contrivances  by  which  the  latter  is 
accomplished  may  be  considered  among  the  prominent  features  in  the 
mechanism  of  animals ;  and  although  modified  to  infinitude,  one  general 
principle  pervades  the  whole  ;  this  is  the  distension  and  contraction  of 
flexible  vessels  or  reservoirs  in  which  fluids  are  accumulated  and  driven 
through  the  system.  On  the  regular  function  of  these  organs  the  neces¬ 
sary  motions  of  life  chiefly  depend ;  by  them  urine  is  expelled  from  the 
bladder,  blood  from  the  heart,  breath  from  the  lungs,  &c. ;  they  are  natural 
bellows  pumps,  while  other  devices  of  the  Divine  Mechanician  resemble 
syringes  or  piston  pumps. 

The  whale  spouts  water  with  a  bellows  pump,  and  in  streams  compared 
with  which  the  jet  from  one  of  our  fire-engines  is  child’s  play.  His  blow¬ 
ing  apparatus  consists  of  two  large  membranous  sacs;  elastic  and  capable 
of  being  collapsed  with  great  force.  They  are  connected  with  two  bony 
canals  or  tubes  whose  orifices  are  closed  by  a  valve  in  the  form  of  two 
semicircles,  similar  to  those  known  to  pump  makers  as  butterfly  valves. 
When  the  animal  spouts,  he  forcibly  compresses  the  bags,  already  filled 
with  water,  and  sends  forth  volumes  of  it  to  the  height  of  40  or  50  feet. 
The  roaring  noise  that  accompanies  this  ejection  of  the  liquid  is  heard  at  a 
considerable  distance,  and  is  one  of  the  means  by  which  whalers,  in  foggy 
weather,  are  directed  to  their  prey.  The  proboscis  of  the  elephant  is 
sometimes  used  as  a  hose  pipe,  through  which  he  plays  a  stream  in  every 
direction  by  the  pump  in  his  chest.  Numerous  insects  that  live  in  water 
move  their  bodies  by  the  reaction  of  that  liquid  on  streams  they  eject  from 


257 


Chap.  2.]  Natural  Pumps. 

their  bodies :  oysters  and  some  other  shell  fish  move  in  this  manner.  My¬ 
riads  of  marine  animals  also  ascend  and  descend  in  their  native  element  by 
means  of  forcing  pumps  :  when  about  to  dive,  they  admit  water  into  cer¬ 
tain  receptacles,  and  in  such  quantities  as  to  render  their  bodies  speci¬ 
fically  heavier  than  the  fluid  they  float  in ;  and  when  they  wish  to  ascend, 
they  pump  out  the  water  which  carried  them  down. 

That  expert  gunner,  the  jaculator  fish,  shoots  his  prey  with  pellets  or 
globules  of  water  as  from  a  piston  pump.  When  an  insect  hovers  near  or 
rests  on  some  aquatic  plant  within  five  or  six  feet  of  him,  he  shoots  from 
his  tubular  snout  a  drop  of  water,  and  with  so  “  sure  an  aim  as  generally 
to  lay  it  dead.”  The  habit  of  ejecting  saliva,  which  some  persons  ac¬ 
quire,  is  by  making  a  pump  of  the  mouth  and  a  piston  of  the  tongue. 
Other  animals  practice  the  same  ;  thus  the  llama  of  Chili  and  Peru,  when 
irritated,  “ejects  its  saliva  to  a  considerable  distance” — Frezier  says  ten 
paces,  or  thirty  feet.  The  spurting  snake  of  Southern  Africa,  it  is  said, 
ejects  its  poison  into  the  eyes  of  those  who  attack  it  with  unerring  aim. 
The  tongue  of  the  lamprey  moves  backwards  and  forwards  like  a  piston, 
and  produces  that  suction  which  distinguishes  this  animal  and  others  of  the 
same  family.  The  sting  <5f  some  insects,  that  of  the  bee,  for  example,  is 
a  very  complex  apparatus,  consisting  of  a  lancet  with  its  sheath,  to  pene¬ 
trate  the  bodies  of  their  enemies ;  first  acting  as  a  trocar  and  canular,  and 
then  as  a  pump  to  force  poison  into  the  wound — “  an  awl  to  bore  a  hole, 
[says  Paley,]  and  a  syringe  to  inject  the  fluid.” 

It  perhaps  may  be  supposed  from  the  form  of  common  pumps,  that 
there  is  little  resemblance  between  them  and  these  natural  machines,  but 
it  should  be  remembered  that  this  form  is  purely  arbitrary,  (they  are,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  sometimes  made  of  flexible  materials,  and  alter¬ 
nately  dilated  and  collapsed  like  the  chests  of  animals.)  The  general 
custom  of  making  them  of  hollow  cylinders  and  of  inflexible  materials, 
arose  from  experience  having  proved  that  when  thus  made,  they  are  more 
durable  and  less  liable  to  derangement  than  any  others  that  have  yet  been 
devised.  J 

The  circulation  of  the  blood  in  man  and  other  animals  is  effected  by 
apparatus  strikingly  analogous  to  sucking  and  forcing  bellows  pumps.  The 
heart  is  one  of  these — the  arteries  are  its  forcing,  the  veins  its  suction 
pipes,  and  both  pump  and  pipes  are  furnished  with  the  most  perfect 
valves.  By  contraction,  this  wonderful  machine  forces  the  blood  through 
the  former  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  system  ;  and  by  distension,  draws 
it  back  through  the  latter.®  They  vary  in  dimensions  as  in  construction.' 
Some  are  adapted  to  the  bodies  of  animals  so  minute  as  to  be  impercep¬ 
tible  to  unaided  vision,  and  from  these  to  others  of  every  size  up  to  the 
huge  leviathan  of  the  deep.  The  aorta  of  the  whale,  says  Paley,  “  is 
larger  in  the  bore  than  the  main  pipe  of  the  water- works  at  London 
bridge ;  and  the  water  roaring  in  its  passage  through  that  pipe,  is  inferior 
m  impetus  and  velocity  to  the  blood  rushing  from  the  whale’s  heart.” 

Every  human  being  may  be  considered  as,  nay  is,  a  living  pump.  His 
body  is  wholly  made  up  of  it,  of  the  tubes  belonging  to  it,  and  the  liquid 
moved  by  it- — with  such  additions  as  are  required  to  communicate  the  ne¬ 
cessary  motion  and  protect  it  from  injury.  Health,  life  itself,  every  thing, 
depends  upon  keeping  it  in  order.  If  one  of  its  forcing  pipes,  (an  artery,) 
be  severed,  we  bleed  to  death  ;  are  any  of  its  sucking  tubes  (the  veins) 


In  the  6th  vol.  of  Machines  approved  by  the  French  Academy,  is  the  description  of 
a  bellows  pump,  made  in  imitation  of  the  heart,  by  M.  Bedaut,  who  named  the  working 
part  of  it  ‘  La  C<Eur,  the  heart — of  which  it  was  a  rude  resemblance. 

33  , 


258  Advantages  of  Studying  the  Mechanism  of  Animals.  [Book  III. 

choked,  the  parts  around  them  become  diseased,  like  sterile  land  for  want 
of  nourishment ;  does  the  pump  itself  stop  working,  we  instantly  die.  The 
regularity  and  irregularity  of  its  motions  are  indicated  by  the  pulse,  which 
has  always  been  adopted  as  the  unerring  criterion  of  health  and  disease, 
or  as  an  engineer  would  say,  the  number  of  its  strokes  per  minute,  is  the 
proof  of  its  state  whether  in  good  or  bad  working  order.  The  pulse  not 
only  indicates  incidental  disorders  in  this  hydraulic  machine,  but  is  a  crite¬ 
rion  of  its  age,  as  well  as  of  its  constant  condition :  the  movements  are 
strong  and  uniform  in  youth,  feeble  and  uncertain  in  sickness  and  age,  and 
as  the  machine  wears  out  and  the  period  of  its  labor  approaches,  its  strokes 
at  last  cease  and  its  vibrations  are  then  silent  for  ever. 

What  mechanic  can  contemplate  this  surprising  machine  without  being 
electrified  with  astonishment  that  it  should  last  so  long  as  it  does  in  some 
people  !  Formed  of  materials  so  easily  injured,  and  connected  with  tubes 
of  the  most  delicate  texture,  whose  ramifications  are  too  complex  to  be 
traced,  their  numbers  too  great  to  be  counted,  and  many  of  them  too  mi¬ 
nute  to  be  perceived,  and  the  oi’ifices  of  all  furnished  with  elaborate  valves ; 
that  such  complicated  machinery  should  continue  incessantly  in  motion, 
sixty,  eighty,  and  a  hundred  years,  not  only  without  our  aid,  but  in  spite 
of  obstructions  that  are  daily  thrown  in  its  way,  is  as  inexplicable  and  mys¬ 
terious  as  the  power  that  impels  it. 

Few  classes  of  men  are  more  interested  in  studying  natural  history,  and 
particularly  the  structure,  habits,  and  movements  of  animals,  than  mechan¬ 
ics  ;  and  none  can  reap  a  richer  reward  for  the  time  and  labor  expended 
upon  it.  It  presents  to  the  studious  inquirer  sources  of  mechanical  com¬ 
binations  and  movements  so  varied,  so  perfect,  so  novel,  and  such  as  are 
adapted  to  every  possible  contingency,  as  to  excite  emotions  of  surprise 
that  they  should  have  been  so  long  neglected.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
several  modern  discoveries  in  pneumatics,  hydraulics,  hydrostatics,  optics, 
mechanics,  and  even  of  chemistry,  might  have  been  anticipated  by  the 
study  of  this  department  of  science.  Of  this  truth  examples  might  be  ad¬ 
duced  from  every  art,  and  from  every  branch  of  engineering  :  the  flexible 
water-mains  (composed  of  iron  tubes  united  by  a  species  of  ball  and  socket 
joint)  by  which  Watt  conveyed  fresh  water  under  the  river  Clyde  were 
suggested  by  the  mechanism  of  a  lobster's  tail — the  process  of  tunneling 
by  which  Brunei  has  formed  a  passage  under  the  Thames  occurred  to  him 
by  witnessing  the  operations  of  the  Teredo,  a  testaceous  worm  covered 
with  a  cylindrical  shell,  which  eats  its  way  through  the  hardest  wood — 
and  Smeaton,  in  seeking  the,  form -best  adapted  to  impart  stability  to  the 
light-house  on  the  Eddy  stone  rocks,  imitated  the  contour  of  the  bole  of  a 
tree.  The  fishermen’s  boats  of  Europe,  adapted  to  endure  the  roughest 
weather,  are  the  very  model  of  those  formed  for  her  progeny  by  the  fe¬ 
male  gnat  ;  “  elevated  and  narrow  at  each  end,  and  broad  and  depressed 
at  the  middle” — the  beaver  when  building  a  dam — but  it  is  vain  to  quote 
examples  with  which  volumes  might  be  filled. 


Chap.  3.] 


Forcing  Pumps  with  solid  Pistons. 


259 


CHAPTER  III. 

Forcing  Pumps  with  solid  pistons:  The  Syringe:  Its  uses,  materials  and  antiquity-Employed  by  the 
Hindoos  in  religious  festivals-Figurcd  on  an  old  coat  of  arm^-SimpIe  Garden  Pump-Single  valve  Fore 

Z"7°U  F°rf  vPUmP_St°maCh  f>umP  Forcing -pump  with  air-vesse.-Machine  of 
authorsUSf  It8  ^ ^  V.truvius-Remarks  on  its  origin-Errors  of  the  ancients  respecting  the 

him  P  ,  ,"Vftnt,0nS_ClalmS  0fCteSlbius  t0  t,le  PumP  limited-Air  vessel  probably  invented  by 

him  Compressed  a,  ra  prominent  feature  in  all  his  inventions-Air  vessels-!,,  Heron’s  fountain-Ap^ 
parcntly  referred  to  by  Pliny— Air  gun  of  Ctesibius— The  Hookah.  P 

The  earliest  machine  consisting  of  a  cylinder  and  piston  that  was  ex¬ 
pressly  designed  to  force  ligmds  was  probably  the  syringe,  an  instrument 
of  very  high  antiquity :  see  its  figure  in  the  foreground  of  the  next  illustra- 
tion.  1  o  the  closed  end  a  short  conical  pipe  is  attached  whose  dimensions 
are  adapted  to  the  particular  purpose  for  which  the  instrument  is  to  be 
used  The  piston  is  solid  and  covered  with  a  piece  of  soft  leather  hemn 
woollen  listing',  or  any  similar  substance  that  readily  imbibes  moisture  in 
order  to  prevent  air  or  water  from  passing  between  it  and  the  sides  of  the 
cylinder.  \\  hen  the  end  of  the  pipe  is  placed  in  a  liquid  and  the  piston 
drawn  back  the  atmosphere  drives  the  liquid  into  the  cylinder;  whence  it 
is  expelled  through  the  same  orifice  by  pushing  the  piston  down  :  in  the 
former  case  the  syringe  acts  as  a  sucking  pump  ;  in  the  latter  as  a  forcing 
°ne.  They  are  chiefly  employed  m  surgical  operations,  for  which  they 
are  made  of  various  dimensions-from  the  size  of  a  quart  bottle  to  that  of 
a  quill  They  are  formed  of  silver,  brass,  pewter,  glass,  and  sometimes 

sr°  r  !°rrme  PurPff  the  s™all  P*pe  is  dispensed  with,  the  end 
of  the  cylinder  being  closed  by  a  perforated  plate,  as  in  those  instruments 
with  which  gardeners  syringe  their  plants. 

R  has  been  said  that  the  syringe  was  invented  by  Ctesibius,  being  the 
result  of  his  first  essays  in  devising  or  improving  the  pump ;  but  such 
could  not  have  been  its  origin,  since  it  is  mentioned  by  philosophers  who 
flourished  centuries  before  him.  It  was  known  to  Theophrastus,  Anaxa¬ 
goras,  Democritus,  Leucippus,  Aristotle,  and  their  pupils:  to  the  rushing 
of  water  into  it  when  the  piston  was  drawn  up,  these  philosophers  ap¬ 
pealed  to  illustrate  their  opposite  views  respecting  the  cause  of  the  liquid’s 
ascent  some  contending  that  it  proved  the  existence  of  a  vacuum,  others 
that  it  did  not.  1  o  this  ancient  application  of  the  syringe,  most  of  the 
early  writers  on  atmospheric  pressure  allude.*  “  It  is  pretty  strange  [ob¬ 
serves  esaguliers]  that  the  ancients,  who  were  no  strangers  to  the  nature 
o  winds,  and  knew  a  great  deal  of  their  force,  were  yet  entirely  ignorant 
of  the  weight  and  perpendicular  pressure  of  the  air.  This  is  evident  be¬ 
cause  they  attribute  the  cause  of  water  rising  up  in  pumps,  or  any  liquors 
being  drawn  up  into  syringes  (commonly  called  syphons  on  that  account 
wh,le  PumPs  ^l'd  sucking-pumps)  to  natures  abhorrence  of  a  v£ 
cuum ,  saymg,  that  it  fill’d  up  with  water  the  pipes  of  pumps  under  the 
moving  bucket  or  piston,  rather  than  suffer  any  empty  space.  The  syringe 

?tesibi„r,v,lnd  thr  TT  its  suction  oUain’d  long 

Ctesibius,  the  son  of  a  barber  at  Alexandria,  invented  the  pump.”b 

H y d r o d tati c s a Pr  e*fa© e ' and* *172  wi'h,  ClaKrke’f  N°tes'  Lon.  1723;  vol.  i.  172.  Switzer’s 
bEx.  Philos. ’vol.  ii,  249.  Chambers  Diet.  Articles  Syringe,  Embolus,  Vacuum. 


2G0 


The  Syringe, 


.[Book  III. 


There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  syringe  was  employed  by  the  Egyp¬ 
tians  in  the  process  of  embalming.  In  various  translations  of  the  account 
given  by  Herodotus  (Euterpe,  87)  it  is  expressly  named:  “They  fill  a 
syringe  with  germe  of  cedar  wood  and  inject  it.”a  Dr.  Rees,  in  his  edi¬ 
tion  of  Chambers’  Dictionary,  (Art.  Embalming,)  uses  the  terms  “  infusing 
by  a  syringe,”  and  “  syringing  a  liquid,”  &c.  The  least  expensive  mode 
of  embalming  was  “  infusing  by  a  syringe  a  certain  liquid  extracted  from 
the  cedar.”b  Beloe,  in  his  translation,  does  not  indicate  the  instrument 
usec[ — they  “  inject  an  unguent  made  from  the  cedar.”  As  clysters  origi¬ 
nated  in  Egypt,  and  were  used  monthly  by  the  inhabitants  as  a  preserva¬ 
tive  of  health,  (Herod,  ii,  77,)  we  are  most  probably  indebted  to  the  people 
of  that  country  for  the  syringe.  Had  it  been  a  Grecian  or  Roman  inven¬ 
tion,  the  name  of  its  author  would  have  been  known,  for  from  its  utility  and 
application  to  various  useful  purposes,  an  account  of  the  circumstances 
connected  with  its  origin  was  as  worthy  of  preservation,  as  those  relating 
to  the  pump  or  any  other  machine.  Suetonius  uses  the  term  “  clyster”  to 
denote  the  instrument  by  which  it  was  administered ;  and  Celsus  by  it, 
refers  to  “a  little  pipe  or  squirt.”  (Ainsworth.)  Hippocrates  and  the  elder 
Pliny  frequently  mention  clysters,  but  without  describing  distinctly  the 
instrument  employed  :  the  latter  in  his  30th  book,  cap.  7,  seems  to  refer 
to  the  common  pewter  syringe,  “  an  instrument  or  pipe  of  tin  this  is  at 
least  probable,  for  pewter,  according  to  Whittaker,  was  borrowed  from  the 
Romans.  It  is  well  ascertained  that  pewterers  were  among  the  earliest 
workers  of  metal  in  England.  A  company  of  them  was  incorporated  in 
1474  ;  but  at  what  time  the  syringe  became  a  staple  article  of  their  ma¬ 
nufacture  is  uncertain. 


No.  115. 


Syringes  used  by  Hindoos  in  celebrating  some  religious  festivals. 


Had  the  syringe  not  been  mentioned  by  ancient  authors,  its  antiquity 
might  be  inferred  from  a  particular  employment  of  it  by  the  Hindoos.  The 
arts,  manners  and  customs  of  these  people  have  remained  unchanged  from 
very  remote  times ;  and  such  is  their  predilection  for  the  religious  insti¬ 
tutions  of  their  ancestors,  that  nothing  has,  and  apparently  nothing  can  in¬ 
duce  them  to  admit  of  the  slightest  change  in  the  ceremonies  that  pertain 
to  the  worship  of  their  deities :  hence  the  same  rites  are  still  performed, 


a  Quoted  in  Ogilby’s  Africa.  Lon.  1670,  p.  81.  b  Historical  Description  of  Egypt 
Newcastle  :  vol.  i.  602. 


261 


Chap.  3.]  And  its  Applications. 

and  by  means  of  the  same  kind  of  instruments  as  when  Alexander  or 
even  Ba.cchus  invaded  India.  In  some  of  their  religious  festivals  the 
syringe  is  made  to  perform  a  prominent  part ;  for  a  red  powder  is  mixed 
with  water,  with  which  the  worshipers  “  drench  one  another  by  means 
of  a  species  of  squirt ;  to  represent  Parasou  Rama ,  or  some  other  hero 
returning  from  battle  covered  with  blood.”  Some  writers  suppose  the 
ceremony  is  designed  to  celebrate  “  the  orgies  of  Krishna  with  his  mis¬ 
tresses  and  companions.”  No.  115  represents  a  rajah  and  some  of  his 
wives  engaged  in  this  singular  species  of  religious  worship  and  connubial 
exercise,  in  honor  of  Krishna.  The  instruments  are  clearly  garden  syringes, 
and  probably  of  the  same  kind  as  are  mentioned  by  Heron  of  Alexandria, 
as  used  in  his  time  for  sprinkling  and  dispersing  water. 

The  Holilee  is  another  Hindoo  festival  which  resembles  in  some  mea 
sure  the  Saturnalia  of  the  Homans.  It  is  observed  through  all  Hindostan, 
and  m  celebrating  it,  the  syringe  is  put  in  requisition.  Mr.  Broughton’ 
who,  with  some  other  Europeans,  visited  a  Mahratta  rajah  to  witness  the 
ceremony,  observes — “  A  few  minutes  after  we  had  taken  our  seats,  large 
brass  trays  filled  with  abeer,  and  the  little  balls  already  described  were 
brought  in  and  placed  before  the  company,  together  with  a  yellow-coloured 
water,  and  a  large  silver  squirt  for  each  individual.  The  Muha  Raj  him¬ 
self  began  the  amusements  of  the  day,  by  sprinkling  a  little  red  and  yellow 
water  upon  us  from  the  goolabdans,  small  silver  vessels  kept  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  sprinkling  rose-water  at  visits  of  ceremony.  Every  one  then 
began  to  throw  about  the  abeer,  and  to  squirt  at  his  neighbour  as  he  pleas¬ 
ed.  (Shoberl  s  Hind.  vol.  ii,  241,  and  vol.  vi,  14.)  A  somewhat  similar 
custom  prevails  in  Pegu.  At  the  feast  of  waters,  the  king,  nobles,  and 
all  the  people  sport  themselves  by  throwing  water  upon  one  another ;  and 
it  is  impossible  to  pass  the  streets  without  being  soundly  wet.”  (Oving- 
ton’s  Voyage  to  Surat  in  the  year  1689.  Lon.  1696  :  page  597.) 

The  syringe  in  front  of  No.  115,  is  copied  from  Rivius’  German  Trans¬ 
lation  of  Vitruvius,  A.  D.  1548.  It  is  from  a  view  of  the  barber’s  shop 
belonging  to  the  father  of  Ctesibius.  (See  pp.  121  and  122  of  this  volume.) 
Across  the  shop  is  a  partition,  behind  which  the  young  philosopher  is  seen 
intently  perusing  a  book,  and  on  the  floor  around  him  are  a  flute,  a  syringe, 
a  pair  of  bellows,  bagpipes,  &c. ;  while  in  front,  the  old  gentleman  in  the 
European  costume  of  the  16th  century,  and  with  a  sword  at  his  side  !  is 
actively  engaged  in  purifying  the  head  and  face  of  a  customer. 

In  the  third  volume  of  a  Collection  of  “Emblems,  Human  and  Divine” 
in  Latin  :  Prague,  1601,  page  76,  a  pair  of  bellows,  a  syringe,  and  a  flying 
eolipile  are  represented  as  forming  the  device  of  some  old  Italian  family, 
with  the  singular  motto,  “  Todo  cst  viento.” 

Few  ancient  devices  could  be  pointed  out  that  have  given  rise  to  more 
important  improvements  in  the  arts  than  the  primitive  syringe.  Its  modi¬ 
fications  exert  an  extensive  and'  beneficial  influence  in  society.  As  a  pis¬ 
ton  bellows  it  is  still  extensively  used  in  oriental  smithcries — and  as  the 
same,  it  contributed  to  one  of  the  most  refined  pleasures  of  the  ancients,  by 
supplying  wind  to  their  organs.  It  may  be  considered  as  the  immediate 
parent  of  the  forcing  if  not  of  the  atmospheric  pump — in  both  of  which 
it  has  greatly  increased  the  comforts  and  conveniencies  of  civilized  life ; 
in  the  fire-engine  it  protects  both  our  lives  and  our  property  from  the 
most  destructive  of  the  elements;  and  in  the  hands  of  the  surgeon  and 
physician  it  extends  the  duration  of  life  by  removing  disease.  The  mo¬ 
dern  philosophical  apparatus  for  exhausting  air,  and  the  ancient  one  for 
condensing  it ;  the  mammoth  blowing  machines  in  our  founderies,  and 
the-steam  engine  itself,  are  all  modifications  of  the  syringe. 


262 


Single -  Valve  Forcing  Tumps.  [Book  IIL 

A  forcing  pump  differs  but  little  from  a  syringe :  the  latter  receives  and 
expels  a  liquid  through  the  same  passage,  but  the  former  has  a  separate 
pipe  for  its  discharge,  and  both  the  receiving  and  discharging  orifices  are 
covered  with  valves.  By  this  arrangement  it  is  not  necessary  to  remove 
a  pump  from  the  liquid  to  transfer  the  contents  of  its  cylinder,  as  is  done 
with  the  syringe,  but  the  operation  of  forcing  up  water  may  be  continuous 
while  the  instrument  is  immoveable.  A  forcing  pump,  therefore,  is  merely 
a  syringe  furnished  with  an  induction  and  eduction  valve — one  through 
which  water  enters  the  cylinder,  the  other  by  which  it  escapes  from  it. 
Of  the  process  or  reasoning  which  led  to  the  application  of  valves  to  the 
syringe,  history  is  silent ;  but  as  has  been  remarked  in  a  previous  chap¬ 
ter,  their  employment  in  bellows  or  air  forcing  machines,  probably  opened 
the  way  to  their  introduction  into  water  forcing  ones.  The  ordinary  bel¬ 
lows  has  but  one  valve,  and  the  simplest  and  most  ancient  forcing  pumps 
have  no  more.  One  of  these  is  shown  at  No.  116.  It  represents  a  syringe 

having  the  orifice  at  the  bottom  of 
the  cylinder  covered  by  a  valve 
or  clack,  opening  upwards  ;  and 
a  discharging  pipe  connected  to 
the  cylinder  a  little  above  it :  when 
placed  in  water  the  orifice  of  this 
pipe  is  closed  with  the  finger,  and 
the  piston  being  then  drawn  up, 
the  cylinder  becomes  charged,  and 
when  the  piston  is  pushed  down 
the  valve  closes  and  the  liquid  is 
forced  through  the  pipe.  In  this 
machine  the  finger  performs  the 
part  of  a  valve  by  preventing  air 
from  entering  the  cylinder  W'hen 
the  piston  is  being  raised.  Such 
pumps  made  of  tin  plate  were  for¬ 
merly  common,  and  were  used  to 
wash  windows,  syringe  plants  and 
garden  trees,  &c.  The  figure  is 
from  plate  57  of  “  L’Exploiter  des 
Mines,”  in  Arts  et  Metiers,  and  is  described  (page  1584)  as  a  Dutch 
pump,  “  pour  envoyer  commodement  de  l’eau  dans  les  differents  quartiers 
de  l’attelier.” 

No.  117  is  another  single-valve  forcing  pump  from  the  second  volume 
of  a  Latin  treatise  on  Natural  Philosophy,  by  P.  P.  Steinmeyer,  Friburgh, 
1767.  It  is  secured  in  a  cistern,  the  surface  of  the  water  in  which  is  al¬ 
ways  kept  above  the  small  openings  made  through  the  upper  part ;  so 
that  when  the  piston  is  drawn  up,  as  in  the  figure,  the  liquid  flows  in  and 
fill's  it ;  and  on  the  descent  of  the  piston  the  water  is  forced  up  the  as¬ 
cending  pipe,  the  valve  preventing  its  return.  This  is  a  very  simple 
and  efficient  forcing  pump  ;  and  having  no  induction  valve  and  the  piston 
being  always  under  water,  it  is  not  very  liable  to  derangement.  It  has, 
however,  its  defects  ;  for  in  elevating  the  piston  the  whole  weight  of  the 
atmosphere  above  it  has  to  be  overcome,  a  disadvantage  that  in  large  ma¬ 
chines  would  not  be  compensated  by  the  saving  of  a  valve.  As  the  piston 
has  to  pass  the  holes  in  the  upper  part  of  the  cylinder,  its  packing  would 
be  injured  if  their  inner  edges  were  not  rounded  off.  This  pump  has  been 
erroneously  attiibuted  to  a  modern  European  engineer  i  see  the  London 
Register  of  Arts,  v,  154,  and  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  viii,  379. 


No.  116.  No.  117. 

Single-Valve  Forcing  Pumps. 


263 


Chap.  3.]  Common  Forcing  Pump. 

The  ordinary  forcing  pump  has  two  valves,  as  in  the  annexed  figure, 
which  represents  it  as  generally  made.  The  cylinder  is  placed  above  the 
surface  ol  the  water  to  be  raised,  and  consequently  is  charged  by  the  pres¬ 
sure  of  the  atmosphere  ;  the  machine,  therefore,  is  a  compound  one,  dif¬ 
fering  from  that  last  described,  which 
is  purely  a  forcing  pump,  the  water  en¬ 
tering  its  cylinder  by  gravity  alone. 
The  action  of  the  machine  now  under 
consideration  is  similar  to  that  of  the 
syringe :  when  the  piston  is  raised  the 
air  in  the  pipe  below  the  cylinder  rushes 
through  the  valve  and  is  expelled  on 
the  descent  of  the  piston  through  the 
other  valve  in  the  ascending  or  dis¬ 
charging  pipe  ;  and  on  a  repetition  of 
the  strokes  of  the  piston,  water  rises  in 
the  suction  pipe,  enters  the  cylinder, 
and  is  expelled  in  the  like  manner. 
Pumps  of  this  kind  are  sometimes  placed 
in  the  yards  of  dwelling  houses,  the 
suction  pipe  extending  into  a  well,  and 
the  ascending  one  to  a  cistern  in  the 
upper  parts  of  the  building.  In  these 
cases  a  cock  is  generally  inserted  a  lit¬ 
tle  above  the  valve  in  the  ascending 
pipe  to  supply  water  if  required  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  pump. 

1  he  beautiful  instrument  used  of  late  years  to  transfer  liquids  into  and 
from  the  human  stomach  is  a  modification  of  the  above  machine.  It  cannot 
with  propriety  be  named  a  syringe,  for  as  it  is  furnished  with  valves,  it  is, 
in  every  respect,  a  pump.  Having  been  employed  with  much  success  in 
withdrawing  poison  from  the  stomach,  it  is  now  justly  classed  among  the 
essential  apparatus  of  the  surgeon.  Its  origin  and  history  are  detailed  in 
a  pamphlet  published  by  its  inventor,  Mr.  John  Read,  of  England,  who 
devised  it  in  1819,  and  in  the  following  year  obtained  a  patent  for  it  under 
the  name  of  a  “Stomach  and  Enema  Pump.”  After  visiting  London 
twice  in  vain  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  suitable  tubes,  he  tried  to  get 
some  made  in  the  country,  but  failed.  On  a  third  visit  to  the  metropolis 
he  obtained  an  indifferent  one  which  he  thought  might  answer,  and  after 
adapting  it  to  a  pump,  “  I  then  [he  observes]  presented  it  to  Sir  Astley 
Cooper,  who  asked  me  for  what  purpose  it  was  intended  ;  I  told  him  it 
was  intended  for  the  removal  of  fluid  poisons  from  the  human  stomach ; 
after  a  few  minutes  inspection  of  the  instrument,  Sir  A.  made  the  follow¬ 
ing  reply  about  three  weeks  ago  I  was  called  to  attend  a  young  lady 
about  10  o’clock  in  the  morning  who  had  taken  opium;  I  gave  her  sul¬ 
phate  of  copper,  sulphate  of  zinc  and  other  things:  I  sat  by  her  until 
eight  m  the  evening,  when  she  died  !  If  I  had  been  in  possession  of  this 
instrument  at  the  time,  I  could  have  relieved  her  in  five  minutes,  and  have 
saved  her  life.’  After  many  questions  how  I  came  to  think  of  such  a 
thing,  which  I  satisfactorily  explained,  he  said  ‘  what  can  I  do  for  you  V 
my  answer  was— the  publicity  of  your  opinion  is  all  I  wish  :  he  replied, 
that  you  shall  soon  have ;’  and  he  ordered  me  to  meet  him  the  next  day 
at  Cxuy  s  Hospital  at  one  o’clock,  when  he  proposed  to  try  an  experiment 
on  a  dog  ;  but  as  no  dog  could  be  procured,  [that  day,]  Sir  Astley  pro¬ 
posed  I1  riday  at  the  same  hour  ;  when  I  attended  as  before,  and  a  do<* 

o 


No.  118.  Common  Forcing  Puinp. 


Stomach  Pumps. 


264 


[Book  III. 


was  then  ready  for  the  experiment  in  the  operating  theatre,  which  was 
crowded  to  excess.  The  dog  was  brought  to  Sir  A.  who  gave  him  four 
drachms  of  opium  dissolved  in  water.  The  dog’s  pulse  was  first  at  120; 
in  seven  minutes  it  fell  to  110,  and  from  that  to  90.  The  poison  was  suf¬ 
fered  to  remain  in  the  dog’s  stomach  33  minutes,  till  he  appeared  to  be 
dead,  and  I  was  doubtful  it  would  be  the  case  before  Sir  A.  would  let  me 
use  the  pump.  I  must  confess  I  was  very  impatient  to  be  at  work  on  the 
dog  with  my  instrument  in  hand  ready  for  action.  Sir  A.  kept  his  finger 
on  the  dog’s  pulse,  then  at  90,  and  said  very  deliberately,  ‘  I  think  it  will 
do  now,  as  it  is  33  minutes  since  I  gave  him  the  dose.’  A  basin  of  warm 
water  being  then  brought,  Sir  A.  passed  the  tube  I  had  provided  into  the 
dog’s  stomach :  I  immediately  pumped  the  whole  contents  of  the  basin 
[the  warm  water]  into  the  stomach,  and  as  quickly  repumped  the  whole 
from  the  stomach,  containing  the  laudanum,  back  again  into  the  basin.  Sir 
A.  observed,  while  I  was  emptying  the  dog’s  stomach,  the  laudanum  swim¬ 
ming  on  the  surface,  and  said  ‘  It  will  do  a  second  basin  of  water  was 
then  injected  and  withdrawn  by  the  pump  as  before  :  I  asked  for  a  third , 
but  Sir  Astley  said  it  was  unnecessary,  as  the  laudanum  had  all  been  re¬ 
turned  in  the  first  basin.”  In  half  an  hour  the  animal  was  completely  re¬ 
vived  and  running  about  the  theatre. 

It  may  be  of  use  to  state,  that  the  quickest  and  easiest  mode  of  employ¬ 
ing  a  stomach  pump  (according  to  the  inventor)  is  to  use  it  only  as  a  forc¬ 
ing  pump — that  is  to  inject  warm  water  or  other  dilutents  into  the  stomach 
until  that  organ  becoming  surcharged,  the  fluid  regurgitates  by  the  mouth  ; 
in  other  words  to  fill  the  stomach  to  overflowing — the  liquid  passing  down 
the  tube  and  rising  through  the  oesophagus  by  the  side  of  it;  the  opera¬ 
tion  being  continued  till  the  fluid  returns  unchanged.  In  the  absence  of 
a  pump,  a  tunnel  or  other  vessel  attached  to  a  flexible  tube  might  answer. 


There  are  numerous  varieties  in  stomach  pumps,  arising  from  the  dif¬ 
ferent  modes  of  constructing  and  arranging  the  valves,  so  as  either  to  in¬ 
ject  or  withdraw  liquids  through  the  same  tube  without  shifting  the  appa¬ 
ratus.  No.  119  represents  one  that  is  described  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Franklin  Institute,  (vol.  xiii,  223.)  It  consists  of  an  ordinary  syringe 
screwed  to  a  cylindrical  valve  box  which  contains  two  egg-shaped  cavi¬ 
ties.  In  each  cavity  is  a  small  and  loose  spherical  valve  that  fits  either  of 
the  orifices.  Two  flexible  tubes  are  attached  to  each  cavity  as  represented. 
Suppose  the  upper  tube  inserted  into  a  person’s  stomach  and  the  lower 
one  into  a  basin  of  warm  water ;  if  the  syringe  were  then  worked,  the 
liquid  would  be  forced  into  the  stomach  and  the  poison  diluted  :  then  by 
turning  the  instrument  in  the  hand  so  as  to  bring  the  upper  tube  down, 
(without  withdrawing  the  one  in  the  stomach,)  the  valves  would  drop  upon 
the  other  orifices  in  each  cavity,  and  the  syringe  would  raise  the  contents 
of  the  stomach  into  the  basin,  as  represented  in  the  figure. 


Chap.  3.] 


Forcing  Pump  vnth  Air  Vessel.  J>65 

We  have  no  idea  that  the  inventor  of  the  stomach  pump  was  indebted 
to  Hudibras  for  the  hint,  yet  that  old  warrior  seems  not  only  to  have  been 
a  pi  oper  subject  for  its  occasional  application,  but  he  appears  to  have  had 
some  notions  that  might  eventually  have  led  to  it.  Those  readers  who 
are  familiar  with  Butler’s  account  of  him  will  remember  that  when  he  was 
insulted  by  Talgol  the  butcher,  the  knight,  as  he  justly  might, 

.....  .  “  grew  high  in  wroth, 

And  lifting  hands  and  eyes  up  both, 

Three  times  he  smote  on  stomach  stout 
From  whence  at  last  these  words  broke  out : 
******* 

Nor  all  that  farce  that  makes  thee  proud, 

Because  by  bullocks  ne’er  withstood, 

Shall  save,  or  help  thee  to  evade 
The  hand  of  justice,  or  this  blade. 

Nor  shall  those  words  of  venom  base, 

Which  thou  hast  from  their  native  place 
Thy  stomach,  pump'd  to  fling  on  me 
Go  unrevenged :  *  *  *  * 

Thou  down  the  same  throat  shall  devour  ’em, 

Like  tainted  beef,  and  pay  dear  for  ’em.” — Canto  xi,  Part  I. 

It  was  a  common  practice  with  the  ancient  Roman  epicures  to  empty  the 
stomach  by  an  emetic  before  dinner.  Had  the  application  of  the  pump 
for  such  a  purpose  been  then  known,  it  would  of  course  have  been  pre¬ 
ferred  as  the  more  agreeable  and  certain  device  of  the  two.  But  if  the 
ancients  had  no  apparatus  for  withdrawing  the  contents  of  the  stomach, 
they  were  not  destitute  of  means  for  conveying  nauseous  or  corroding 
liquids  into  it.  Pliny,  in  his  Nat.  Hist,  xxx,  6.  says  such  medicines  were 
swallowed  “  through  a  pipe  or  tunnel”  inserted  into  the  mouth  for  that 
purpose. 

.  1  he  pump  figured  at  No.  118  ejects  water  as  a  syringe  and  only  when  the 
piston  is  forced  down ;  but  by  the  addition  of  what  is  called  an  air-vessel ,  the 

stream  from  the  discharg¬ 
ing  pipe  may  be  made  con¬ 
tinuous  :  this  vessel  is  clos¬ 
ed  at  its  upper  part,  and 
open  at  bottom,  where  it  is 
connected  by  screws  to  the 
forcing  pipe  directly  over 
the  valve,  as  represented  in 
the  annexed  illustration.  A 
discharging  pipe  may  then 
be  connected  to  the  lower 
part  of  the  vessel,  or  it  may 
be,  as  it  often  is,  inserted 
through  the  top,  in  which 
case  its  lower  end  should 
extend  nearly  to  the  bottom. 
When  by  the  descent  of  the 
piston  water  is  forced  out 
of  the  cylinder,  part  of  it 
enters  the  pipe,  and  part  rushes  past  it  and  compresses  the  air  confined  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  vessel ;  and  when  the  piston  is  raised  to  draw  a 
fresh  portion  into  the  cylinder,  this  air  expands  and  drives  out  the  water 
that  compressed  it  and  thus  renders  the  stream  constant.  It  will  be  per¬ 
ceived  that  the  quantity  of  water  raised  is  not  increased  by  this  arrange- 


266  Description  of  the  Machine  of  Ctesibius  by  Vitruvius.  [Book  III. 

ment;  its  flow  from  the  discharging  orifice  being  merely  rendered  uniform, 
or  nearly  so. 

In  the  ordinary  use  of  forcing  pumps  a  constant  instead  of  an  inter¬ 
rupted  flow  of  water  from  the  discharging  orifice,  may  be  a  matter  of 
no  importance  ;  but  when  those  of  large  dimensions  are  required  to  raise 
it  to  great  elevations,  air  vessels  are  not  only  valuable  but  indispensable 
adjuncts ;  for  the  elastic  fluid  within  them  forms  a  medium  for  gradually 
overcoming  the  inertia  of  the  ascending  liquid  columns,  and  thereby  pre¬ 
vents  those  jars  and  shocks  which  are  incident  to  all  non-elastic  substances 
in  rapid  motion,  when  brought  suddenly  to  a  state  of  rest.  A  column  of 
water  moving  with  great  velocity  through  a  pump,  produces,  when  in¬ 
stantly  stopt,  a  concussion  like  that  of  a  solid  rod  of  the  same  length,  when 
its  end  is  driven  against  an  unyielding  object ;  but  with  an  air-vessel,  the 
effect  is  like  that  of  the  same  rod  when  brought  in  contact  with  a  bale  of 
cotton  or  caoutchouc.  Less  force  is  required  also  to  work  pumps  that 
have  air-vessels,  because  in  them  the  column  of  water  in  the  discharging 
jffpe  is  continued  in  motion  during  the  ascent  of  the  piston,  hence  it  has 
not  to  be  moved  from  a  state  of  rest  on  the  piston’s  return.  When  two 
or  more  cylinders  are  connected  to  one  discharging  pipe,  one  air-vessel 
only  is  required,  as  in  fire-engines,  water-works,  &c. 

It  is  this  kind  of  forcing  pump  that  is  generally  adopted  in  water-works 
for  the  supply  of  towns  and  cities  ;  the  piston  rods  being  moved  by 
cranks  or  levers  attached  to  water  wheels :  sometimes  they  are  driven  by 
windmills,  steam-engines,  and  by  animals.  The  cylinders  are  commonly 
used  perpendicularly  as  in  the  figure,  but  they  are  sometimes  worked  in 
an  inclined  and  also  in  a  horizontal  position. 

The  celebrated  pump  of  Ctesibius  was  constructed  like  that  represented 
in  the  last  figure,  except  that  it  had  two  cylinders.  It  seems  to  have  been 
almost  identical  in  its  construction  with  our  fire-engines.  “  It  remains  now 
[says  Vitruvius]  to  describe  the  machine  of  Ctesibius  which  raises  water 
very  high.  This  is  made  of  brass;  at  the  bottom  a  pair  of  buckets  [cylin¬ 
ders]  are  placed  at  a  little  distance,  having  pipes  like  the  shape  of  a  fork 
annexed,  meeting  in  a  basin  in  the  middle.  At  the  upper  holes  of  the 
pipes  within  the  basin,  are  made  valves,  hinged  with  very  exact  joints ; 
which,  stopping  the  holes,  prevent  the  efflux  of  the  water  that  will  be 
pressed  into  the  basin  by  the  air.  Upon  the  basin  a  cover  like  an  inverted 
funnel  is  fitted,  which  is  adjoined  and  fastened  to  the  basin  by  a  collar, 
riveted  through,  that  the  pressure  of  the  water  may  not  force  it  off :  and 
on  the  top  of  it,  a  pipe  called  the1  tuba ,  is  affixed  perpendicularly.  The 
buckets  [cylinders]  have  valves  placed  below  the  lower  mouths  of  the 
pipes,  and  fixed  over  holes  that  are  in  their  bottoms  :  then  pistons  turned 
very  smooth  and  anointed  with  oil,  being  inclosed  in  the  buckets  [cylin¬ 
ders]  are  worked  with  bars  and  levers  from  above  ;  the  repeated  motion 
of  these,  up  and  down,  pressing  the  air  that  is  therein  contained  with  the 
water,  the  holes  being  shut  by  the  valves,  forces  and  extrudes  the  water 
through  the  mouths  of  the  pipes  into  the  basin ;  from  whence  rising  to  the 
cover,  the  air  presses  it  upwards  through  the  pipe ;  and  thus  from  the  low 
situation  of  the  reservoir,  raises  it  to  supply  the  public  fountains.”  Book 
x,  cap.  12.  Newton’s  Trans. 

The  machine  as  thus  described  is  a  proof  of  the  progress  which  the  an¬ 
cients  had  made  in  hydraulics  :  the  whole  appears  to  have  been  of  the 
most  durable  materials,  and  of  the  best  workmanship.  Although  the  figures 
of  this  and  other  machines  which  Vitruvius  inserted  in  his  work  are  lost, 
there  is  little  difficulty  in  realizing  its  construction  from  the  text.  Transla- 


267 


Chap.  3.]  Machine  of  Qtesibim. 

tors  and  commentators  have  generally  agreed  in  tlieir  views  of  it  as  re¬ 
presented  below,  viz  :  two  ordinary  forcing  pumps  connected  to  an  air- 
vessel  and  one  discharging  pipe. 


No.  121.  Machine  of  Ctesibius. 


The  cylinders  are  secured  in  a  frame  of  timber,  and  the  piston  rods  are 
attached  by  joints  to  levers,  one  end  of  which  are  depressed  by  cams  on 
the  axis  of  the  wheel,  as  shown  above  and  also  at  No.  89.  Barbaro  has 
figured  a  crank  at  the  axis  which  gives  a  reciprocating  motion  to  a  hori¬ 
zontal  shaft  placed  over  the  pumps,  and  projecting  pieces  from  which  impart 
motion  to  the  piston  rods.  Vitruvius  informs  us  that  when  machines  were 
employed  to  raise  water  from  rivers,  they  were  worked  by  undershot 
wheels  impelled  by  the  stream,  and  hence  the  pumps  of  Ctesibius  were 
believed  to  have  been  moved  by  the  same  means. 

But  for  Vitruvius  we  should  not  have  known  that  forcing  pumps  con¬ 
stituted  part  of  the  water  works  of  antiquity ;  and  had  he  not  remarked 
that  they  were  employed  to  supply  “  public  fountains,”  it  might  have  been 
supposed  that  water  never  rose  higher  in  the  dwellings  of  ancient  cities 
than  that  which  was  drawn  directly  from  the  aqueducts. 

It  would  be  almost  unpardonable  to  pass  over  this  celebrated  machine 
without  further  remark,  since  it  is,  in  several  respects,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  all  antiquity.  An  account  of  its  origin  and  early  history 
would  form  a  commentary  on  most  of  the  arts  and  sciences  of  the  ancients, 
and  would,  we  believe,  furnish  evidence  of  their  progress  in  some  of  them 
that  few  are  willing  to  believe.  Although  it  was  attributed  to  Ctesibius, 
there  is  some  uncertainty  respecting  the  extent  of  his  claims.  It  may  ap¬ 
pear  invidious  to  attempt  to  rob  this  illustrious  man  of  inventions  ascribed 
to  him,  but  our  object  is  to  ascertain,  not  to  depreciate  them  or  diminish 


268 


Claims  of  Ctesibius,  [Book  III. 

their  number.  It  has  frequently  been  remarked  that  little  dependence 
can  be  placed  on  ancient  writers  as  regards  the  authors  of  the  useful  ma¬ 
chines.  Generally  those  who  introduced  them  from  abroad,  who  im¬ 
proved  them,  increased  their  effects,  or  extended  their  application,  were 
reputed  their  inventors.  This  has  been  the  case  more  or  less  in  every 
part  of  the  world,  and  is  so  at  the  present  day.  The  Greeks  found  au¬ 
thors  among  themselves  for  almost  every  machine,  although  most  of  them 
were  certainly  derived  from  Egypt.  Thus,  the  sails  and  masts  of  ships, 
the  wedge,  auger,  axe  and  level,  were  known  before  Daedalus.  The 
saw,  drill,  compasses,  glue  and  dovetailing,  before  Talus.  Cast  iron  was 
employed,  and  moulding  practiced,  and  the  lathe  invented,  long  before 
Theodoras  of  Samos  lived ;  and  the  screw  and  the  crane  before  Archy tas. 
The  last  individual  was  celebrated  for  various  inventions,  and  among 
others,  Aristotle  mentions  the  child’s  rattle,  from  which  it  may  be  infer¬ 
red  that  he  was  an  amiable  man  and  fond  of  children — but  Egyptian 
children  were  amused  with  various  species  of  toys,  centuries  before  he 
flourished;  and  they  then  had  dolls  whose  limbs  were  moved  by  the 
pulling  of  strings  or  wires,  as  ours  have  at  this  day.  Wilkinson’s  Man¬ 
ners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Eygptians.  Vol.  ii,  426-7. 

As  regards  machines  for  raising  water,  we  have  already  seen,  that 
some  have  been  ascribed  to  others  than  their  authors.  Even  the  siphon 
has  been  attributed  to  Ctesibius,  (Adams’s  Lectures,  vol.  iii,  372,)  because 
it  was  found  in  the  construction  of  his  clepsydra,  and  no  earlier  application 
of  it  was  then  known  ;  but  it  is  now  ascertained  to  have  been  in  common  use 
among  his  countrymen  in  the  remote  age  of  Rameses — in  the  Augustan 
era  of  Egypt,  when  the  arts,  we  are  informed,  “  attained  a  degree  of  per¬ 
fection,  which  no  after  age  succeeded  in  imitating.”  Had  the  “  Commenta¬ 
ries  of  Ctesibius”  to  which  Vitruvius  referred  his  readers  for  further  infor¬ 
mation,  been  preserved,  we  should  have  had  no  occasion  to  attempt  a  defi¬ 
nition  of  his  claims  to  the  forcing  pump ;  unfortunately,  however,  these 
and  Archimedes’  Treatise  on  Pneumatic  and  Hydrostatic  Engines  have 
perished,  and  have  left  us  in  comparative  ignorance  of  the  history  of  such 
machines  among  the  ancients. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  syringe  was  in  common  use  ages  before 
Ctesibius,  and  that  it  was  employed  by  philosophers  to  illustrate  their  hy¬ 
pothesis  of  water  rushing  into  a  vacuum.  Now  a  forcing  pump  is  merely 
a  syringe  with  an  additional  orifice  for  the  liquid’s  discharge,  and  having 
both  its  receiving  and  discharging  orifices  covered  by  valves  or  clacks.  Cte¬ 
sibius  therefore  did  not  invent  the  piston  and  cylinder,  nor  was  he  the  first 
to  discover  the  application  of  these  to  force  water,  for  they  were  in  pre¬ 
vious  use  and  for  that  purpose.  Was  he  the  inventor  of  valves  1  No,  for 
they  were  usedin  the  Egyptian  bellows  thirteen  or  fourteen  hundred  years 
before  he  lived,  and  appear  always  to  have  been  an  essential  part  of  those 
instruments.  They  were  employed  in  clepsydra  ;  and  were  most  likely 
used  in  the  hydraulic  organ  of  Archimedes,  which  Tertullian  has  des¬ 
cribed.  Is  the  arrangement  of  the  valves,  by  which  water  is  admitted 
through  one  and  expelled  by  the  other,  to  be  ascribed  to  him?  We  believe 
not,  for  the  same  arrangement  was  previously  adopted  in  the  bellows,  so 
far  as  regards  the  application  of  one  of  them,  and  the  principle  of  both  : 
and  if  it  could  be  shown  that  the  Chinese  bellows  was  then  in  use,  as  we 
suppose  it  was,  and  possibly  known  in  Egypt,  (for  that  some  intercourse 
did  take  place  in  ancient  times  betwen  Egypt  and  China,  even  if  one  peo¬ 
ple  be  not  a  colony  of  the  other,  is  proved  by  Chinese  bottles  and  inscrip¬ 
tions  found  in  the  tombs  at  Thebes,)  then  the  merit  of  Ctesibius  would 
seem  to  be  confined  principally  to  the  construction  of  metallic  bellows  as 


Chap.  3.] 


269 


To  the  invention  of  the  Pump  limited. 

water  foi  cers,  or,  to  the  application  of  valves  to  the  ordinary  syringe,  try 
which  it  was  converted  into  a  forcing  pump,  either  for  air  or  water.  But 
it  is  not  certain  that  the  last  was  not  done  before,  for  neither  "Vitruvius  nor 
Pliny  asserts  that  “  water  forcers”  were  not  in  previous  use.  The  former 
says  he  applied  the  principle  of  “  compressed  air”  to  them,  in  common 
with  ‘  hydraulic  organs,”  “  automatons,”  “  lever  and  turning  machines,” 
and  “  water  dials,”  (Book  ix,  cap.  9;)  hence  it  may  as  well  be  concluded 
from  this  passage,  that  he  invented  these  as  the  pump.  It  is,  indeed,  almost 
impossible  to  believe  that  the  Egyptians,  of  whose  sagacity  and  ingenuity, 
unrivalled  monuments  have  come  down,  did  not  detect  the  application  both 
of  the  bellows  and  syringe  to  raise  water  long  before  Ctesibius  lived  ; 
hence  we  are  inclined  to  place  the  forcing  pump  in  its  simplest  form,  with 
the  syringe  and  atmospheric  pump,  among  the  works — 

“  Of  names  once  famed,  now  dubious  or  forgot 
And  buried  ’midst  the  wreck  of  things  that  were.” 

That  the  forcing  pump  was  greatly  improved  by  Ctesibius,. there  can 
be  no  question ;  but  that  which  gave  celebrity  to  his  machine  was  proba¬ 
bly  the  air-vessel,  an  addition,  which  though  not  very  clearly  described  by 
Vitruvius,  appears  to  have  originated  with  him.  By  it  the  pump  instead 
of  acting  as  before  like  a  squirt  or  syringe  produced  a  continuous  stream 
as  in  a  jet  d'eau,  a  result  well  adapted  to  excite  admiration,  and  to  give 
eclat  to  his  name.  The  whole  account  of  his  machine  shows  its  connec¬ 
tion  with  and  dependence  upon  air;  whereas  had  it  been  simply  a  forcing 
pump  it  would  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  it :  it  would  have  raised  water 
independently  of  it ;  and  without  an  air-vessel  Vitruvius  never  could  have 
asserted  that  it  forced  water  up  the  discharging  tube  by  means  of  “  air 
pressing  it  upwards.”  Compressed  air  acted  a  prominent  part  in  all  his 
machines.  In  his  wind  guns,  water  clocks,  and  numerous  automata;  some 
of  the  latter  in  the  shape  of  birds,  &c.  appeared  to  sing,  others  “  sounded 
trumpets,”  and  these  results  are  said  to  have  been  produced  with  “  fluids 
compressed  by  the  force  of  air.”  We  may  add  that  he  compressed  air  in 
his  hydraulic  organs  and  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  pump, 
viz  :  by  water,  and  by  either  air  or  water  forcing  pumps.  The  commence¬ 
ment  of  his  discoveries  was  the  experiment  on  air  with  the  weight  and 
speculum  in  his  father’s  shop,  (see  page  122)  in  which  the  descending 
weight  “  compressed  the  inclosed  air”  and  forced  it  through  the  several 
apertures  into  the  open  air,  and  thereby  produced  distinct  sounds.  “  When 
therefore  Ctesibius  observed  that  sounds  were  produced  from  the  com¬ 
pression  and  concussion  of  air,  he  first  made  use  of  that  principle  in  con¬ 
triving  hydraulic  organs,  also  water  forcers,  automatons,”  <fcc.  What 
principle  was  this  which  Vitruvius  says  he  applied  to  water  forcers  in 
common  with  organs,  &c.  1  That  of  compressed  air,  as  we  understand 
it;  and  the  employment  of  which  is  so  evident,  in  the  description  of 
his  machine  already  given. 

Does  any  one  doubt  that  the  air-vessel  was  known  to,  and  used  by 
Ctesibius  l  Let  him  recollect  that  Heron,  his  disciple  and  intimate  friend, 
has  also  described  it;  for  the  celebrated  fountain  of  this  philosopher, 
which  still  bears  his  name,  and  remains  just  as  he  left  it,  is  simply  an 
air-chamber,  in  which  the  fluid  is  compressed  by  a  column  of  water  in¬ 
stead  of  a  pump  ;  and  one  of  his  machines  for  raising  water  by  steam,  was 
another,  in  which  the  elasticity  of  that  fluid  was  used  in  a  similar  manner. 
Besides  these,  there  are  others  represented  in  the  Spiritalia;  indeed,  a 
p*eat  portion  of  the  figures  in  that  work  are  modifications  of  air  cham¬ 
bers.  At  pages  42  and  118,  of  Commandine’s  Translation,  are  shown 


270 


Air  Chanibei . 


[Book  III. 

spherical  vessels  containing  water,  into  which  perpendicular  discharging 
tubes  descend  :  to  expel  the  liquid,  syringes  or  minute  pumps  are  adapted 
to  the  vessels,  for  the  purpose  of  injecting  air  or  water,  and  by  that  means 
to  produce  jets  d'eau.  The  common  syringe  is  also  figured  at  large  and  in 
section,  p.  120.a  Pliny  also  seems  to  refer  to  air-vessels  in  his  xix  book,  cap. 
4,  where  he  speaks  of  water  forced  up  “  by  pumps  and  such  like,  going 
with  the  strength  of  wind  enclosed .”  Holland’s  Trans. 

As  the  ancients  have  not  particularized  the  claims  of  Ctesibius  to  the 
pump,  it  is  impossible  to  define  them  with  precision  at  this  distance  of  time. 
Perhaps  the  instrument  had  been  laid  aside,  or  the  knowledge  of  it  almost 
lost  when  he  revived  and  improved  it,  as  some  of  his  own  inventions  have 
been  in  modern  times — his  gun,  for  example,  of  which  Philo  of  Byzan¬ 
tium  has  given  a  description,  and  which  “  was  constructed  in  such  a  man¬ 
ner  as  to  carry  stones  with  great  rapidity  to  the  greatest  distance.”1*  Its 
invention  has  been  claimed  by  the  Germans,  the  French,  Dutch,  and  from 
the  following  remark  of  Blainville,  by  the  Swiss  also:  speaking  of  Basil, 
he  observes,  “  They  make  a  great  noise  here  about  a  hellish  invention  of 
a  gunsmith,  who  invented  wind  guns  and  pistols.  This  invention  may  be 
truly  called  diabolical,  and  the  use  of  it  ought  to  be  forbid  on  pain  of 
death.”*  Now  if  the  modern  inventor  of  the  air  gun,  an  instrument  which, 
two  centuries  ago,  was  spoken  of  as  “  a  late  invention,”11  cannot  with  cer¬ 
tainty  be  ascertained,  it  can  hardly  be  expected  that  the  specific  claims  of 
Ctesibius  to  the  pump  can  be  pointed  out  after  a  lapse  of  2000  years.  If  he 
was  the  first  to  combine  two  or  more  cylinders  to  one  discharging  pipe — 
to  form  them  of  metal,  as  well  as  the  valves  and  pistons — and  the  first  to 
invent  and  apply  air-vessels,  his  claims  are  great  indeed,  and  for  aught 
that  is  known  to  the  contrary  he  is  entitled  to  them  all.  His  merits  as 
respects  the  latter  will  be  apparent,  if  we  call  to  mind  the  fact  that  their 
application  to  pumps  has  not  been  known  in  Europe  for  two  centuries  ; 
and  that  their  introduction  was  in  all  probability  derived  from  him,  for  it 
was  not  till  a  hundred  years  after  Vitruvius’s  description  of  his  machine 
had  been  translated,  printed  and  circulated,  that  we  first  hear  of  air-vessels 
in  modern  times. 

We  may  here  remark  that  at  whatever  period  tobacco  was  first  smoked 
in  the  Hookah,  (and  according  to  some  authors,  this  weed  was  used  in 
Asia  before  the  discovery  of  America,)  the  air-vessel  was  known ;  for  that 
instrument  is  a  perfect  one,  as  any  person  may  prove  by  the  following 
experiment :  let  a  smoker,  instead  of  sucking  at  the  end  of  the  tube  which 
he  inserts  in  his  mouth,  bloio  through  it,  and  the  liquid  contents  of  the 
hookah  will  be  forced  out  through  the  perpendicular  tube  on  which  the 
weed  is  placed  as  in  a  miniature  fire-engine,  carrying  up  with  it  the  pellet 
of  tobacco,  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  those  light-balls  which  are  some¬ 
times  placed  on  jets  d'eau,  or  the  boy’s  pea  playing  on  a  pipe  stem.  An 
operation,  in  the  opinion  of  some  physicians,  more  beneficial  to  the  per¬ 
former  than  the  ordinary  one,  and  disposing  of  the  scented  material  in  a 
manner  more  suited  to  its  value. 


a  Heronis  Alexandrini  Spiritalium  liber.  A  Federico  Commandino  urbinate,  ex 
Graeco  nuper  in  Latinum  conversus.  1583. 
b  Duten’s  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  the  Arts  attributed  to  the  Moderns,  p.  186. 
Travels,  i,  388.  d  Wilkins’  Mat.  Magic. 


Chap.  4.] 


Double  acting  Pump. 


271 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Forcing  pumps  continued :  La  Hire’s  double  acting  pump— Plunger  pump  :  Invented  by  Moreland  ; 
the  most  valuable  of  modern  improvements  on  the  pump — Application  of  it  to  other  purposes  than  rais¬ 
ing  water — Frictionless  plunger  pump — Quicksilver  pumps — Application  of  the  principle  of  Bramah’s 
press  by  bees  in  forcing  honey  into  their  cells.  Forcing  pumps  with  hollow  pistons :  Employed  in  French 
water-works — Specimen  from  the  works  at  Notre  Dame — Lifting  pump  from  Agricola — Modern  lifting 
pumps — Extract  from  an  old  pump-maker’s  circular — Lifting  pumps  with  two  pistons — Combination 
of  hollow  and  solid  pistons — Trevethick’s  pump — Perkins’  pump. 


Of  the  various  modifications  which  the  forcing  pump  has  undergone 
in  recent  times  we  can  notice  but  a  few,  and  of  these  the  greater  part 
were  most  likely  Known  to  ancient  engineers.  The  most  prominent  one 
is  that  by  which  the  machine  is  made  double  acting.  Now  the  device  by 
which  this  is  effected  has  not  only  frequently  occurred  to  quite  a  number 
of  ingenious  men  in  their  endeavours  to  improve  the  pump  who  were  ig¬ 
norant  of  its  having  been  accomplished ;  but  it  is  an  exact  copy  of  one 
that  has  been  applied  to  the  wind  pump  of  China  from  time  immemorial, 
(see  No.  112;)  it  probably  therefore  did  not  escape  such  men  as  Ctesibius, 
and  Heron,  and  others  who  appear  to  have  exercised  their  ingenuity  and 
sagacity  to  the  utmost  in  order  to  improve  this  machine,  and  who  were 
enthusiastically  attached  to  such  researches.  The  remarks  on  modern 
improvements  of  the  atmospheric  pump,  pages  225-6,  are  equally  applica¬ 
ble  to  those  of  the  forcing  one ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  notwith¬ 
standing  the  present  improved  state  of  mechanical  science,  the  ancient 
forms  of  both  now  prevail — for  the  forcing  pump  as  made  by  Ctesibius  in 
Egypt,  and  as  described  by  Vitruvius  as  used  by  the  Romans,  is  still  more 
common  than  any  other. 

The  double  acting  pump  represented  in  the  figure,  was  devised  by  M. 
La  Hire  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century.  His  description  of  it  was 
published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  French  Academy  in  1716;  and  from  one 

of  his  expressions  we  perceive  (what  was  in¬ 
deed  very  natural)  that  if  he  was  not  indebted 
for  the  improvement  to  the  contemplation  of 
bellows,  these  instruments  were  at  least  close¬ 
ly  associated  with  it  in  his  mind.  The  pump 
I  propose  [he  observes]  furnishes  water  con¬ 
tinually,  “just  as  the  double  bellows  makes 
a  continual  wind.”  The  piston  rod  passes 
through  a  stuffing  box  or  collar  of  leathers  on 
the  top  of  the  cylinder.  The  latter  has  four 
openings  covered  by  valves  or  clacks ;  two 
for  the  admission  of  water  and  the  same  num¬ 
ber  for  its  discharge.  A  B  is  the  suction  pipe, 
and  C  D  the  ascending  or  discharging  one. 
Suppose  the  lower  end  of  the  suction  pipe  in 
water;  then  if  the  piston  be  thrust  down, 
the  valve  near  B  will  close,  and  the  air  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  cylinder  will  be  forced 
through  the  valve  at  D  and  up  the  pipe  D  C, 
and  in  consequence  of  the  rarefaction  of  the 
air  above  the  piston,  the  valve  at  C  wall  be 


No.  132.  Double  Acting  Pump. 


272 


Plunger  Pump, 


[Book  III, 


closed,  and  water  will  ascend  through  B  A  and  enter  the  cylinder  at  A ; 
then  if  the  piston  be  raised  it  will  force  all  the  water  above  it  through  the 
valve  at  C,  the  only  passage  for  it,  while  at  the  same  time  a  fresh  portion 
will  enter  the  cylinder  through  the  valve  at  B.  Thus  at  every  stroke  of 
the  piston,  whether  up  or  down,  the  contents  of  the  cylinder  are  forced 
out  at  one  end,  and  it  is  replenished  at  the  same  time  through  the  other ; 
this  pump  therefore  discharges  double  the  quantity  of  water  that  an  ordi¬ 
nary  one  of  the  same  dimensions  does.  The  piston  rod  may  be  inserted 
through  either  end  of  the  cylinder,  as  circumstances  may  require.  These 
pumps  are  frequently  used  in  a  horizontal  position. 

Another  variation  of  the  forcing  pump  consists  in  making  the  piston  of 
the  same  length  as  the  cylinder  but  rather  less  in  diameter,  so  that  it  may 
be  moved  freely  in  the  former  without  touching  the  sides.  These  pistons 
are  made  wholly  of  metal  and  turned  smooth  and  cylindrical,  so  as  to 
work  through  a  stuffing  box  or  cupped  leathers.  The  .quantity  of  water 
raised  at  each  stroke  has  therefore  no  reference  to  the  capacity  of  the 
cylinder,  however  large  that  part  of  one  of  these  pumps  may  be,  for  the 
liquid  displaced  by  the  piston  can  only  be  equal  to  that  part  of  the  latter 
that  enters  the  cylinder.  Switzer  has  given  a  figure  and  description  of  an 
old  engine  composed  of  three  of  these  pumps  “  that  has  been  some  years 
erected  in  the  county  of  Surrey.”  Newton  has  figured  the  piston  bellows 
described  by  Vitruvius  as  furnishing  wind  to  hydraulic  organs  in  a  similar 
way.  In  Commandine’s  translation  of  Heron’s  Spiritalia,  page  159,  the 
same  kind  of  plunger  is  figured  in  a  pump  belonging  to  a  water  organ  ; 
and  at  p.  71,  a  fire-engine,  with  two  working  cylinders,  has  pistons  of  the 
same  kind.  These  pistons  were  formerly  named  plungers,  and  the  pumps 
plunger-pumps.  Their  construction  and  action  will  be  understood  by  the 
figure,  which  represents  one  of  a  number  that  were  em¬ 
ployed  in  the  water-works,  York  Buildings,  London,  in 
the  last  century.  The  piston  was  of  brass,  cast  hollow 
and  filled  with  lead,  the  outside  being  “  turned  true 
and  smooth.”  A  short  rod  attached  to  the  upper  end 
of  the  piston  was  connected  by  a  chain  to  the  arched 
end  of  a  vibrating  beam,  that  was  moved  by  one  of 
Newcomen’s  engines.  The  piston  was  therefore  mere¬ 
ly  raised  by  the  engine,  while  its  own  weight  carried 
it  down  :  to  render  it  sufficiently  heavy  for  this  pur¬ 
pose,  a  number  of  leaden  disks  (or  cheeses,  as  they 
were  named  from  their  form)  having  holes  in  their 
centres,  were  slipped  over  the  rod  and  rested  upon  the 
piston,  as  in  the  figure.  These  were  increased  until 
they  were  found  sufficient  to  press  down  the  piston 
and  force  the  water  up  the  ascending  pipe.  The  cup¬ 
ped  leathers  through  which  the  piston  worked,  were 
similar  to  those  now  used  in  the  hydrostatic  press.  A 
small  cistern  was  sometimes  formed  on  the  top  of  the 
pump,  that  the  water  it  contained  might  prevent  air 
from  entering  through  the  stuffing  box  or  between  the 
cupped  leathers  :  it  served  also  to  charge  the  pump 
through  a  small  pipe  or  cock.  A  valve  opening  up¬ 
wards  was  sometimes  placed  just  above  the  plug  of 
the  cock,  and  the  latter  left  open  when  the  machine 
was  started,  that  the  air  within  the  cylinder  might 
escape  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  water  rose  and  filled  the  pump,  the  cock  was 
shut.  It  is  immaterial  at  what  part  of  the  cylinder  the  forcing  or  ascend- 


No.  123.  Plunger  Pump. 


Chap.  4.] 


Invented  by  Moreland. 


273 

ing  pipe  is  attached,  whether  at  the  bottom,  near  the  top,  or  at  any  inter¬ 
mediate  place.  Small  pumps  of  this  kind  are  now  commonly  employed 
o  eed  steam  boilers  and  for  other  purposes,  and  are  worked  by  levers 
•  e  the  ordinary  lifting  and  forcing  pumps,  the  pistons  being  preserved 
in  a  perpendicular  position  by  slings,  &c. 

These 5  pumps  are  believed  to  be  of  English  origin,  having  been  in¬ 
vented  by  Sir  bamuel  Moreland,  “  master  of  mechanics”  to  Charles  2d. 
Like  some  old  philosophers,  he  exercised  his  ingenuity  in  improving  hy¬ 
draulic  and  other  engines,  for  raising  water.  Besides  the  plunger  pump 
for  which  he  obtained  a  patent  in  1675,  he  invented  a  “  cyclo-elliptic 

R^/ranSTttlng  mTn  l°  Pist0n  rods’  a  %ure  of  which  is  in¬ 
serted  by  Belidor  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Arch.  Hydraulique.  He  is 

a  so  the  reputed  inventor  of  the  speaking  trumpet,3  of  a  capstan  and  a 
steam-engine.  In  16S1  he  made  experiments  with  an  engine  consisting  of 
two  or  more  of  his  pumps  at  Windsor,  in  presence  of  the  king  and  court, 
during  which  he  forced  water  from  the  Thames  in  a  continual  stream  to 
the  top  of  the  castle ;  and  according  to  Dr.  Hutton,  “  sixty  feet  higher.” 
Moi  eland  visited  France  the  same  or  the  following  year,  by  order  of  the 
king  to  examine  the  famous  water-works  at  Marli,  and  while  in  Paris  he 
exhibited  models  of  his  pump  before  the  French  court,  and  also  con¬ 
structed  several  for  his  friends.  In  1683  he  presented  an  account  of  va¬ 
rious  machines  for  raising  water  to  Louis  14th,  in  a  manuscript  volume 
written  and  ornamented  with  much  elegance;  and  in  16S5,  an  account  of 
his  improvements  was  published  in  Paris  in  a  work  entitled,  “  Elevation 
des  eaux  par  toute  sorte  de  machines,  reduite  a  la  mesure,  au  poids,  4  la 
balance,  par  le  moyen  d  un  nouveau  piston  et  corps  de  pompe ;  et  d’un 

rmrdvpll  m°*ye“ent  rejetant  l’usage  de  toute  sorte  de 

manivelle  ordmaires,  par  le  Chevalier  Moreland.”  It  does  not  appear  that 

he  ever  published  this  work  in  England,  for  Switzer  had  recourse  to 
Ozanam,  a  French  writer,  for  a  description  of  Moreland’s  pump  ;  as  he 

out  wWSUrV°  E?S.h?ia?COUntl  °fltf  “having  taken  to  find 

that  Mn  Sir  Samuel  had  left  on  that  head  to  no  purpose.”  Ozanam  states 

br^MtVeland  SPent  t7el.ve  years  study  and  a  great  deal  of  money”  to 
nD  this  pump  to  perfection;  “  and  without  this  new  invention  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  have  reduced  the  raising  of  water  to  weight  and 
measure,  as  he  has  done.  _  1  he  latter  observation  refers  to  the  leaden 

the^  thP  °n  PT °n  -r°d’  and  the  (luantlty  of  water  raised  by 
w,T  A?  fuand  the1elevatlon  to  which  it  was  raised  being  compared 

with  the  sum  of  the  weights  employed  to  force  it  up.b 

VWe  miStake  n(?t  this  “  the  most  valuable  and  original  modification  of 
the  forcing  pump  that  modern  times  have  produced.  The  friction  of  the 
ptston  is  not  only  greatly  reduced,  but  the*  boring  of  the  cylinder  is  dis¬ 
pensed  with;  an  operation  of  considerable  expense  and  difficulty,  particu- 

apparatus  for  that  purpose  was  devised  Another 
d  antage  is  the  facility  of  tightening  the  packing  without  taking  out  the 
piston  or  even  stopping;  the  pump.  The  vllue  of  Moreland’s  invention  in 


of  “  Painting”  in  DAgincourt’s  f°p-rth  °/  fifth  Tcentui7.  in  the  25th  plate 

length  being  equal  to  tlTat  of  the  imlivi  i  ^  i  6  ,lne  ^u8'  J*  18  a  con'cal  tube,  the 
from  the  top  ofa  tower ^  the  cambaSn  f  K  ,  V’  wh,ch  he  aPP^rs  to  direct, 

through  which  he  supposed  Alexander  spoked  *  fiS‘lr0  ‘  ‘""T" 

v^li  'fwT  B^d35?'  1LahM<"™-V^  Travels,  voh  iii, 
ii.  61,  and  L’Ar,  D'Exp, oiler  Le,  Mine's.  ff 

35 


274  Frictionless  Plunger  Pump .  [Book  III. 

the  estimation  of  engineers  appears  from  the  increasing  employment 
of  it.  It  is,  moreover,  for  aught  that  is  known  to  the  conti  ary,  the  parent 
of  the  common  lifting  pump;  and  to  its  inventor  the  double  acting  steam- 
endne  of  Watt  is  in  some  measure  due,  the  efficiency  of  that  noble  ma- 
chine  depending  entirely  upon  closing  the  top  of  the  cylinder  and  passing 
the  piston  rod  through  a  stuffing  box— both  of  which  had  already  been 
done  in  this  pump.  Steam-engines  have  also  been  constructed  on  the 
same  plan  as  these  pumps ;  one  long  piston  playing  in  two  horizontal  cy¬ 
linders,  and  the  power  transmitted  from  it  by  means  of  a  cross-head  at¬ 
tache  d'to  the  middle  of  its  length,  and  on  that  part  which  moves  between 
the  stuffing  boxes.  Another  celebrated  machine  is  also  copied  from  them 
— Bramah’s  hydrostatic  press  is  one  of  Moreland’s  pumps. 

There  is  another  species  of  plunger  pumps  in  which  the  stuffing  box  is 
dispensed  with,  and  consequently  the  piston  works  without  friction.  A 

square  wooden  tube,  or  a  common  pump  log  of 
sufficient  length,  and  with  a  valve  at  its  lower 
end  is  fixed  in  the  well  as  shown  in  the  figure. 
The  depth  of  the  water  must  be  equal  to  the 
distance  from  its  surface  to  the  place  of  delive¬ 
ry  ;  and  a  discharging  pipe  having  a  valve 
opening  upwards  is  united  to  the  pump  tree  at 
the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  well.  rJ  he  pis¬ 
ton  (a  solid  piece  of  wood)  is  suspended  by  a 
chain  from  a  working  beam,  and  loaded  suffi¬ 
ciently  with  weights  to  make  it  sink.  As  the 
liquid  enters  the  pump  through  the  lower  valve, 
and  stands  at  the  same  level  within  as  without, 
whenever  the  piston  descends,  it  necessarily  dis¬ 
places  the  water,  which  has  no  other  passage 
to  escape  but  through  the  discharging  pipe,  in 
consequence  of  the  lower  valve  closing.  And 
when  the  piston  is  again  raised  as  in  the  figure, 
a  fresh  portion  of  water  enters  the  pump  and  is 
driven  up  in  like  manner. 

Ur.  Robison  observes  that  he  has  seen  a  ma¬ 
chine  consisting  of  two  of  these  pumps,  made 
by  an  untaught  laboring  man.  The  plung¬ 
ers  were  suspended  from  the  ends  of  a  long 
beam,' on  the  upper  surface  of  which  the  man 
walked,  as  on  the  picotah  of  India.  He  stood 
on  one  end  till  one  plunger  descended  to  the 
bottom  of  its  tube,  and  he  then  walked  to  the 
other  end,  the  declivity  at  first  being  about  25°,  but  gradually  growing  less 
as  he  advanced.  In  this  way  he  caused  the  other  plunger  to  descend, 
and  so  on  alternately. 

By  this  machine  a  feeble  old  man  whose  weight  was  llOlbs.  raised  7 
cubic  feet  of  water  11A  feet  high  in  a  minute,  and  wrought  eight  or  ten 
hours  every  day.  A  stout  young  man  weighing  134lbs.  raised  cubic 
feet  to  the  same  height  in  the  same  time.  The  application  of  this  pump 
is  extremely  limited,  and  there  is  a  waste  of  power  in  the  water  that  is 
uselessly  raised  around  the  piston  at  every  stroke. 

The  pistons  of  preceding  machines  are  made  of  solid  materials;  but 
the  pump  now  to  be  described  has  a  liquid  one.  It  was  invented  about 
the  year  1720,  by  Mr.  Joshua  Haskins,  who  made  the  first  experiment  with 
it  in  the  house  and  presence  of  the  celebrated  Desaguliers.  His  design 


Chap.  4.] 


Mercurial  Pump. 


275 

was  to  avoid  the  friction  and  consequent  loss  of  power  in  common  pumps 

of  ,/;ef°re  contnved  a  ne]v  'vay  of  raising  water  without  any  friction 
of  solids ;  making  use  of  quicksilver  instead  of  leather,  to  keep  the  air  or 

ofTJer?  SllpPinS  SldeS  °f  the  Pist°ns-”  Various  modifications 

of  it  were  soon  devised  by  the  inventor,  by  Dr.  Desaguliers,  and  by  Mr 

nicJ”la O  rrm’  tlJeaSS1Stant  °f  the  latter,  “who  was  an  excellent  mecha- 

rf  p  1  0ne  TV  i!-  lS  rePresent?d  V  tbe  figure.  A  is  the  suction  pipe, 
the  lower  end  of  which  is  inserted  m  the  water  to  be  raised.  Its  upper 

end  terminates  in  the  chamber  C,  and  is  covered  by  a  valve.  The  forcing 
pipe  B,  with  a  valve  at  its  lower  end,  is  also  connected  to  the  chamber 

-Between  these  valves  a  pipe,  open  at  both  ends, 
is  inserted  and  bent  down,  as  in  the  figure.  The 
straight  part  attached  to  it  is  the  working  cylinder 
of  the  pump  and  should  be  made  of  iron.  Another 
iron  pipe,  a  little  larger  in  the  bore  than  the  last 
and  of  the  same  length,  is  made  to  slide  easily 
over  it  This  pipe  is  closed  at  the  bottom  and 
suspended  by  chains  or  cords,  by  which  it  is 
moved  up  and  down.  Suppose  this  pipe  in  the 
position  represented,  and  filled  with  mercury— if 
it  were  then  lowered,  the  air  in  the  cylinder  and 
between  the  valves  would  become  rarified,  and 
the  atmosphere  pressing  on  the  surface  of  the 
water  in  which  the  end  of  A  is  placed,  would  force 
the  liquid  up  A  till  the  density  of  the  contained 
air  was  the  same  as  before ;  then  by  raising  the 
pipe  containing  the  mercury,  the  air,  unable  to  es¬ 
cape  through  the  lower  valve,  would  be  forced 
through  the  upper  one ;  and  by  repeating  the  ope¬ 
ration,  water  would  at  last  rise  and  be  expelled 
in  the  same  way;  provided  the  elevation  to  which 
it  is  to  be  raised  does  not  exceed  thirteen  times 
the  depth  of  the  mercurial  column  around  the  cy¬ 
linder  ;  the  specific  gravity  of  quicksilver  being 
so  many  times  greater  than  that  of  water.  When 
the  depth  of  the  former  is  30  inches,  the  latter 


»o.  125.  Mercurial  Pump. 


.nay  bo  raised  as  many  feet  in  "the  suction  pipe  and  %  an  = 

fee^TuOf™8^  forc,,lS  yf:  making  together  an  elevation  of  sixty 
lf  "  r  be  required  higher,  the  depth  of  the  mercurial  column 

nnamiiTof  6  P‘pe  mUst  be  Pr0POTtinably  increased.  To  make  a  small 

riTat  k  { lif,lTCU7  “W  ,thei  pUrp0Se’  a  solid  Piece  °{  "mod  or  iron 
Lbll  voss!  6  1l“  cyl,nder. 18  secured  to  the  bottom  of  the  move- 

this  answers  1,16  same  °bJect  as  a” 

evJrhweilP3S  h,re  tl,eir. disadvantages :  they  are  expensive;  and  how- 
Litltfon  hC  qUTty  °f  quicksilver  squired  is  considerable— the 

oxide  and  rend1116"!  ^  V  neCeSSary  m°vement  soon  converts  it  into  an 
machines*  if  i  useles*-great  care  is  also  required  in  working  these 
machines,  it  the  movements  are  not  slow  and  regular,  the  mercury  is  verv 

Znl  k  JdiTr  ;  t0  prevent  which  the  upp°er  end  of  the  vefsd  co7 

tionsnf., ill  hed°T  en\r%ed-  For  experimental  researches  modifica- 
ons  of  such  pumps  may  be  useful,  but  for  the  reasons  above  stated,  thev 

•  VV ' -en.  ^tensivfy  employed  in  the  arts.  A  simple  form  of  orfe 
scri  e  in  a  ate  volume  of  the  London  Mechanics’  Magazine,  and 
also  in  the  22d  vol.  of  the  Journal  ef  the  Franklin  Institute,  p .  327.  See 


276 


Hydrostatic  Press. 


[Book  III. 


also  vol.  xxxii,  Phil.  Transactions,  and  Abridg.  vol.  vi,  352.  Desaguliers’ 
Phil.  vol.  ii,  491.  In  Jamieson’s  Dictionary,  p.  852,  a  mercurial  pump  in 
the  form  of  a  wheel  is  described. 

The  hydrostatic  press  is  simply  a  cylindrical  forcing  primp,  whose  piston 
is  moved  by  the  water,  instead  of  the  latter  by  it.  A  platen,  on  which  are 
placed  the  articles  to  be  pressed,  is  connected  to  the  upper  end  of  the  piston 
rod ;  water  is  then  injected  into  the  cylinder  by  a  much  smaller  pump, 
and  as  this  liquid  is,  to  all  practical  purposes,  incompressible ,  the  piston  is 
necessarily  raised,  and  the  articles  brought  against  an  immoveable  plate, 
between  which  and  the  platen  they  are  compressed.  The  degree  of  pres¬ 
sure  thus  excited  depends  upon  the  difference  between  the  area  of  the 
pistons  of  the  pump  and  of  the  press.  The  apparatus  exhibits  in  another 
form,  the  celebrated  hydrostatic  paradox  by  which  the  pressure  of  a  liquid 
column  however  small,  is  made  to  counterbalance  that  of  another  however 
large.  Hydrostatic  presses  have  been  applied  with  advantage  in  nume¬ 
rous  operations,  as,  expressing  oil  from  seeds,  pressing  paper,  books,  hay 
and  cotton  ;  tearing  up  trees  by  the  roots,  proving  the  strength  of  steam 
boilers,  metallic  water-pipes,  and  even  cannon.  In  this  city  (New-York) 
ships  of  a  thousand  tons  are  raised  out  of  the  water  to  repair,  by  one  of 
these  machines  erected  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  docks.  The  cylinder 
is  secured  in  a  horizontal  position,  and  the  pumps  are  worked  by  a  steam- 
engine.  The  frame  on  which  the  vessel  floats,  and  by  which  it  is  raised, 
is  suspended  by  a  number  of  chains  on  each  side  that  pass  over  pulleys  and 
terminate  at  the  end  of  the  piston. 

There  is  a  very  interesting  and  beautiful  illustration  of  the  principle 
of  Bramah’s  hydrostatic  press  in  the  contrivance  by  which  bees  store 
their  honey.  The  cells,  open  at  one  end  and  closed  at  the  other,  are  ar¬ 
ranged  horizontally  over  each  other,  and  in  that  position  are  Jitted  with 
the  liquid  treasure.  Now  suppose  a  series  of  glass  tumblers  or  tubes  laid 
on  their  sides  and  piled  upon  one  another  in  like  manner  were  required 
to  be  then  filled  with  water,  it  certainly  would  require  some  reflection  to 
devise  a  plan  by  which  the  operation  could  be  performed ;  but  whatever 
mode  were  hit  upon,  it  could  not  be  more  ingenious  and  effective  than  that 
adopted  by  these  diminutive  engineers.  At  the  further  or  closed  extre¬ 
mity  of  each  cell,  they  fabricate  a  moveable  piston  of  wax  which  is  fitted 
air  tight  to  the  sides,  and  when  a  bee  arrives  laden  with  honey,  (which  is 
contained  in  a  liquid  form,  in  a  sack  or  stomach,)  she  penetrates  the  piston 
with  her  proboscis  and  through  it  injects  the  honey  between  the  closed 
end  of  the  cell  and  the  piston,  and- then  stops  the  aperture  with  her  feet. 
The  piston  is  therefore  pushed  forward  as  the  honey  accumulates  behind 
it,  till  at  last  it  reaches  the  open  end  of  the  cell,  where  it  remains,  herme¬ 
tically  sealing  the  vessel  and  excluding  the  air.®  As  soon  as  one  cell 
is  thus  charged,  the  industrious  owners  commence  with  another.  It 
will  be  perceived  that  these  pistons  are  propelled  precisely  as  in  the  hy¬ 
drostatic  press,  the  liquid  honey  being  incompressible,  (with  any  force  to 
which  it  is  there  subjected,)  every  additional  particle  forced  in  necessa¬ 
rily  moves  the  piston  forward  to  afford* the  required  room.  Without  such 
a  contrivance  the  cells  could  no  more  be  filled,  and  kept  so,  than  a  bucket 
could  be,  with  water,  while  laying  on  one  side.  Were  the  organization 

a  To  keep  the  honey  pure,  and  preserve  it  from  evaporation,  in  the  high  temperature 
of  a  hive,  the  air  must  be  kept  from  it.  Could  human  ingenuity  have  devised  a  more 

Serfect  mode  of  accomplishing  the  object?  The  fact  is,  bees  in  this  matter,  might  long  aco 
ave  taught  man  the  practice  which  is  now  pursued  of  preserving  both  liquid  and  solid 
aliment  fresh  for  years — in  tin  cases  impervious  to  the  air,  and  from  which  it  has  been 
excluded. 


277 


Chap.  4.] 


French  Lifting  Lumps. 


of  bees  closely  examined,  it  would  doubtless  be  found  that  the  relative 
diameters  of  their  proboscis  and  of  the  cells,  and  the  area  of  the  (bellows) 

pumps  in  their  bodies,  are  such  as  are  best  adapted 
to  the  muscular  energy  which  they  employ  in  work¬ 
ing  the  latter.  Were  it  otherwise,  a  greater  force 
might  be  required  to  inject  the  honey  and  drive  for¬ 
ward  the  piston,  than  they  possess.  In  the  case  of 
a  hydrostatic  press,  when  the  resistance  is  too  great 
to  be  overcome  by  an  injection  pump  of  large  dia¬ 
meter,  one  of  smaller  bore  is  employed. 

We  shall  now  produce  a  few  specimens  of  forc- 
ing  pumps  with  hollow  pistons,  or  such  as  admit  wa¬ 
ter  to  pass  through  them.  If  a  common  atmospheric 
pump  be  inverted,  its  cylinder  immersed  in  water, 
and  the  valves  of  the  upper  and  lower  boxes  reversed 
as  in  the  figure,  it  becomes  a  forcing,  or,  as  it  is 
sometimes  named,  a  lifting  pump ;  because  the  con¬ 
tents  of  the  cylinder  are  lifted  up  when  the  piston  is 
raised,  instead  of  being  driven  out  from  below  by  its 
descent,  as  in  Nos.  116,  117  In  a  lifting  pump  the 

NO.  1-26.  Lifting  pump.  U<£id  ,is  exPelled  from  the  top  of  the  cylinder  in 

a  iorcing  one  from  the  bottom — it  is  the  water 
above  the  piston  that  is  raised  by  the  former ;  and  that  which  enters  be¬ 
low  it,  by  the  latter.  The  piston  rod  in  the  figure  is  attached  to  an  iron 
frame  that  is  suspended  to  the  end  of  a  beam  or  lever  as  in  Nos.  123,  124. 
The  valve  on  the  top  of  the  piston,  like  that  at  the  end  of  the  cylinder, 

opens  upwards.  When  the  piston  descends  (which 
it  does  by  its  own  weight  and  that  of  the  frame)  its 
valve  opens  and  the  water  enters  the  upper  part  of 
the  cylinder,  then  as  soon  as  it  begins  to  rise  its 
valve  closes,  and  the  liquid  above  it  is  forced  up  the 
ascending  pipe.  Upon  the  return  of  the  piston  the 
upper  valve  is  shut  by  the  weight  of  the  column 
above  it,  the  cylinder  is  again  charged  and  its  con¬ 
tents  forced  up  by  a  repetition  of  the  movements. 
Machines  of  this  description  are  of  old  date.  They 
were  formerly  employed  in  raising  water  from 
mines.  They  were  adopted  by  Rannequin  in  the 
celebrated  water-works  at  Marli ;  and  by  Lintlaer 
in  the  engines  he  erected  during  the  reign  of  Henry 
4th,  at  Pont  Neuf,  to  supply  the  Louvre  from  the 
'  river  Seine. 

As  they  cannot  in  all  locations  be  inserted  con¬ 
veniently  in  the  reservoir  containing  the  water  to 
be  raised,  they  have  sometimes  been  placed  in  cis¬ 
terns  erected  above  the  original  source,  and  sup¬ 
plied  by  atmospheric  pumps  extending  to  it,  as  in 
No.  127.  The  cylinder  of  the  atmospheric  pump 
terminates  in  the  bottom  of  the  cistern,  and  is  plac¬ 
ed  directly  under  that  of  the  lifting  one ;  the  pistons 
of  both  being  attached  to  the  same  rod  and  worked 
by  the  same  frame.  Such  was  the  construction  oi 
the  old  Parisian  water- works  at  the  bridge  of  No¬ 
tre  Dame.  These  consisted  of  a  series  of  pumps 
arranged  as  in  the  figure,  and  worked  by  an  undershot  wheel. 


No.  127.  Pumps  from  water¬ 
works  at  Notre  Dame,  Paris 


278 


[Book  III 


Lifting  Pumps. 


If  the  head  of  a  common  pump  (No.  90)  be  closed,  except  an  opening 
through  which  the  rod  works,  or  may  be  worked,  it  is  then  converted 
into  a  lifting  pump,  and  will  raise  water  to  any  elevation  through  a  pipe 
attached  to  the  spout.  The  earliest  specimen  that  we  have  met  with  is 
represented  by  the  128th  figure,  from  Agricola.  Although  a  rude  device, 
it  is  interesting  as  illustrative  of  the  resources  of  old  mining  engineers,  in 
modifying  and  applying  the  common  wooden  pump  under  a  variety  of 
circumstances.  The  upper  parts  of  two  atmospheric  pumps  terminate 
in  a  close  chamber  or  strong  box,  (two  sides  of  which  are  removed  in  the 
figure  to  show  its  interior,)  their  lower  ends  extending  into  water  collected 
at  a  lower  depth  in  the  mine.  From  the  top  of  the  box  a  forcing  pipe  is 
continued  to  the  surface  of  the  ground,  or  to  another  level  in  the  mine, 
from  which  the  water  raised  through  it  can  be  discharged.  The  piston 
rods  are  worked  by  a  double  crank,  one  end  of  which  turns  in  a  socket 
formed  in  the  inside  of  the  chamber,  and  the  other  is  continued  through 
the  opposite  side  and  bent  into  a  handle  by  which  the  laborer  works  the 
machine.  Two  collars  are  formed  on  the  crank  axle,  one  close  to  the  out¬ 
side,  and  the  other  to  the  inside  of  that  part  of  the  chamber  through  which 
it  passes,  and  some  kind  of  packing  seems  to  have  been  used  to  prevent 
the  water  from  leaking  through.  Four  iron  arms  with  heavy  balls  at  their 
ends  are  secured  to  the  axle  to  equalize  the  movement.  These  were  the 
old  substitutes  for  the  modern  fly-wheel :  they  were  quite  common  in 
all  kinds  of  revolving  machinery  in  the  15th  and  16th  centuries. 


The  modern  form  of  the  lifting  pump  is  represented  in  figure  No.  129. 
The  working  cylinder  being  generally  brass  or  copper,  and  having  a 
strong  flanch  at  each  end  :  the  upper  one  is  covered  by  a  plate  with  a 
stuffing  box  in  the  centre,  through  which  the  polished  piston  rod  moves  ; 
and  the  under  one  by  another  to  which  the  suction  pipe  is  attached,  and 
whose  orifice  is  covered  by  a  valve.  To  the  forcing  or  discharging  pipe 


279 


Chap.  4.]  Lifting  Pump  with  two  Pistons. 

a  cock  is  commonly  soldered  as  in  No.  118,  to  supply  water  when  re¬ 
quired  at  the  pump.  This  is  one  of  the  most  useful  forms  of  the  pump 
for  household  purposes  :  it  may  be  placed  in  the  kitchen,  cellar  or  yard, 
and  will  not  only  draw  water  from  a  well,  but  will  force  it  up  to  every 
floor  of  a  dwelling,  and  still  answer  every  object  of  the  ordinary  atmos¬ 
pheric  pump;  and  if  an  air-vessel  be  connected  to  the  pipe,  as  in  No.  120, 
it  will  then  become  a  domestic  fire-engine  ;  and  when  a  sufficient  length 
of  hose  pipe  is  kept  at  hand,  water  may,  in  case  of  fire,  be  conveyed  in  a 
few  moments  to  any  part  of  the  building.  Desaguliers,  a  century  ago,  re¬ 
commended  this  application  of  it,  and  it  is  surprising  that  it  has  not  be¬ 
come  more  general.  The  following  extract  from  a  pump-maker’s  circular, 
120  years  since,  refers  to  it.  “  Pumps  which  may  be  worked  by  one  man, 
for  raising  water  out  of  any  well,  upwards  of  120  feet  deep,  sufficient  for 
the  service  of  any  private  house  or  family,  and  so  contrived  that  by  turn¬ 
ing  a  cock,  may  supply  a  cistern  at  the  top  of  the  house,  or  a  bathing  vessel 
in  any  room ;  and  by  screwing  a  leather  pipe  the  water  may  be  conveyed 
either  up  stairs,  or  in  at  a  window,  in  case  of  any  fire.”  Switzer’s  Hy¬ 
drostatics,  352.  , 

Although  the  valve  in  the  ascending  pipe  is  not  an  essential  part  of 
these  pumps,  it  is  a  valuable  addition,  since  it  removes  the  pressure  of  the 
liquid  column  above  it  from  the  stuffing  box,  when  the  pump  is  not  in  use. 
The  inventor  of  these  pumps  (and  of  the  stuffing  box)  is  unknown.  They 
are  described  by  Desaguliers,  Belidor,  and  other  writers  of  the  last  cen¬ 
tury  as  then  common,  and  they  are  figured  in  the  6th  volume  of  machines 
and  inventions  approved  by  the  French  Academy,  p.  19. 

Sometimes  the  cylinder  itself  has  been  made  to  answer  the  purpose  of 
an  air-vessel.  With  this  view  it  is  made  longer  than  usual,  and  the  dis¬ 
charging  pipe  is  connected  to  the  middle  of  its  length,  below  which  the 
piston  works.  The  air  is  therefore  compressed  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
cylinder,  but  as  it  is  liable  to  escape  at  the  joints  and  through  the  stuff¬ 
ing  box,  a  separate  vessel  is  far  preferable.  Mr.  Martin,  in  the  2d  vol.  of 
his  Philosophy,  has  figured  and  described  a  pump  of  this  kind,  which  he 
says  was  the  invention  of  Sir  James  Creed. 

In  1815,  the  London  Society  of  Arts  awarded  a  silver  medal  and  fifteen 
guineas  for  a  lifting  pump  with  two  pistons.  The  cylinder  was  made 
twice  the  usual  length,  and  each  end  furnished  with  a  stuffing  box  through 
which  two  separate  rods  worked.  The  suction  pipe  being  attached,  like 
the  forcing  one,  to  the  side  of  the  cylinder;  the  lower  piston  was  inverted 
having  its  valve  on  the  top  as  in  No.  126.  The  outer  ends  of  the  rods 
were  connected  to  the  centre  of  two  small  wheels  or  friction  rollers  which 
moved  between  two  guide  pieces,  and  thus  prevented  the  rods  from  de¬ 
viating  from  the  centre  of  the  cylinders  ;  the  upper  wheel  was  connected 
by  a  short  rod  to  the  pump  lever  as  in  the  common  pumps,  and  the  other 
one  by  a  longer  rod  (bent  at  its  lower  part)  to  the  same  lever,  but  on  the  op¬ 
posite  side  of  the  fulcrum ;  so  that  as  one  was  raised  the  other  was  lowered ; 
hence  the  two  pistons  alternately  approached  to  and  receded  from  each 
other,  and  consequently  one  of  them  was  always  forcing  up  water  when¬ 
ever  the  machine  was  at  work.  Transactions  Soc.  Arts,  vol.  xxxiii.  115. 
We  believe  these  pumps  have  never  been  much  used,  nor  do  we  think  they 
possess  any  advantages  over  two  separate  ones;  for  they  are  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  double  pumps.  The  cylinders  are  twice  the  length  of  single 
ones — they  have  two  pistons,  two  rods,  two  stuffing  boxes,  and  double  the 
amount  of  friction  of  single  ones.  Two  distinct  pumps  are  more  econo¬ 
mical.  After  one  of  the  above  has  been  a  little  while  in  use,  air  will  un¬ 
avoidably  insinuate  itself  through  the  lower  stuffing  box  and  diminish  or 


280  Description  of  a  Tump  from  Besson.  [Book  III. 

destroy  the  vacuum  upon  which  the  efficiency  of  the  machine  depends. 
The  same  remarks  apply  to  these  that  were  made  on  atmospheric  pumps 
with  two  pistons,  at  page  227. 

There  is  a  pump  with  two  pistons  in  Besson’s  Theatre  des  Instrumens, 
which  shows  that  such  devices  were  known  in  the  16th  century.  It  con¬ 
sists  of  a  square  trunk  four  or  five  feet  in  length,  and  the  bore  five  or  six 
inches  across,  immersed  perpendicularly  in  water  at  the  bottom  of  a 
well ;  its  lower  end  being  open  and  the  upper  one  closed,  except  at  the 
centre,  where  an  opening  is  left  and  covered  by  a  valve.  A  square  piston, 
with  its  valve  opening  upwards,  is  fitted  to  work  in  the  trunk  from  below 
by  a  rod  connected  to  its  under  side,  as  in  No.  126.  A  lever  passes 
through  the  lower  part  of  the  trunk,  (through  slits  made  for  it  in  two  op¬ 
posite  sides,)  one  end  of  which  is  secured  to  a  piece  of  timber  walled  in  the 
well,  by  a  pin,  on  which  it  moves ;  and  the  other  end  extends  to  the  op¬ 
posite  side  of  the  trunk,  where,  it  is  hooked  to  a  chain  that  reaches  from 
the  pump  brake  at  the  top  of  the  well.  The  lower  end  of  the  piston  rod 
is  connected  by  a  bolt  to  that  part  of  the  lever  that  is  within  the  trunk. 
This  apparatus  forms  the  lifting  or  forcing  part  of  the  machine.  A  com¬ 
mon  pump  tree  or  bored  log  extends  from  the  place  to  which  the  water 
is  to  be  raised,  to  the  top  of  the  trunk,  and  the  junction  with  the  latter 
made  perfectly  tight :  an  upper  box  or  piston  with  its  rod  is  fitted  to  work 
in  the  tree  like  an  ordinary  wooden  pump,  while  the  valve  on  the  trunk 
answers  the  purpose  of  a  lower  box.  This  rod  is  attached  to  the  brake  on 
one  side  of  the  fulcrum  and  the  chain  that  is  connected  to  the  lever  and 
lower  rod  to  the  opposite  side,  so  that  as  one  piston  rises  the  other  de¬ 
scends  and  a  constant  stream  of  water  is  discharged  above. 

This  is  the  oldest  pump  with  two  pistons  that  we  know  of,  and  it  has 
one  advantage  over  others,  viz  :  in  raising  water  without  changing  its  di¬ 
rection.  We  at  first  intended  to  insert  a  figure  of  it,  but  the  apparatus 
for  working  it  is  too  complicated  for  popular  illustration.  Although  mo¬ 
tion  is  imparted  to  the  piston  as  noticed  above,  it  is  not  done  directly,  but 
by  means  of  such  an  enormous  amount  of  complex  and 
useless  machinery  as  would  excite  amazement  in  a  mo¬ 
dern  mechanician.  There  is  an  assemblage  of  rods  and 
levers,  tongs  and  lazy  tongs,  chains,  right  and  left  hand¬ 
ed  screws,  a  heavy  counterpoise  and  a  massive  pendu¬ 
lum,  &c.,  all  of  which  are  required  to  be  put  in  motion  be¬ 
fore  the  pistons  can  be  moved.  A  figure  of  such  a  pump 
would  possibly  interest  some  readers  as  a  matter  of 
curiosity,  for  certainly  a  rarer  example  of  the  waste 
of  power  could  not  well  be  imagined  :  it  presents  as 
clumsy  and  “  round-about”  a  mode  of  accomplishing  a 
very  simple  purpose,  as  that  of  the  genius  who,  in  tap¬ 
ping  a  cask  of  wine,  never  thought  of  inserting,  the 
spigot  into  the  barrel,  but  attempted  to  drive  the  barrel 
on  the  spigot. 

Sometimes  pumps  with  solid  and  hollow  pistons  are 
combined  as  in  No.  130,  a  contrivance  of  Mr.  Treve- 
tliick.  The  cylinder  of  a  forcing  pump  communicates 
with  that  of  an  atmospheric  one  ;  both  piston  rods  are 
connected  to  a  cross-bar  and  rise  and  fall  together.  When 
the  pistons  are  raised  the  water  above  that  in  the  long 
(or  atmospheric)  cylinder  is  discharged  at  the  spout,  and 
„  m  .  , ,  the  space  below  them  is  filled  by  the  atmosphere  forc- 
Pump.  mg  up  Iresh  portions  through  the  suction  pipe.  When 


281 


Chap.  5.] 


Rotary  Rumps. 


the  pmons  descend,  the  valve  on  the  suction  pipe  closes,  and  the  solid 
piston  drives  the  water  in  its  cylinder  through  the  hollow  one  in  the  other 
so  that  whether  rising  or  falling  the  liquid  continues  to  flow.  As  both 
cylinders  are  filled  at  the  same  time,  the  bore  of  the  suction  pipe  should 
enlarged.  The  plate  bolted  over  the  opening  at  the 

.  J"  “r  r?PS  b°Jh  f  SoM  and  a  hollow  Pist°e  me.de  to  work  in 
ber  fire  envine”eof  thT  ,th“  “nstitutedthe“single-cham- 

box  as  in  No  to?  Mf'.Perklns:  A  plunger  worked  through  a  stuffing 
box  as  m  No.  12u,  and  its  capacity  was  about  half  that  of  the  cylinder  • 

S  °nTtSCend,"g  “  VSP!aCtd  °nly  that  ProP°r':“  of  the  contents 
or  the  latter  ihe  apertures  of  discharge  were  at  the  upper  part  of  rhP 

of  theer|  an<1  a  S1”|S'e  reTV"‘f  one  at  the  bottom.  Fronftlie  bwer  end 

was  atmchef  fine  Urt  r°d,  Pr.°Jected’ t0  whieh  a  hollow  piston  or  sucker 
was  attached  fitted  to  work  close  to  the  cylinder,  so  that  when  the  plunder 

was  raised,  this  piston  forced  all  the  water  above  it  through  the  dfscWo-- 

SP~  T°  C°nVert  °ne  °f  theSe  PumPs  into  a  fire  engine  the  cy- 
ndei  of  the  pump  was  surrounded  by  a  shorter  one  of  sheefcopper  the 

“  °r  rh,ch  Was  !eft  °Pe“'  and  ttpper  one  secured ahKit to 

the  flanch  of  the  pump ;  the  space  left  between  the  two  forming  a  passage 
for  the  water  expelled  out  of  the  inner  one.  A  larger  and  clofe  cylinder 
encompassed  the  last,  and  the  space  between  them  was  the  air  chamber  to 

%pzr::i  pipe  was  attached  a  °°“p^  — 

Such  pumps  are  more  compact  than  those  with  two  cylinders  but  thev 
are  more  complex,  less  efficient,  and  more  difficult  to  ke/p  in  order  and  to 
pail.  1  he  friction  of  the  plunger  and  sucker  is  much  greater  than  that 
of  the  piston  of  an  ordinary  double  acting  pump  of  the  same  dimensions  • 

actWetllatteffdlfCfrpS  d°Uble  the  quantitJ  of  water;  for  although  double 

the  ab  16  °fptheSue  PUmpS  18  °nI^  C(lual  to  s[nSle  acting  ones.  For 

the  above  reasons  they  have,  we  believe,  become  obsolete  or  nearly  so 


CHAPTER  Y. 

in  efforts  made  to  imp™  , 

opinion  T°  CirCU'ar  °DeS-EPi^am  of  Antipater — Anci®  , 

Operations  of  gpi^ -  various  machine* 
viore-IntereJ.iZtl.If  bZc.  ‘  T,  them~R^y  pump  from  8* 

Another  cla.,s  of  rotary  uTps  ^cam-engine  and  pump- 

ter’s  engine  and  °J  **  with  s.iding  butnrent-Trot 

tons  in  the  fornt  of  vane^entr2a,  n  nT  f  DlCkeU60n’S  P™P-*otary  pumps  with  pis 
A  French  one-An  English  ono-Defects  of  these  pumpl  pUmps~ReciProcati^  rotary  pumps 

and^dev^ces  without  °f  numerous  machines 

to  improve  them  in  d£t  a  Stjlkm^  u.mf°rmity  in  the  efforts  made 

and  sources  of  defect  1  ?e  Sam/  8eneral  defects 

thods  hit  upon  to  rem^J y  to, have  been  detected,  and  similar  me- 

inventors  to  modify  and^nnfv  mTh'  'T  '  i'  Slme  ldea8’  moreov<!1'.  led 
which  they  were  S.Hv  A  ?  "  ?UrP°8e8  tW  for 

changing  the  nature  am  a*s0  t0  increase  their  effect  by 

cnanging  the  nature  and  direction  of  their  motions.  So  uniform  have  been 

36  % 


282  Conversion  of  Rectilinear  and  Alternating  Motions.  [Book  III. 

% 

the  speculations  of  ingenious  men  in  these  respects,  that  one  might  be  al¬ 
most  led  to  suppose  they  had  reasoned,  like  the  lower  animals  from  a  com¬ 
mon  instinct, ;  and  that  the  adage  of  Solomon,  “  there  is  no  new  thing  un¬ 
der  the  sun,”  was  as  applicable  to  the  inventions  of  man,  as  the  works  of 
nature.  It  would  indeed  be  no  very  hard  task  to  show  that  the  preacher 
was  correct,  to  an  extent  not  generally  believed,  when  he  penned  the  fol¬ 
lowing  interrogatory  and  reply — “  Is  there  any  thing  whereof  it  may  be 
said, — See,  this  is  new  1 — it  hath  been  of  old  time  which  was  before  us.” 
Did  a  modern  savan  invent  some  peculiar  surgical  instruments  of  great 
merit  ? — similar  ones  were  subsequently  discovered  in  the  ruins  of  Pom¬ 
peii.  Have  patents  been  issued  in  late  years  for  economizing  fuel  in  the 
heating  of  water,  by  making  the  liquid  circulate  through  hollow  grate 
bars  1 — the  same  device  has  been  found  applied  to  ancient  Roman  boilers. 
And  the  recent  practice  of  urging  fires  with  currents  of  steam  (also  patented) 
was  quite  common  in  the  middle  ages.  (See  remarks  on  the  Eolipile  in 
the  next  book.)  Numbers  of  such  examples  might  be  adduced  from  al¬ 
most  evei'y  department  of  the  useful  arts. 

From  the  eai’liest  times  it  has  been  an  object  to  convert,  whenever  prac¬ 
ticable,  the  l’ectilinear  and  reciprocating  movements  of  machines  into  cir¬ 
cular  and  continuous  ones.  Old  machinists  seem  to  have  been  led  to  this 
result  by  that  tact  or  natural  sagacity  that  is  more  or  less  common  to  all 
times  and  people  :  thus  the  dragging  of  heavy  loads  on  the  ground  led  to 
the  adoption  of  wheels  and  rollers — hence  our  carts  and  carriages  : — the 
rotary  movements  of  the  drill  and  the  wimble  superseded  the  alternating 
one  of  the  punch  and  gouge,  in  making  perforations : — the  hox-izontal  wheel 
of  the  potter  l'endered  modeling  of  clay  vessels  by  hand  no  longer  neces¬ 
sary  : — the  whetstone  gave  way  to  the  revolving  giindstone : — the  turning 
lathe  produced  round  forms  infinitely  more  accurate,  and  expeditiously  than 
the  uncertain  and  irregular  carving  or  cutting  away  with  the  knife.  The 
quern ,  or  original  hand  mill,  was  more  efficacious  than  the  alternate  action 
of  the  pi-imitive  pestle  and  mortar  for  bruising  grain  ;  and  the  various 
forces  by  which  coi-n  mills  have  subsequently  been  woi’ked,  have  always 
been  applied  through  revolving  mechanism.  The  short  handles,  on  the 
moveable  stone,  by  which  females  and  slaves  moved  it  round,  became  in 
time  lengthened  into  levers,  and  being  attached  to  the  peripheries  of 
larger  stones,  slaves  were  sometimes  yoked  to  them,  who  ground  the  grain 
by  walking  round  a  circular  path.  Subsequently  slaves  were  replaced  by 
animals,  and  these,  in  certain  locations,  by  inanimate  agents — wind  and 
water.  The  period  is  unknown  when  man  first  derived  rotary  motion 
from  the  straight  currents  of  fluids,  for  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  the  water  mill  located  near  the  residence  of  Mithridates  was  the 
first  one  ever  used  in  gi-inding  corn  :  that  may  have  been  the  one  first 
known  to  the  Romans ;  but  it  is  veiy  probable  that  such  machines  as  well 
as  wind  mills  were  in  use  in  Egypt,  Syria,  China,  and  other  parts  of  Asia, 
in  times  that  extend  far  beyond  the  confines  of  authentic  history.  An  epi¬ 
gram  of  Antipater,  a  contemporary  of  Cicero,  implies  that  water  mills 
were  not  then  very  common  in  Europe.  “  Cease  your  work,  ye  maids, 
ye  who  laboured  in  the  mill :  sleep  now,  and  let  the  birds  sing  to  the  ruddy 
morning,  for  Ceres  has  commanded  the  water  nymphs  to  perform  your 
task  ;  these,  obedient  to  her  call,  throw  themselves  on  the  wheel,  force 
round  the  axle-tree,  and  by  these  means  the  heavy  mill.” 

Rotary  motions  were  favorite  ones  with  ancient  philosophers  :  they 
considered  a  cii’cle  as  the  most  perfect  of  all  figures,  and  erroneously  con¬ 
cluded  that  a  body  in  motion  would  naturally  revolve  in  one. 

To  the  substitution  of  circular  for  straight  motions,  and  of  continuous  for 


Chap.  5.] 


Into  Continuous  Circular  Ones. 


283 


alternating  ones  may  be  attributed  nearly  all  the  conveniences  and  elegan¬ 
cies  of  civilized  life.  It  is  not  too  much  to  assert  that  the  present  advanced 
state  ol  science  and  the  arts  is  due  to  revolving  mechanism;  we  may 
speak  of  the  wonders  that  steam  and  other  motive  agents  have  wrought, 
but  what  could  they  have  done  without  this  means  of  employing  them  \ 
The  application  of  rotary,  in  place  of  other  movements,  is  conspicuous  in 
modern  machinery ;  from  that  which  propels  the  stately  steam  ship  through 
the  water,  and  those  flying  chariots  named  “  locomotives”  over  the  land, 
to  that  which  is  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  pins  and  pointing  of  nee¬ 
dles.  It  is  by  this  that  the  irregular  motion  of  the  ancient  flail  and  primeval 
sieve,  have  become  uniform  in  thrashing,  bolting  and  winnowing  machines ; 
— hence  our  circular  saws,  shears  and  slitting  mills  ; — the  abolition  of 
the  old  mode  of  spreading  out  metal  into  sheets  with  the  hammer,  by 
the  more  expeditious  one  of  passing  it  through  rollers  or  flatting  mills : — 
and  hence  revolving  oars  or  paddle  wheels  for  the  propulsion  of  vessels — 
the  process  of  inking  type  with  rollers  in  place  of  hand  balls— rotary  and 
power  printing  presses — and  revolving  machines  for  planing  iron  and 
other  metals  instead  of  the  ancient  practice  of  chipping  off  superfluous  por¬ 
tions  with  chisels,  and  the  tedious  operation  of  smoothing  the  surfaces 
with  files. 

Hut  in  few  things  is  the  effect  of  this  change  of  motion  more  conspi¬ 
cuous  than  in  the  modern  apparatus  for  preparing,  spinning  and  weaving 
vegetable  and  other  fibres,  into  fabrics  for  clothing.  The  simple  application 
of  rotary  motions  to  these  operations  has  in  a  great  degree  revolutionized 
the  domestic  economy  of  the  world,  and  has  increased  the  general  com¬ 
forts  of  our  race  a  hundred  fold.  From  the  beginning  of  time  females 
have  spun  thread  with  the  distaff  and  spindle  ;  Naamah  the  antediluvian, 
and  Lachesis  and  Omphale  the  mythological  spinsters,  have  been  imi¬ 
tated  in  the  use  of  these  implements  by  the  industrious  of  their  sex  in  all 
ages  and  countries  to  quite  modern  days,  and  even  at  present  they  are 
employed  by  a  great  part  of  the  human  family.  In  India.,  China,  Japan, 
and  generally  through  all  the  East,  as  well  as  by  the  Indians  of  this  he¬ 
misphere,  this  mode  of  making  thread  is  continued  :  the  filaments  are 
drawn  from  the  distaff  and  twisted  by  the  finger  and  thumb,  the  thread 
being  kept  at  a  proper  tension  by  a  metallic  or  other  spindle,  sus¬ 
pended  to  it  like  the  plummet  of  a  builder’s  level,  and  the  momentum  of 
which,  while  turning  round,  keeps  twisting  the  yarn  or  thread  in  the 
interim  of  repeating  the  operation  with  the  fingers.3  The  thread  as  it  is 


“There  are  numerous  allusions  in  history  to  this  primitive  mode  of  spinning,  that  are 
highly  illustrative  of  ancient  manners.  At  the  battle  of  Salamis,  Queen  Artemisia  com¬ 
manded  a  ship  in  the  Persian  fleet,  and  Xerxes,  as  a  compliment  to  her  bravery,  sent 
her  a  complete  suit  of  armor,  while  to  his  general  (who  was  defeated)  he  presented  a 
distaff  and  spindle.  When  Pheretine  applied  to  Euelthon  of  Cyprus  for  an  army  to  re¬ 
cover  her  former  dignity  and  country,  he  intimated  the  impropriety  of  her  conduct  bv 
sending  her  a  distaff  of  wool  and  a  golden  spindle.  Herod,  iv,  162.  Hercules  attempted 
to  spin  in  the  presence  of  Omphale,  and  she  bantered  him  on  his  uncouth  manner  of 
holding  the  distaff.  Among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  rites  of  marriage  directed  the 
attention  of  women  to  spinning  ;  a  distaff  and  fleece  were  the  emblems  and  objects  of 
the  housewife  s  labors  ;  and  so  they  were  among  the  Jews— “  A  virtuous  woman  [says 
Solomon]  layeth  her  hands  to  the  spindle  and  her  hands  hold  the  distaff.”  When  Lu- 
cretia  was  surprised  by  the  visit  of  Collatinus  and  his  companions  of  the  camp,  although 
the  night  was  far  advanced,  they  found  her  with  her  maids  engaged  in  spinning.  A 
painting  found  in  1  ompen  represents  Ulysses  seated  at  his  own  gate,  and  concealed 
under  the  garb  of  a  beggar;  Penelope,  who  is  inquiring  of  the  supposed  mendicant  for 
tidings  of  her  husband,  holds  in  one  hand  a  spindle,  as  if  just  called  from  spinning.  On 
the  monuments  of  Beni  Hassan  both  men  and  women  are  represented  spinning  and 
weaving.  Several  Egyptian  spindles  are  preserved  in  the  museums  of  Europe.  See 
an  account  ol  a  female  in  Sardis  spinning  while  going  for  water,  at  page  22. 


284 


Rotary  Rumps  and  Steam-engines.  [Book  III. 

formed  is  wound  round  the  spindle.  In  1530  Jurgen  of  Brunswick  de¬ 
vised  a  machine  which  dispensed  with  this  intermitting  action  of  the  fingers, 
i.  e.  he  invented  the  spinning  wheel,  which  rendered  the  operation  of 
twisting  the  filaments  uniform.  The  wheel,  however,  like  the  primitive 
apparatus  it  was  designed  to  supersede,  produced  only  one  thread  at  a 
time ;  hut  in  the  last  century  Hargreaves  produced  the  “  spinning  jenny,” 
by  which  a  single  person  on  turning  a  wheel,  could  spin  eighty-four  threads 
at  once ;  then  followed  the  “  rollers”  of  Arkwright,  the  “  mule”  of  Crompton, 
to  which  may  be  added  the  “  gin”  of  Whitney,  and  also  “  carding  engines,” 
in  place  of  the  old  hand  cards,  all  composed  of  and  put  in  motion  by 
revolving  machinery  : — these  have  indefinitely  extended  the  spinning  of 
thread,  and  relieved  females  from  a  species  of  labor  that,  more  than  any 
other,  occupied  their  attention  from  the  beginning  of  the  world ;  and  lastly 
“  power  looms”  impelled  by  water,  wind,  steam,  or  animals  (through  the 
agency  of  circular  movements)  are  rapidly  superseding  the  irregular  and 
alternating  motion  of  human  hands  in  throwing  the  shuttle  to  and  fro. 

The  conversion  of  intermitting  into  continuous  circular  movements  is 
also  obvious  in  ancient  devices  for  raising  water.  The  alternate  action  of 
the  swape,  the  jantu  and  vibrating  gutter  thus  became  uninterrupted 
in  the  noria  and  tympanum — the  irregular  movement  of  the  cord  and 
bucket  became  uniform  in  the  chain  and  pots ;  and  so  did  the  motion  of 
the  pitcher  or  pail  as  used  by  hand,  when  suspended  to  the  rim  of  a  Per¬ 
sian  wheel.  And  when  the  construction  of  machines  did  not  allow  of  a 
suitable  change  or  form,  they  were  often  worked  by  cranks  or  other  simi¬ 
lar  movements;  (of  this  several  examples  are  given  in  preceding  pages;) 
but  in  no  branch  of  the  arts  has  this  preference  for  circular  movements 
over  straight  ones  been  so  signally  exhibited  as  in  the  numerous  rotary 
pumps  and  steam  engines  that  have  been  and  still  are  brought  forward ; 
and  in  no  department  of  machinery  has  less  success  attended  the  change. 
Most  of  these  machines  that  have  hitherto  been  made  may  be  considered 
as  failures  ;  this  result  is  consequent  on  the  practical  difficulties  attending 
their  construction,  and  the  rendering  of  them  durable.  These  difficulties 
(which  will  appear  in  the  sequel)  are  to  a  certain  extent  unavoidable,  so 
that  the  prospect  of  superseding  cylindrical  pumps  and  steam-engines  is 
probably  as  remote  as  ever. 

At  an  early  stage  in  the  progress  of  the  machines  last  named,  it  became 
a  desideratum  with  engineers  to  obtain  a  continuous  rotary  movement  of 
the  piston  rod  in  place  of  the  ordinary  rectilinear  and  reciprocating  one, 
that  the  huge  “  walking  beam,”  crank  and  connecting  shaft  might  be  dis¬ 
pensed  with,  the  massive  fly-wheel  either  greatly  reduced  or  abandoned, 
and  the  power  saved  that  was  consumed  in  overcoming  their  inertia  and 
friction  at  every  stroke  of  the  piston.  Reasoning  analogous  to  this  had 
long  before  led  some  old  mechanicians  to  convert  the  motion  of  the  com¬ 
mon  pump  rod  into  a  circular  one  ;  in  other  words,  to  invent  rotary  or 
rotatory  pumps.  By  these  the  power  expended  in  constantly  bringing 
all  the  water  in  the  cylinder  and  suction  pipe,  alternately  to  a  state  of  rest 
and  motion  was  saved,  because  the  liquid  is  kept  in  constant  motion  in 
passing  through  them.  The  steam  engine  was  not  only  originally  de- 
designed  as  a  substitute  for  pumps  to  raise  water,  but  in  all  the  variety  of 
its  forms  and  modifications  it  has  retained  the  same  analogy  to  pumps  as 
these  have  to  bellows.  One  of  the  oldest  of  modern  rotary  steam  engines, 
that  of  Murdoch,  was  a  copy  of  an  old  pump,  a  figure  of  which,  No.  131, 
is  taken  from  Serviere’s  collection. 

Two  cog  wheels,  the  teeth  of  which  are  fitted  to  work  accurately  into 
each  other,  are  enclosed  in  an  elliptical  case.  The  sides  of  these  wheels 


"10* 


Chap.  5.] 


Rotary  Rump  from  Serviere. 


2SZ 


f 

ft' 


turn  close  to  those  of  the  case,  so  that  water  cannot  enter  between  them. 
The  axle  of  one  of  the  wheels  is  continued  through  one  side  of  tiie  case, 
(which  is  removed  in  the  figure  to  show  the  interior,)  and  the  opening 
made  tight  by  a  stuffing  box  or  collar  of  leather.  A  crank  is  applied'  to  the 

end  to  turn  it,  and  as  one  wheel  revolves, 
it  necessarily  turns  the  other;  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  their  motions  being  indicated  by 
the  arrows.  The  water  that  enters  the 
lower  part  of  the  case  is  swept  up  the 
ends  by  each  cog  in  rotation,  and  as  it 
cannot  return  between  the  wheels  in  con¬ 
sequence  of  the  cogs  being  there  always 
in  contact,  it  must  necessarily  rise  in  the 
ascending  or  forcing  pipe.  The  machine 
is  therefore  both  a  sucking  and  forcing 
one.  Of  rotary  pumps  this  is  not  only 
one  of  the  oldest,  but  one  of  the  best. 
Fire  engines  made  on  the  same  plan  were 
patented  about  twenty-five  years  ago  in 
England,  and  more  recently  pumps  of 
the  same  kind,  in  this  country.  We  have 
seen  one  with  two  elliptical  wheels, 
which  were  so  geared  that  the  longer 
axis  of  one  wheel  might  coincide  (in  one 


No.  131.  Rotary  Pump  from  Serviere. 


t  ,  #  - - -  —  “  ”  -.*-.*^**ty  Winv/mo  till  uuc 

position)  with  the  short  one  of  the  other.  Sometimes  a  groove  is  made 
along  the  face  of  each  cog,  and  a  strip  of  leather  or  other  packing  se¬ 
cured  in  it. 

J  he  pump  figured  above  is  believed  to  have  been  known  long  before 
Serviere’s  time,  a  model  of  it,  as  of  other  interesting  machines,  having 
been  placed  in  his  museum  without  regard  to  its  origin.  Ramelli  is  said 
to  have  described  some  similar  ones  in  the  middle  of  the  16th  century, 
but  we  have  not  been  able  to  procure  a  copy  of  his  book.  The  suction 
pipe  in  the  preceding  figure  has  been  added."  In  the  original  the  water 
entered  directly  through  the  bottom  of  the  case  :  the  model  was  probably 
so  made  that  part  of  the  wheels  might  be  visible,  and  the  construction  and 
operation  of  the  machine  more  easily  comprehended. 

Serviere  was  a  French  gentleman,  born  at  Lyons  in  1593.  Indepen¬ 
dent  in  his  circumstances,  and  inclined  to  mechanical  researches,  he  was 
led  to  establish  a  cabinet  of  models  of  rare  and  curious  machines — of 
these  some  were  invented  by  himself  and  displayed  uncommon  ingenuity. 
It  does  not  appear  that  any  account  of  the  whole  was  ever  published  ;  a 
part  only  being  included  in  the  small  volume  edited  by  his  grandson,  the 
title  of  which  we  have  given  at  the  foot  of  page  63.  That  work  is  divided 
into  three  parts:  the  first  relates  to  figures  formed  in  the  lathe,  as  spheres, 
cubes,  ellipses,  &c. ;  some,  being  hollow  and  containing  others  within 
them,  like  Chinese  balls,  are  extraordinary  specimens  of  workmanship. 
1  here  are  also  vases,  urns,  &c.  not  only  round  and  elliptical,  but  angular, 
so  that  not  only  were  the  oval  and  eccentric  chucks  known  to  Serviere, 
but  the  lathe  for  turning  irregular  surfaces  appears  to  have  beei\  used  by 
him.  1  he  second  part  contains  an  account  of  clocks  all  made  by  himself, 
the  mechanism  of  which  is  exceedingly  ingenious.  Some  are  moved  by 
springs,  others  by  weights,  water,  sand,  &c.  They  are  fully  equal  to  any 
thing  of  the  kind  at  the  present  day  :  indeed  that  beautiful  device  by 
which  a  small  brass  ball  is  made  to  traverse  backwards  and  forwards  across 
an  inclined  plane,  which  still  retains  a  place  among  mantel  clocks,  is  one 


286 


Rotary  Pumps. 


[Book  III 


of  Serviere’s,  besides  several  modifications  of  it  equally  interesting.  One 
half  of  the  third  part  is  occupied  with  descriptions  of  machines  for  raising 
water:  these  consist  of  gutters,  swapes,  chain  of  pots,  gaining  and  losing 
buckets,  norias,  tympanums  and  other  wheels ;  and  lastly,  pumps,  among 
which  is  the  rotary  one  figured  above.  Breval,  in  his  “  Remarks  on  Eu¬ 
rope,”  part  ii,  page  89,  mentions  several  machines  in  Serviere’s  “  famous 
cabinet  of  mechanicks”  that  are  not  noticed  in  the  volume  published  by 
his  grandson ;  while  others  are  inserted  that  were  not  invented  till  after 
his  death,  as  Du  Fay’s  improvement  on  the  tympanum. 

Rotary  pumps  may  be  divided  into  classes  according  to  the  forms  of 
and  methods  of  working  the  pistons,  or  those  parts  that  act  as  such  :  and 
according  to  the  various  modes  by  which  the  hutment  is  obtained.  It  is 
this  last  that  receives  the  force  of  the  water  when  impelled  forward  by 
the  piston  ;  it  also  prevents  the  liquid  from  being  swept  by  the  latter  en¬ 
tirely  round  the  cylinder  or  exterior  case,  and  compels  it  to  enter  the  dis¬ 
charging  pipe.  In  these  particulars  consist  all  the  essential  differences 
in  rotary  pumps.  In  some  the  butments  are  moveable  pieces  that  are 
made  to  draw  back  to  allow  the  piston  to  pass,  when  they  are  again 
protruded  till  its  return ;  in  others,  they  are  fixed  and  the  pistons  them¬ 
selves  give  way.  It  is  the  same  with  the  latter  ;  they  are  sometimes  per¬ 
manently  connected  to  the  axles  by  which  they  are  turned,  and  some¬ 
times  they  are  loose  and  drawn  into  recesses  till  the  butments  pass  by. 
In  another  class  the  pistons  are  rectangular,  or  other  shaped,  pieces  that 
turn  on  centres,  something  like  the  vanes  of  a  horizontal  wind  mill,  sweep¬ 
ing  the  water  with  their  broad  faces  round  the  cylindrical  case,  till  they 
approach  that  part  which  constitutes  the  butment,  when  they  move  edge¬ 
ways  and  pass  through  a  narrow  space  which  they  entirely  fill,  and  thereby 
prevent  any  water  passing  with  them.  In  other  pumps  the  butment  is  ob¬ 
tained  by  the  contact  of  the  peripheries  of  two  wheels  or  cylinders,  that 
roll  on  or  rub  against  each  other.  No.  131  is  of  this  kind — while  the 
teeth  in  contact  with  the  ends  of  the  case  act  as  pistons  in  driving  the 
water  before  them,  the  others  are  fitted  to  work  so  closely  on  each  other 
as  to  prevent  its  return.  The  next  figure  exhibits  another  modification  of 
the  same  principle. 

In  1825  Mr.  J.  Eve,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  obtained  a  patent 
in  England  for  a  rotary  steam-engine  and  pump.  No.  132  will  serve  to 
explain  its  application  to  raise  water.  Within  a  cylindrical  case  a  solid  or 
hollow  drum  A  is  made  to  revolve,  the  sides  of  which  are  fitted  to  move 
close  to  those  of  the  case.  Three  'projecting  pieces  or  pistons,  of  the  same 
width  as  the  drum,  are  secured  to  or  cast  on  its  periphery  ;  they  are  at 
equal  distances  from  each  other,  and  their  extremities  sweep  close  round 
the  inner  edge  of  the  case,  as  shown  in  the  figure.  The  periphery  of  the 
drum  revolves  in  contact  with  that  of  a  smaller  cylinder  B  from  which  a 
portion  is  cut  off  to  form  a  groove  or  recess  sufficiently  deep  to  receive 
within  it  each  piston  as  it  moves  past.  The  diameter  of  the  small  cy¬ 
linder  is  just  one  third  that  of  the  drum.  The  axles  of  both  are  continued 
through  one  or  both  sides  of  the  case,  and  the  openings  made  tight  with 
stuffing  boxes.  On  one  end  of  each  axle  is  fixed  a  toothed  wheel  of  the 
same  diameter  as  its  respective  cylinder ;  and  these  are  so  geared  into 
one  another,  that  when  the  crank  attached  to  the  drum  axle  is  turned,  (in 
the  direction  of  the  arrow,)  the  groove  in  the  small  cylinder  receives  suc¬ 
cessively  each  piston  ;  thus  affording  room  for  its  passage,  and  at  the  same 
time  by  the  contact  of  the  edge  of  the  piston  with  its  curved  part,  prevent¬ 
ing  water  from  passing.  As  the  machine  is  worked  the  water  that  en¬ 
ters  the  lower  part  of  the  pump  through  the  suction  pipe,  is  forced  round 


Rotary  Pumps. 


287 


Chap.  5.] 


and  compelled  to  rise  in  the  discharging  one,  as  indicated  by  the  arrows. 
Other  pumps  of  the  same  class  have  such  a  portion  of  the  small  cylin¬ 
der  cut  off,  that  the  concave  surface  of  the  remainder  forms  a  continuation 
of  the  case  in  front  of  the  recess  while  the  pistons  are  passing ;  and  then 
by  a  similar  movement  as  that  used  in  the  figure  described,  the  convex 
part  is  brought  in  contact  with  the  periphery  of  the  drum  till  the  piston’s 
return. 

All  rotary  pumps  are  both  sucking  and  forcing  machines,  and  are  gene¬ 
rally  furnished  with  valves  in  both  pipes,  as  in  the  ordinary  forcing  pumps. 
The  butments  are  always  placed  between  the  apertures  of  the  sucking 
and  forcing  pipes. 


No.  132.  No.  133. 


There  is  another  class  of  pumps  that  bears  some  relationship  to  the  pre¬ 
ceding — the  eldest  branch,  we  believe,  of  the  same  family.  One  of  these  is 
figured  in  the  133rd  illustration:  the  butment  consists  of  a  curved  flap  that 
turns  on  a  hinge  ;  it  is  so  arranged  as  to  be  received  into  a  recess  formed 
on  the  rim  or  periphery  of  the  case,  and  into  which  it  is  forced  by  the 
piston.  The  concave  side  of  the  flap  is  of  the  same  curve  as  the  rim  of 
the  case,  and  when  pushed  back  forms  a  part  of  it.  Its  width  is,  of 
course,  equal  to  that  of  the  drum,  against  the  rim  of  which  its  lower  edge 
is  pressed ;  this  is  effected  in  some  pumps  by  springs,  in  others  by  cams 
cog  wheels,  &c.,  fixed  on  the  axles,  as  in  the  last  one.  The  force  by 
which  the  flap  is  urged  against  the  drum  must  exceed  the  pressure  of 
the  liquid  column  in  the  discharging  pipe.  The  semicircular  pieces  on  the 
outer  edge  of  the  case  represent  ears  for  securing  the  pump  to  planks  or 
frames,  fcc.,  when  in  use.  The  arrows  in  the  figures  show  the  direction 
in  which  the  piston  and  water  is  moved. 

Such  machines  have  often  been  patented,  both  as  pumps  and  steam- 
engines.  In  1782  Mr.  Watt  thus  secured  a  “rotative  engine”  of  this  kind, 
and  in  1797  Mr.  Cartwright  inserted  in  the  specification  of  his  metallic  pis¬ 
ton  a  description  of  another  similar  to  Watt’s,  except  that  the  case 
had  two  flaps,  and  three  pistons  were  formed  on  the  drum.  In  1818  Mr. 
Routledge  patented  another  with  a  single  flap  and  piston,  (Rep.  of  Arts, 
vol.  xxxiii,  2d  series  ;)  but  the  principle  or  prominent  feature  in  all  these 
had  been  applied  long  before  by  French  mechanicians.  Nearly  a  hun¬ 
dred  years  before  the  date  of  Watt’s  patent,  Amontons  communicated 
to  the  French  Academy  a  description  of  a  rotary  pump  substantially  the 
same  as  represented  in  the  last  figure.  It  is  figured  and  described  in  the 
first  volume  of  Machines  Approuv.  p.  103 :  the  body  of  the  pump  or  case 


288 


Rotary  Pump  of  the  1  &th  Century.  [Book  III 

is  a  short  cylinder,  but  the  piston  is  elliptical,  its  transverse  diameter  be¬ 
ing  equal  to  that  of  the  cylinder,  hence  it  performed  the  part  of  two  pistons. 
There  are  also  two  flaps  on  opposite  sides  of  the  cylinder.  A  pump  not 
unlike  this  of  Amontons,  with  an  elliptical  case,  is  described  in  vol.  iv. 
of  Nicholson’s  Phil.  Journal  466.  Several  similar  ones  have  since  been 
proposed. 

In  other  pumps  the  flaps,  instead  of  acting  as  butments,  are  made  to 
perform  the  part  of  pistons  ;  this  is  done  by  hinging  them  on  the  rim  of 
the  drum,  of  which,  when  closed,  they  also  form  a  part :  they  are  closed 
by  passing  under  a  permanent  projecting  piece  or  butment  that  extends 
from  the  case  to  the  drum. 

In  No.  134  the  butment  is  movable  A  solid  wheel,  formed  into  three 
spiral  wings  that  act  as  pistons,  is  turned  round  within  a  cylindrical  case. 
The  butment  B  is  a  piece  of  metal  whose  width  is  equal  to  the  thickness 

of  the  wings,  or  the  interior  breadth  of  the 
cylinder:  it  is  made  to  slide  through  a 
stuffing  box  on  the  top  of  the  case,  and  by 
its  weight  to  descend  and  rest  upon  the 
wings.  Its  upper  part  terminates  in  a  rod, 
which,  passing  between  two  rollers,  pre¬ 
serves  it  in  a  perpendicular  position.  As 
the  wheel  is  turned,  the  point  of  each 
wing,  (like  the  cogs  of  the  wheels  in 
No.  131,)  pushes  before  it  the  water  that 
enters  the  lower  part  of  the  cylinder,  and 
drives  it  through  the  valve  into  the  ascend¬ 
ing  pipe  A  :  at  the  same  time  the  butment 
is  gradually  raised  by  the  curved  surface  of 
the  wing,  and  as  soon  as  the  end  of  the  lat¬ 
ter  passes  under  it,  the  load  on  the  rod 
causes  it  instantly  to  descend  upon  the  next 
one,  which  in  its  turn  produces  the  same 
effect.  This  pump  is  as  old  as  the  16th 
century,  and  probably  was  known  much 
earlier.  Besides  the  defects  common  to 
most  of  its  species,  it  has  one  peculiar  to 
itself : — as  the  butment  must  be  loaded  with  weights  sufficient  to  overcome 
the  pressure  of  the  liquid  column  over  the  valve,  (otherwise  it  would  itself 
be  raised  and  the  water  would  escape  beneath  it;)  the  power  to  work  this 
pump  is  therefore  more  than  double  the  amount  which  the  water  forced 
up  requires.  The  instrument  is  interesting,  however,  as  affording  an  il¬ 
lustration  of  the  early  use  of  the  sliding  valve  and  stuffing  box  ;  and  as 
containing  some  of  the  elements  of  recent  rotary  pumps  and  steam-engines. 

The  pump  represented  by  No.  135  consists  also  of  an  exterior  case  or 
short  cylinder  within  which  a  small  and  solid  one  A  is  made  to  revolve.  To 
the  last  an  arm  or  piston  is  attached  or  cast  in  one  piece  with  it,  the 
sides  and  end  of  which  are  fitted  to  bear  slightly  against  the  sides  and  rim  in 
the  case.  A  butment  B  B  slides  backwards  and  forwards  through  a  stuffing 
box,  and  is  so  arranged  (by  means  of  a  cam  or  other  contrivance  connected 
to  the  axle  of  the  small  cylinder  on  the  outside  of  the  case)  that  it  can  be 
pushed  into  the  interior  as  in  the  figure,  and  at  the  proper  time  be 
drawn  back  to  afford  a  passage  for  the  piston.  Two  openings  near  each 
other  are  made  through  the  case  on  opposite  sides  of  B  B,  and  to  these  the 
suction  and  forcing  pipes  are  united.  Thus  when  the  piston  is  moved 
in  the  direction  of  the  arrow  on  the  small  cylinder,  it  pushes  the  water 


No.  134.  Rotary  Pump  of  the  16th 
century. 


289 


Chap.  5.]  Rotary  Pumps. 

before  it,  and  the  vacuity  formed  behind  is  instantly  filled  with  fresh  por¬ 
tions  driven  up  the  suction  pipe  by  the  atmosphere  ;  and  when  the  piston 
in  its  course  descends  past  B  B  it  sweeps  this  water  up  the  same  wav. 
Uramah  and  Dickenson  adopted  a  modification  of  this  machine  in  1790  as 
a  steam-engine  and  also  as  a  pump.  Rep.  of  Arts,  vol.  ii,  73. 


No.  136  represents  another  rotary  engine.  A  figure  of  it  is  inserted  the 
rather  because  it  was  reinvented  here  a  few  years  ago  by  a  mechanic  who 
was  greatly  distressed  on  finding  that  he  had  been  anticipated.  A  notice  of 
it  may  therefore  prevent  others  from  experiencing  a  similar  disappoint- 
'  Dike  most  others  it.  consists  of  two  concentric  cylinders  or  drums, 
the  annular  space  between  them  forming  the  pump  chamber ;  but  the 
inner  one,  instead  of  revolving  as  in  the  preceding  figures,  is  immovable, 
being  fixed  to  the  sides  of  the  outer  one  or  case.  The  piston  is  a  rectan¬ 
gular  and  loose  piece  of  brass  or  other  metal  accurately  fitted  to  occupy 
diid  move  in  the  space  between  the  two  cylinders.  To  drive  the  piston, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  form  a  butment  between  the  orifices  of  the  induc¬ 
tion  and  eduction  pipes,  a  third  cylinder  is  employed  to  which  a  revolving 
motion  is  imparted  by  a  crank  and  axle  in  the  usual  way.  This  cylinder  is 
eccentric  to  the  others,  and  is  of  such  a  diameter  and  thickness  that  its  in¬ 
terior  and  exterior  surfaces  touch  the  inner  and  outer  cylinders  as  repre¬ 
sented  in  the  cut,  the  places  of  contact  preventing  water  from  passing  : 
a  s  11  ^  groove  equal  in  width  to  the  thickness  of  the  piston  is  made 
through  its  periphery,  into  which  slit  the  piston  is  placed.  When  turned  in 
the  direction  of  the  large  arrow,  the  water  in  the  lower  part  of  the  pump 
is  swept  round  and  forced  up  the  rising  pipe,  and  the  void  behind  the 
piston  is  again  filled  by  water  from  the  reservoir  into  which  the  lower 
pipe  is  inserted.  This  machine  was  originally  designed,  like  most  rotary 
pumps,  for  a  steam  engine.  It  was  patented  in  England  by  Mr.  John 
±  rotter,  of  London,  in  1805,  and  is  described  in  the  Repertory  of  Arts, 
vol.  ix,  2d  senes.  As  a  matter  if  course,  he  contemplated  its  application 
to  raise  water : — “  The  said  engine  he  observes]  may  be  used  to  raise 
or  give  motion  to  fluids  in  any  direction  whatever.” 

In  others  the  pistons  slide  within  a  revolving  cylinder  or  drum  that  is 
concentric  with  the  exterior  one.  No.  137  is  a  specimen  of  a  French 
pump  of  this  kind.  The  butment  in  the  orm  of  a  segment  is  secured  to 
e  inner  circumference  of  the  case,  and  the  drum  turns  against  it  at  the 
centre  o  tec  ord  line :  on  both  sides  of  the  place  of  contact  it  is  curved  to 
e  extremities  of  the  arc,  and  the  uoking  and  forcing  pipes  communicate 


290 


Rotary  Pumps. 


[Book  III. 


with  the  pump  through  it,  as  represented  in  the  figure.  To  the  centre  of 
one  or  both  ends  of  the  case  is  screwed  fast  a  thick  piece  of  brass  whose 
outline  resembles  that  of  the  letter  D :  the  flattened  side  is  placed  towards 
the  butment  and  is  so  formed  that  the  same  distance  is  preserved  between 
it  and  the  opposite  parts  of  the  butment,  as  between  its  convex  surface  and 
the  rim  of  the  case.  The  pistons,  as  in  the  last  figure,  are  rectangular 
pieces  of  stout  metal,  and  are  dropped  into  slits  made  through  the  rim  of 
the  drum,  their  length  being  equal  to  that  of  the  case,  and  their  width  to 
the  distance  between  its  rim  and  the  D  piece.  They  are  moved  by  a 
crank  attached  to  the  drum  axle.  To  lessen  the  friction  and  compensate 
for  the  wear  of  the  butment,  that  part  of  the  latter  against  which  the  drum 
turns  is  sometimes  made  hollow  ;  a  piece  of  brass  is  let  into  it  and 
pressed  against  the  periphery  of  the  drum  by  a  spring. 


No.  137.  No.  138. 


In  No.  138  the  axis  of  the  drum  or  smaller  cylinder  is  so  placed  as  to 
cause  its  periphery  to  rub  against  the  inner  circumference  of  the  case. 
Two  rectangular  pistons,  whose  length  are  equal  to  the  internal  diame¬ 
ter  of  the  case,  cross  each  other  at  right  angles,  being  notched  so  as  to 
allow  them  to  slide  backwards  and  forwards  to  an  extent  equal  to  the 
widest  space  between  the  two  cylinders.  The  case  of  this  pump  is  not 
perfectly  cylindrical,  but  of  such  a  form  that  the  four  ends  of  the  pistons 
are  always  in  contact  with  it.  An  axle  on  the  drum  is  moved  by  a  crank. 
This  pump,  and  another  similar  to  it,  were  described  in  Bramah  and 
Dickenson’s  patent  for  three  rotative  steam-engines  in  1790.  Rep.  of  Arts, 
vol.  ii,  85.  Fire  engines  have  been  made  on  the  same  principle. 

Another  class  of  rotary  pumps  have  their  pistons  made  somewhat  like 
the  vanes  of  wind  mills.  They  were  originally  designed  as  steam-engines, 
and  were,  if  we  mistake  not,  first  introduced  by  Hornblower,  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century.  He  employed  four  revolving  vanes  which  were 
so  arranged  that,  while  one  passed  edgeways  through  a  narrow  cavity 
which  it  filled,  the  opposite  one  presented  its  face  to  the  action  of  the 
steam.  These  machines  have  been  variously  modified  as  pumps,  but  ge¬ 
nerally  speaking  they  are  more  complex  and  of  course  more  liable  to  de¬ 
rangement  than  others  :  we  have  known  two  of  them,  fifteen  inches  dia¬ 
meter  and  apparently  well  made,  (at  a  cost  of  150  dollars,)  which  a  friend 
used  to  force  water  to  an  elevation  of  twenty  feet,  become  deranged,  and 
thrown  aside  as  useless  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  weeks. 

A  centrifugal  forcing  pump  may  be  made  by  enclosing  the  arms  of  an 
atmospheric  one,  (such  as  represented  at  No.  95,  page  229,)  in  a  close 


291 


Chap.  5.]  Rotary  Pumps. 

drum  or  case,  to  which  an  ascending  or  forcing  pipe  is  attached:  the 
water  would  rise  through  the  pipe,  provided  the  velocity  of  the  arms  was 
increased  according  to  the  elevation  of  its  discharging  orifice.  In  place  of 
tubular  arms,  two  or  more  vanes  radiating  from  a  vertical  axis  and  turned 
rapidly  in  the  case  would  produce  the  same  effect;  the  suction  pipe 
being  connected  to  the  bottom  at  the  centre  and  the  forcing  pipe  to  the 
rim  or  the  top.  Such  pumps  are  in  their  construction  simpler  than  other 
rotary  ones,  besides  which  no  particular  accuracy  is  required  in  fitting 
their  working  parts  ;  nevertheless,  they  are  as  liable  to  derangement  as 
others,  for  the  velocity  required  to  be  given  to  the  arms  is  so  great,  that 
the  teeth  of  the  wheels  and  pinions  by  which  motion  is  transmitted  to  them 
are  soon  worn  out. 

Centrifugal  pumps  like  those  just  described  have  been  tried  as  substi¬ 
tutes  for  paddle  wheels  of  steam-vessels:  i.  c.  the  wheels  were  con¬ 
verted  into  such  pumps  by  inclosing  them  in  cases  made  air-tight,  except 
at  the  bottom  through  which  the  ends  of  the  paddles  slightly  projected ; 
a  large  suction  pipe  proceeded  from  one  side  of  each  case  (near  its  cen¬ 
tre)  through  the  bows  of  the  vessel  and  terminated  below  the  water  line: 
by  the  revolution  of  the  wheels  water  was  drawn  through  these  tubes  into 
the  cases  and  forcibly  ejected  below  in  the  direction  of  the  stern,  and  by 
the  reaction  moved  the  vessel  forward.  J 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  preceding  observations  include  an  ac¬ 
count  of  all  rotary  pumps.  We  have  only  particularized  a  few  out  of  a 
gioat  multitude,  such  as  may  serve  as  types  of  the  various  classes  to  which 
they  belong.  .  Were  a  detailed  description  given  of  the  numerous  forms 
of  these  machines,  modes  of  operation,  devices  for  opening  and  closing  the 
valves,  moving  the  pistons,  diminishing  friction,  compensating  for  the  wear 
of  certain  parts,  for  packing  the  pistons,  &c.  &c.,  those  readers  who  are 
not  familiar  with  their  history  would  be  surprised  at  the  ingenuity  dis¬ 
played,  and  would  be  apt  to  conclude  that  all  the  sources  of  mechanical 
combinations  had  been  exhausted  on  them.  We  would  advise  every 
mechanic  who  thinks  he  has  discovered  an  improvement  in  rotary  pumps, 
carefully  to  examine  the  Repertory  of  Arts,  the  Transactions  of  the  So¬ 
ciety  of  Arts,  the  London  Mechanics’  Magazine,  and  particularly  the 
journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  of  Pennsylvania,  before  incurring  the 
expenses  of  a  patent,  or  those  incident  to  the  making  of  models&  and 
experiments. 

Rotary  pumps  have  never  retained  a  permanent  place  among  machines 
for  raising  water:  they  are,  as  yet,  too  complex  and  too  easily  deranged 
to  be  adapted  for  common  use.  Theoretically  considered  they  are  per¬ 
fect  machines,  but  the  practical  difficulties  attending  their  construction 
have  hitherto  rendered  them  (like  rotary  steam  engines)  inferior  to  others. 
Io  make  them  efficient,  their  working  parts  require  to  be  adjusted  to  each 
other  with  unusual  accuracy  and  care,  and  even  when  this  is  accomplished, 
their  efficiency  is,  by  the  unavoidable  wear  of  those  parts,  speedily  dimi¬ 
nished  or  destroyed  :  their  first  cost  is  greater  than  that  of  common  pumps, 
and  the  expense  of  keeping  them  in  order  exceeds  that  of  others ;  they 
cannot,  moreover,  be  repaired  by  ordinary  workmen,  since  peculiar  tools 
are  required  for  the  purpose — a  farmer  might  almost  as  well  attempt  to 
repair  a  watch  as  one  of  these  machines.  Hitherto,  a  rotary  pump  has 
been  like  the  Psalmist’s  emblem  of  human  life  : — “  Its  days  are  as  grass, 
as  a  ower  o  the  field  it  flourisheth,  the  wind  [of  experience]  passeth 
over  it,  and  it  is  gone:’  Were  we  inclined  to  prophecy,  we  should  pre¬ 
dict  that  in  the  next  century,  as  in  the  present  one,  the  cylindrical  pump 
will  retain  its  preeminence  over  all  others  ;  and  that  makers  of  the  ordi- 


292 


Reciprocating  Rotary  Pumps.  [Book  III 


nary  wooden  ones  will  then,  as  now,  defy  all  attempts  to  supersede  the 
object  of  their  manufacture. 

Reciprocating  rotary  pumps  : — One  of  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome 
in  making-  a  rotary  pump,  is  the  passage  of  the  piston  over  the  butment, 
or  over  the  space  it  occupies.  The  apparatus  for  moving  the  butment  as 
the  piston  approaches  to  or  recedes  from  it,  adds  to  the  complexity  of  the 
machine ;  nor  is  this  avoided  when  that  part  is  fixed,  for  an  equivalent 
movement  is  then  required  to  be  given  to  the  piston  itself  in  addition  to 
its  ordinary  one.  In  reciprocating  rotary  pumps  these  difficulties  are 
avoided  by  stopping  the  piston  when  it  arrives  at  one  side  of  the  butment 
and  then  reversing  its  motion  towards  the  other;  hence  these  are  less  com¬ 
plex  than  the  former  :  they  are,  however,  liable  to  some  of  the  same  objec¬ 
tions,  being  more  expensive  than  common  pumps,  more  difficult  to  repair, 
and  upon  the  whole  less  durable.  Their  varieties  may  be  included  in 
two  classes  according  to  the  construction  of  the  pistons  ;  those  that  are 
furnished  with  valves  forming  one,  and  such  as  have  none  the  other.  The 
range  of  the  pistons  in  these  pumps  varies  greatly;  in  some  the  arc  des¬ 
cribed  by  them  does  not  exceed  90°,  while  in  others  they  make  nearly  a 
complete  revolution.  They  are  of  old  date,  various  modifications  of  them 
having  been  proposed  in  the  16th  century.  No.  139  consists  of  a  close 
case  of  the  form  of  a  sector  of  a  circle,  having  an  opening  at  the  bottom 
for  the  admission  of  water,  and  another  to  which  a  forcing  pipe  with  its 
valve  is  attached.  A  movable  radius  or  piston  is  turned  on  a  centre  by 
a  lever  as  represented ;  thus,  when  the  latter  is  pulled  down  towards  the 
left,  the  former  drives  the  contents  of  the  case  through  the  valve  in  the 
ascending  pipe. 


No.  139. 


No.  140. 


Belidor  has  described  a  similar  pump  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Arch. 
Hydraul.  379.  The  case  is  a  larger  portion  of  a  circle  than  that  of  No. 
139,  and  the  piston  is  furnished  with  a  valve.  A  pump  on  the  same  prin¬ 
ciple  was  adopted  by  Bramah  as  a  fire-engine  in  1793  :  His  was  a  short 
cylinder,  to  the  movable  axle  of  which  two  pistons  were  attached  that 
extended  quite  across,  and  had  an  opening  covered  by  a  clack  in  each. 

No.  140  consists  of  a  short  horizontal  cylinder:  a  portion  of  the  lower 
part  is  separated  from  the  rest  by  a  plate  where  the  suction  pipe  termi¬ 
nates  in  two  openings  that  are  covered  by  clacks  c  c.  The  partition  A 


Chap.  6.J  Application  of  Tumps  in  Modern  Water -ivories.  293 

extends  through  the  entire  length  of  the  cylinder  and  is  made  air  and 
water  tight  to  both  ends,  and  also  to  the  plate  upon  which  its  lower  edge 
rests.  1  he  upper  edge  extends  to  the  under  side  of  the  axle  to  which 
the  piston  13  is  united.  One  end  of  the  axle  is  passed  through  the  cylin¬ 
der  and  the  opening  made  tight  by  a  stuffing  box  ;  it  is  moved  by  a  crank 
or  lever.  Near  the  clacks  c  c  two  other  openings  are  made  through  the 
plate,  to  which  two  forcing  pipes  are  secured.  These  tubes  are  bent 
round  the  outside  of  the  cylinder  and  meet  in  the  chamber  C  where  their 
orifices  are  covered  by  clacks.  1  hus  when  the  piston  is  turned  in  either 
direction,  it  drives  the  water  before  it  through  one  or  other  of  these  tubes; 
at  the  same  time  the  void  left  behind  it  is  kept  filled  by  the  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere  on  the  surface  of  the  liquid  in  which  the  lower  orifice  of 
the  suction  pipe  is  placed.  The  edges  of  the  pistons  are  made  to  work 
close  to  the  ends  and  rim  of  the  cylinder  by  means  of  strips  of  leather 
screwed  to  them.  Modifications  of  these  pumps  have  also  been  used  in 
England  as  fire-engines. 

Reciprocating  rotary  pumps  have  sprung  up  at  different  times  both  here 
and  ln^hiurope,  and  have  occasionally  obtained  “  a  local  habitation  and  a 
name,”  but  have  never  become  perfectly  domesticated,  we  believe,  in  any 
country.  We  have  seen  some  designed  for  ordinary  use  that  were  ele¬ 
gantly  finished,  and  decorated  with  gilding  and  japan — they  resembled 
chose  exotic  plants  which  require  peculiar  care,  and  are  rather  for  orna¬ 
ment  than  for  use. 

Reciprocating  rotary  pumps  have  also  been  proposed  as  steam-en°ines„ 
Watt  patented  one  in  1782. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Application  of  pumps  in  -modern  water-works :  First  used  by  the  Germans— Water-works  at  A-uge- 
"burgh  and  Bremen— Singular  android  in  the  latter  eity— Old  water-works  at  Toledo— At  London  bridge 
—Other  Loudon  works  moved  by  horses,  water,  wind  and  steam— Water  engine  at  Exeter— Water¬ 
works  erected  on  Pent  Neuf  and  Pont  Notre  Dame  at  Paris— Celebrated  works  at  Marli— Error  of  Rau- 

aequin  in  making  them  unnecessarily  complex.  American  water-works:  A  history  of  them  desirable _ 

introduction  of  pumps  into  wells  in  New-York  city-Extracts  from  the  minutes  of  the  Common  Council 
previous  to  the  war  of  independence — Public  water-works  proposed  and  commenced  in  1774 _ Trea¬ 

sury  notes  issued  to  meet  the  expense— Copy  of  one— Manhattan  Company— Water-works  at  Fair 
Mount,  Philadelphia. 


Before  noticing  another  and  a  different  class  of  machines,  we  propose 
to  occupy  this  and  the  two  next  chapters  with  observations  on  the  em¬ 
ployment  of  pumps  in  “  water-works,”  and  as  engines  to  extinguish  fires 
— both  m  this  country  and  in  Europe. 

The  hydraulic  machinery  for  supplying  modern  cities  with  water  (Gene¬ 
rally  consists  of  a  series  of  forcing  pumps  very  similar  to  the  machine  of 
Ctesibius,  (No.  120 ;)  and  when  employed  to  raise  water  from  rapid 
-streams,  or  where  from  tides  or  dams  a  sufficient  current  can  be  obtained 
are  worked  hke  it  by  under  or  by  overshot  wheels.  An  account  of  old 
iLuropean  water- works  is  an  important  desideratum,  for  it  would  throw 
light  on  the  history  of  pumps  in  the  middle  ages,  during  which  little  or 
3?°t  V1®  respecting  them  is  known.  The  older  eities  of  Germany  were  the 
arst  in  modern  days  that  adopted  them  to  raise  water  for  public  purposes ; 
^ut  o  t  eir  construction,  materials,  and  application  under  various  circum 
-stances,  we  have  no  information  in  detail.  Riviue,  in  his  Commentary  on 


294 


[Book  III. 


Tump  Engines  in  Germany. 

the  machine  of  Ctesibius,  speaks  of  pumps  worked  by  water  wheels  as 
then  common,  (A.  D.  1548.)  The  hydraulic  engines  at  Augsburgh  were 
at  one  time  greatly  celebrated.  They  are  mentioned,  but  not  described, 
by  Misson  and  other  travelers  of  the  17th  century.  1  hey  raised  the  water 
130  feet.  Blainville,  in  1705,  speaks  of  them  as  among  the  curiosities  of 
the  city.  He  observes — “  The  towers  which  furnish  water  to  this  city  are 
also  curious.  They  are  near  the  gate  called  the  Red  Pori,  upon  a  branch 
of  the  Leclc  which  runs  through  the  city.  Mills  which  go  day  and  night, 
by  means  of  this  torrent,  work  a  great  many  pumps,  which  raise  water  in 
large  leaden  pipes  to  the  highest  story  in  these  towers.  In  the  middle  of 
a  chamber  on  each  of  them,  which  is  very  neatly  and  handsomely  ceil- 
ing’d,  is  a  reservoir  of  a  hexagonal  figure,  into  which  the  water  is  carried 
by  a  large  pipe,  the  extremity  of  which  is  made  like  a  dolphin,  and  through 
an  urn  or  vase  held  by  a  statue  sitting  in  the  middle  of  the  reservoir. 
Oue  of  these  towers  sends  water  to  all  the  public  fountains  by  smaller 
pipes,  and  the  three  others  supply  with  water  a  thousand  houses  in  the 
city  ;  each  of  which  pays  about  eight  crowns  yearly,  and  receives  a  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty  pretty  large  measures  of  water  every  hour.”  Travels, 
vol.  i,  250.  Misson’s  Travels,  5  ed.  vol.  i,  137. 

Contemporary  with  the  engines  at  Augsburgh  was  one  at  Bremen  that 
is  mentioned  by  several  writers  of  the  17th  century.  It  was  erected  on 
one  of  the  bridges  and  moved  by  a  water  wheel  :  it  raised  water  into  a 
reservoir  at  a  considerable  elevation,  whence  the  liquid  was  distributed 
to  all  parts  of  the  city.  An  old  author  when  speaking  of  it,  mentions  an 
android  in  Bremen,  a  species  of  mechanism  for  which  the  Germans  were 
at  one  time  famous.  At  the  entrance  of  the  arsenal,  he  observes,  “  stands 
the  figure  of  a  warrior  arm’d  cap-a-pe,  who,  by  mechanism  under  the 
steps,  as  soon  as  you  tread  on  them,  lifts  up  the  bever  of  his  helmet  with 
his  truncheon  to  salute  you.” 

There  was  also  a  celebrated  water-engine  at  Toledo,  the  former  capital 
of  Spain.  It  raised  the  water  of  the  Tagus  to  the  top  of  the  Alcazar,  a 
magnificent  palace  erected  on  the  summit  of  the  declivity  on  which  the  city 

built ;  the  elevation  being  “  five  hundred  cubits  from  the  surface  of  the 
river.”  What  the  particular  construction  of  this  machine  was  we  have 
not  been  able  to  ascertain,  nor  whether  it  was  originally  erected  by  the 
Moors  who  built  the  palace.  It  is  mentioned  by  Moreri  as  a  “wonderful 
hydraulic  engine  which  draws  up  the  water  from  the  river  Tagus  to  so 
great  a  height,  that  it  is  thence  conveyed  in  pipes  to  the  whole  city  ;”  but 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century  (1751)  the  author  of  the  Grand  Gazetteer, 
or  Topographic  Dictionary,  remarks  (page  1289)  that  this  “  admirable 
engine”  was  then  “•  entirely  ruined.” 

The  introduction  of  pump  engines  into  the  publie  water- works  of  Eng¬ 
land  and  France  is  sufficiently  ascertained.  This  did  not  take  place  till 
long  after  they  had  been  employed  in  Germany  ;  and  both  London  and 
Paris  were  indebted  to  engineers  of  that  country  for  the  first  machines  to 
raise  water  from  the  Thames  and  the  Seine.  Previous  to  their  introduc¬ 
tion,  cities  were  commonly  supplied  from  springs  by  means  of  pipes.  As 
early  as  A.  D.  1236,  the  corporation  of  London  commenced  to  lay  a  six 
inch  leaden  pipe  from  some  springs  at  Tyburn,  a  village  at  that  time  some 
miles  distant  from  the  city.  This  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  at¬ 
tempt  to  convey  water  to  that  city  through  pipes ,  and  fifty  years  elapsed 
before  the  whole  was  completed.  These  pipes  were  formed  of  sheet  lead 
and  the  seams  were  soldered  :  part  of  them  was  accidentally  discovered 
in  1745  while  making  some  excavations,  and  another  portion  in  1765.  (Lon¬ 
don  Mag.  for  1765,  p.  377.)  In  1439  the  abbot  of  Westminster,  in  whom. 


London  Water-works. 


295 


Chap.  6.] 

the  right  of  the  soil  was  vested,  granted  “  to  Robert  Large  the  mayor  and 
citizens  of  London,  and  their  successors,  one  head  [reservoir]  of  water, 
containing  twenty-six  perches  in  length  and  one  in  breadth,  together  with 
all  its  springs  in  the  manor  of  Paddington:  in  consideration  of  which 
grant,  the  city  is  for  ever  to  pay  to  the  said  abbot  or  his  successors,  at  the 
least  of  St.  Peter,  two  pepper  corns.”  This  grant  was  confirmed  by  Henry 
v  I,  who  at  the  same  time  authorized  the  mayor  and  citizens,  by  a  writ  of 
the  privy  seal,  to  purchase  two  hundred  fothers  of  lead  “  for  the  intended 
works  of  pipes  and  conduits,  and  to  impress  plumbers  and  labourers.” 
Maitland’s  Hist,  of  London,  pp.  48,  107. 

In  the  33d  year  of  Henry  VIII,  the  mayor  of  the  city  of  Gloceslcr,  with 
the  dean  of  the  church  there,  were  authorized  to  “  convey  water  in  pipes 
of  lead,  gutters  and  trenches  from  a  neighbouring  hill,  “  satisfying  the 
owners  of  the  ground  there  for  the  digging  thereof.”*  In  the  following 
year,  the  mayor  and  burgesses  of  Poole  were  authorized  to  erect  a  wind 
mill  on  the  king  s  waste  ground,  and  a  conduit  head  sixteen  feet  square, 
“  an(i  to  <%  draw  [water]  in,  by,  through  and  upon  all  places  meet 
and  convenient,  into  and  from  the  same,  & c. — yielding  yearly  to  the  kina' 
and  his  heirs  one  pepper  corn.  ’**  It  would  appear  that  the  reservoir  was  in 
too  low  a  situation  for  its  contents  to  flow  through  pipes  to  the  town,  and 
hence  the  wind  mill  to  raise  it  sufficiently  for  that  purpose.  The  machine 
used  was  probably  the  chain  of  pots,  which,  as  remarked  page  125,  was  at 
that  time  often  employed  in  such  cases.  In  the  35th  of  Henry  VIII,  the 
corporation  of  London  was  authorized  to  draw  water  through  pipes  from 
various  villages  and  other  places  within  five  miles  of  the  city,  and  for  this 
purpose  to  enter  any  grounds  not  enclosed  with  “  stone,  brick  or  ’mud 
walls,  and  there  to  dig  pits,  trenches  and  ditches  ;  to  erect  heads,  lay 
pipes,  and  make  vaults  and  suspirals,”  &c.  Two  years  afterwards,  (A.  D. 
1546,)  a  law  was  passed  by  which  those  who  destroyed  conduit  heads  and 
pipes,  were  put  to  death.6  In  1547,  William  Lamb  conveyed  water  in  a 
leaden  pipe  from  a  conduit  or  spring,  which  still  bears  his  name.d 

In  1582,  the  first  pump  machines  were  used  in  London.  In  that  year 
Peter  Maurice,  a  German  engineer,  proposed  to  erect  a  machine  on  the 
Thames  for  the  more  effectual  supply  of  the  city,  “  which  being  approved 
of,  he  erected  the  same  in  the  river  near  London  bridge,  which  by  suction 
and  pressure,  through  pumps  and  valves,  raised  water  to  such  a  height  as 
to  supply  the.  uppermost  rooms  of  the  loftiest  buildings,  in  the  highest 
part  of  the  city  therewith,  to  the  great  admiration  of  all.  This  curious 
machine,  the  first  of  the  kind  that  ever  was  seen  in  England,  was  so  highly 
approved  of,  that  the  lord  mayor  and  common  council,  as  an  encourage¬ 
ment  for  the  ingenious  engineer  to  proceed  in  so  useful  an  undertaking 
granted  him  the  use  of  one  of  the  arches  of  London  bridge  to  place  Ins 
engine  in,  for  the  better  working  thereof.”e  Maurice’s  engine  consisted 
of  a  series  of  forcing  pumps  (similar  to  Nos.  118  and  121)  seven  inches  in 
diameter,  and  the  pistons  had  a  stroke  of  thirty  inches;  they  were  worked 
by  an  undershot  wheel  that  was  placed  under  one  of  the  arches  and 
turned,  by  the  current,  during  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide  ;  the  water 
was  raised  to  an  elevation  of  120  feet.  The  number  of  pumps  and  wheels 
was  subsequently  increased ;  but  in  1822,  when  the  old  bridge  was  taken 
down,  the  whole  were  removed/ 

Two  years  before  Maurice  undertook  to  raise  water  from  the  Thames, 
Stow  says — “  One  Russel  proposed  to  bring  water  from  Isleworth,  viz  : 

*  Statutes  at  large.  Lon.  1681.  b Ibid.  'Ibid.  <*  Maitland,  158.  e  Ibid.  160. 

description  of  the  London  Bridge  Water-works,  by  Beighton,  may  be  seen  in  the 
Philos.  Trans,  vol.  vi,  353,  and  in  Desagnliers’  Philos,  ii,  436. 


296 


French  Water-works. 


[Book  III. 


the  river  Uxbridge  to  the  said  north  of  London  ;  and  that  by  a  geometrical 
instrument :  he  propounded  the  invention  to  Lord  Burleigh.”  In  1594, 
Bevis  Bulmer,  an  English  engineer,  undertook  to  supply  a  small  district 
of  the  city  with  Thames  water,  which  he  raised  by  four  pumps  that  were 
worked  by  horses.  They  were  continued  in  use  till  the  time  that  Mait¬ 
land  commenced  his  history,  viz  :  to  1725.  The  pumps  of  other  London 
works  were  moved  by  horses,  by  wind  mills,  and  others  by  the  current 
of  the  common  sewer.®  About  the  year  1767,  one  of  Newcomen’s  steam- 
engines  was  erected  at  the  London  bridge  works  to  raise  water  at  neap 
tides,  and  also  as  a  security  against  fire  during  the  turning  of  the  tide, 
when  the  wheels  were  consequently  at  rest.  A  company  was  incorpo¬ 
rated  in  1691  to  supply  the  neighbourhood  of  York  Buildings  with  Thames 
water:  Newcomen’s  engines  were  employed;  and  the  pumps  had  solid 
plungers,  one  of  which  we  have  figured  and  described  at  page  272 — 
Maitland  enumerates  them  among  other  causes  of  the  company’s  embarrass¬ 
ments  :  “  the  directors,  by  purchasing  estates,  erecting  new  water- works 
[new  machines  for  raising  water]  and  other  pernicious  projects,  have  almost 
ruined  the  corporation ;  however,  their  chargeable  engines  for  raising 
water  by  fire,  being  laid  aside,  they  continue  to  work  that  of  horses,  which, 
together  with  their  estates  in  England  and  Scotland,  may  in  time  restore 
the  company’s  affairs.”b  A  figure  of  this  chargeable  engine  is  inserted  in 
the  second  volume  of  La  Motraye’s  Travels. 

The  author  of  the  Grand  Gazetteer,  a  folio  of  nearly  1500  pages,  pub¬ 
lished  in  1751,  was  a  native  of  Exeter,  on  which  account  he  excuses  him¬ 
self  for  describing  that  city  at  large ;  after  mentioning  some  ancient  «on- 
duits  he  observes  : — “  this  city  is  otherwise  well  watered,  and  not  only  by 
most  houses  of  note  having  wells  and  pumps  of  their  own,  but  by  the  river 
water  being  forced  by  a  curious  water-engine,  through  pipes  of  bored  trees 
laid  under  ground,  even  up  to  the  very  steep  hill  at  Northgate  Street; 
and  then  by  pipes  of  lead  into  the  houses  of  such  inhabitants  as  pay  a  very 
moderate  price  for  such  benefit.  The  said  water  house  and  engine  were 
begun  about  Anno.  1694.”  This  extract  shows  that  at  the  close  of  the  17th 
century,  such  works  were  not  very  common  in  English  cities:  of  this  there 
are  numerous  indications  :  thus  at  Norwich  “  the  water- works  at  the  new 
mills  were  undertaken  in  1697,  and  completed  in  about  two  years.”* 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  IV  of  France,  John  Lintlaer,  a  Fleming, 
erected  an  engine  consisting  of  lifting  pumps  (such  as  No.  125)  at  the  Pont 
Neuf  which  were  worked  by  the  current  of  the  Seine.  The  water  was 
raised  above  the  bridge  and  conveyed  in  pipes  to  the  Louvre  and  Tuille- 
ries.  This  engine  received  the  appellation  of  The  Samaritan,  from  bronze 
figures  of  Christ  and  the  woman  of  Samaria,  which  decorated  the  front  of 
the  building  in  which  it  was  enclosed.  The  success  that  attended  this 
experiment,  led  to  the  erection  of  similar  engines  at  Pont  Notre  Dame,  a 
figure  of  one  of  the  pumps  of  which  is  inserted  at  page  277. 

The  most  elaborate  machine  ever  constructed  for  raising  water  was 
probably  the  famous  one  at  Marli ,  near  Paris,  for  supplying  the  public 
gardens  at  Versailles  from  the  Seine.  It  was  designed  by  Rannequin,  a 
Dutch  engineer,  and  set  to  work  in  1682,  at-  a  cost  of  eight  millions  of 
livres — about  a  million  and  half  of  dollars.d  We  are  not  aware  that  any 
description  of  it  in  detail  was  ever  published  till  Belidor  inserted  a  short 
account  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Architecture  Hydraulique  in  1739 ; 
and  such  was  its  magnitude  and  the  multiplicity  of  its  parts,  that  he  was 

»  Maitland,  pp.  622,  628.  k  Ibid  634.  c  Norfolk  Tour,  Norwich,  1795. 

d  Desaguliers  says  “eighty  niillious,  about  four  millions  of  pounds  sterling,”  bu* 
Belidor  has  only  eight. 


Water -works  at  Marli. 


297 


Chap.  6.] 

f()r  a  long  time  unwilling  to  undertake  its  elucidation,  on  account  of  the 
difficulty  of  describing  it  with  sufficient  precision.  Its  general  features 
may  be  sketched  in  a  few  words,  but  a  volume  of  letter- press  and  another 
of  plates,  would  be  required  to  explain  and  delineate  the  whole  minutely. 

1  he  reservoir  or  head  of  the  aqueduct,  into  which  water  from  the 
^eme  was  raised  by  this  machine,  was  constructed  on  the  top  of  a  hill, 
614  tenses,  or  three  quarters  of  a  mile,  from  the  river,  and  at  an  elevation 
of  533  feet  (English)  above  it.  To  obtain  a  sufficient  motive  power,  the 
river  was  barred  up  by  a  dam,  and  its  whole  width  divided,  by  piles,  into 
foui  teen  distinct  water  courses,  into  each  of  which  a  large  undershot  wheel 
was  erected.  The  wheels,  by  means  of  cranks  attached  to  both  ends  of 
their  axles,  imparted  motion  to  a  number  of  vibrating  levers,  and  through 
these  to  the  piston  rods  of  between  200  and  300  sucking  and  forcing 
pumps  !  The  pumps  were  divided  into  three  separate  sets.  The  first  con¬ 
tained  64,  which  were  placed  near  the  river,  and  were  worked  by  six  of 
the  wheels  :  they  drew  the  water,  by  short  suction  pipes,  out  of  the  river 
and  forced  it  through  iron  pipes,  up  the  hill;  but  instead  of  these  pipes 
being  continued  directly  to  the  reservoir,  (which  might  have  been  done 
by  making  them  and  the  machinery  of  sufficient  strength,)  Rannequin 
made  them  terminate  in  a  large  cistern,  built  for  the  purpose,  at  the  dis¬ 
tance  from  the  river  of  100  fathoms  only,  and  at  an  elevation  of  about  160 
feet.  In  this  cistern  he  then  placed  79  other  pumps  (the  second  set)  to 
force  the  water  thence  to  another  cistern  224  fathoms  further  up  the  hill, 
and  at  an  elevation  of  185  feet  above  the  other.  In  this  last  cistern  82 
pumps  more  (the  third  set)  were  fixed,  which  forced  the  contents  to  the 
reservoir. 

In  thus  dividing  the  work,  Rannequin  made  a  mistake  for  which  no  in¬ 
genuity  could  compensate  :  as  the  second  and  third  sets  of  pumps  con¬ 
taining  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty-one ,  with  all  the  apparatus  for 
working  them,  merely  transferred  through  a  part  of  the  distance,  the  water 
which  the  first  set  drew  directly  from  the  river,  they  were  in  reality  un¬ 
necessary,  because  the  first  set  might  have  been  made  to  force  it  through 
the  whole  distance  ;  hence  they  not  only  uselessly  consumed  (at  least) 
four  fifths  of  the  power  employed,  but  they  rendered  the  whole  mass  of 
machinery  cumbersome  and  complicated  in  the  highest  degree  ;  and  con¬ 
sequently  extremely  inefficient,  and  subject  to  continual  repairs.  The 
first  set  of  pumps,  as  already  observed,  were  worked  by  the  wheels  near 
which  they  were  placed,  and  the  remaining  wheels  imparted  motion  to 
the  piston  rods  of  the  second  and  third  sets,  in  the  two  cisterns  on  the  hill: 
of  these,  therefore,  eighty-two  pumps  were  stationed  at  an  elevation  of 
upwards  of  three  hundred  feet  above  the  power  that  worked  them ;  and 
nearly  half  a  mile  from  it  !  and  seventy-nine  were  one  hundred  fathoms 
from  the  wheel,  and  160  feet  above  them!  To  work  these  pumps,  a  num¬ 
ber  of  chains,  or  jointed  iron  rods,  were  extended  on  frames  above  the 
ground,  all  the  way  from  the  cranks  on  the  water  wheels  in  the  river  to 
both  cisterns,  where  they  were  connected  to  the  vibrating  beams  to  which 
the  piston  rods  were  attached.  It  was  the  transmission  of  power  to  such 
elevations  and  extraordinary  distances  by  these  chains,  that  acquired  for 
the  machine  the  title  of  “a  monument  of  ignorance.” 

A  writer  in  the  Penny  Magazine  (vol.  iv,  page  240)  who  examined  the 
machine  m  1815,  says  the  sound  of  these  rods  working  was  like  that  of  a 
num  ier  of  wagons  loaded  with  bars  of  iron  running  down  a  hill  with 
axles  never  greased..  The  creaking  and  clanking  (he  observes)  must  have 
convinced  the  most  ignorant  person  that  the  expenditure  of  power  was 
enormously  beyond  what  was  required  for  the  purpose  effected.  It  has 

38 


298 


American  Water-works. 


[Book  III 


been  estimated  that  95  per  cent  of  the  power  was  expended  in  communi¬ 
cating  motion  to  the  apparatus  ! 

The  evil  of  working  the  pumps  with  shafts  and  chains  at  such  great 
distances  from  the  power,  was  seen  a  few  years  after  the  machine  was 
completed.  In  1738  an  attempt  was  made  by  M.  Camus  to  raise  the 
water  to  the  reservoir  by  a  single  lift.  The  attempt  succeeded  but  par¬ 
tially,  and  the  machine  was  much  strained  by  the  extraordinary  effort, 
chiefly  because  only  a  small  portion  of  the  power  was  used  ;  viz  :  those 
wheels  that  raised  the  water  into  the  first  cistern;  the  others  which  moved 
the  shafts  and  chains  abovementioned,  not  being  applicable  for  the  pur¬ 
pose.  But  even  this  comparatively  small  power  forced  the  water  to  the 
reservoir,  and  thus  demonstrated  the  practicability  of  completing  the  work 
at  one  throw,  if  the  whole  apparatus  had  been  adapted  accordingly.  No¬ 
thing  more  was  done  for  nearly  forty  years,  and  the  machine  proceeded 
as  before  till  1775,  when  another  trial  was  made  to  raise  the  water  only 
to  the  second  cistern :  this  succeeded,  and  it  was  then  hoped  that  the  first 
cistern  would  be  dispensed  with;  but  many  of  the  old  pipes  burst  from 
the  undue  strain  upon  them,  financial  difficulties  impeded  their  renewal, 
and  the  old  plan  was  once  more  resorted  to.  The  water  wheels  at  last 
fell  into  decay  and  were  replaced  by  a  steam  engine,  of  sixty-four  horse 
power,  by  order  of  Napoleon;  but  the  old  shafts,  chains,  pipes  and  cisterns, 
&c.  still  remain. 

We  have  mentioned  only  225  pumps,  but  there  were  in  all  upwards  of 
250 ;  some  being  feeders  to  others,  and  to  keep  water  always  over  the 
pistons  of  those  near  the  river.  As  each  pump  had  two  valves,  an  im¬ 
mense  quantity  of  water  must  have  escaped  at  every  stroke  on  the  open¬ 
ing  and  closing  of  500  of  these  ;  to  which  may  be  added  that  which  leaked 
past  the  leathers  or  packing  of  the  pistons,  and  through  the  innumerable 
joints.  The  64  pumps  near  the  river  were  placed  in  a  perpendicular  posi¬ 
tion  and  had  solid  pistons.  They  resembled  No.  118,  except  that  the  suck¬ 
ing  as  well  as  forcing  pipes  were  united  to  the  sides  of  the  cylinders  : 
those  in  the  cisterns  had  hollow  pistons,  and  the  cylinders  were  inverted 
and  immersed  in  the  water  :  one  of  them  is  represented  at  No.  126. 

Am  eric  an  water-works. — A  history  of  these  is  desirable  and  is  cer¬ 
tainly  due  to  posterity.  There  are  circumstances  connected  with  their 
origin,  plans,  progress  a.nd  execution,  especially  in  the  older  cities  of  the 
Union,  of  Mexico  and  the  Canadas,  that  ought  to  be  preserved.  An  ac¬ 
count  of  them  would  be  useful  to. future  engineers,  and,  as  a  record  of  his¬ 
torical  and  statistical  facts,  would  include  matter  of  general  interest  in  com¬ 
ing  times.  The  circumstances  attending  the  first  use  of  pumps  and  fire- 
engines,  &c.  may  now  be  deemed  too  trifling  to  deserve  particular  notice, 
but  they  will  increase  in  interest  as  time  grows  older.  When  the  destiny 
that  awaits  the  republic  is  accomplished — when  the  continent  becomes 
studded  with  cities  from  one  ocean  to  the  other,  and  civilization,  science 
and  self  government  pervade  the  whole,  then  every  incident  relating  to  the 
early  cultivation  of  the  useful  arts  and  improvements  of  machinery  will  be 
sought  for  with  avidity  and  be  dwelt  upon  with  delight.  Why  should  not 
the  introduction  of  the  most  useful  materials,  manufactures  and  implements 
into  this  mighty  continent  form  episodes  in  its  history,  as  well  as  the 
fleece,  the  auger,  saw,  or  bellows  in  that  of  classic  Greece  ?  And  why 
should  not  the  names  of  those  persons  be  preserved  from  oblivion  who 
here  made  the  first  pump  and  fire-engine,  the  first  cog  wheel  and  steam- 
engine — who  built  the  first  ship,  forged  the  first  anchor,  erected  the  first 
saw,  slitting,  or  grist  mill — who  made  the  first  plough,  grew  the  first  wheat, 
raised  the  first  silk,  wove  the  first  web,  cast  the  first  type,  made  the  first 


299 


Chap.  6.]  Introduction  of  Pumps  into  Wells  in  New-  York. 


paper,  printed  the  first  book,  &c.  &c.  1  It  is  such  men  as  these  and  their 
successors,  that  found,  strengthen  and  enrich '  a  nation — who,  without  o~- 
tentanon  or  parade,  promote  its  real  independence— men,  whose  labors 
should  be  mentioned  in  the  national  archives  with  honor,  and  whose  st:  - 
tues  and  portraits  should  occupy  the  niches  and  panels  of  the  capitol. 

I  he  precise  time  when  pumps  were  first  introduced  into  New- York  is 
uncertain.  _  Ihis  city,  as  is  well  known,  was  founded  by  the  Dutch  in  1614 
who  gave  it  the  appellation  of  New- Amsterdam,  and  to  the  colony  that  of 
iNevv-l\etherlands  ;  names  that  were  continued  till  the  British,  in  1664, 
took  possession  of  both  and  imposed  the  present  ones.  In  examining-  the 
manuscript  Dutch  records  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  Common  Coun¬ 
cil  :  (a  volume  of  which  including  the  period  that  extends  from  May  29, 
1647,  to  1661,  has  been  translated,)  we  have  not  met  with  any  reference 
to  pumps,  either  in  wells  or  as  fire-engines.  In  the  first  volume  of  “  Mi¬ 
nutes  of  the  Common  Council ”  (in  manuscript)  which  embraces  the  trans¬ 
actions  from  October  1675  to  October  1691,  are  several  ordinances  relating 
to  wells ,  but  no  mention  is  made  of  pumps  or  other  devices  by  which  the 
water  was  raised.  In  the  second  volume  under  the  date  of  August  31  1694 
a  resolution  directed  that  “  the  public  wells  within  the  city  be  repaired  as 
formerly.”  From  the  following  extract  it  appears  that  the  water  was 
raised  by  a  cord  and  bucket,  a  windlass,  or  a  swape :  September  24, 1700, 
“  Ordered  that  the  neighbourhood  that  live  adjacent  to  the  king’s  farm 
and  have  benefit  of  the  public  well  there  built,  do  contribute  to  the  charge 
thereof  m  proportion,  or  else  be  debarred  from  drawing  water  there.” 

In  the  third  volume,  containing  minutes  from  February  1702  to  March 
1722,  are  notices  respecting  wells  to  be  dug  and  others  to  be  filled  up,  but 
nothing  is  said  respecting  pumps  being  placed  in  any.  The  same  remark 
applies  to  the  fourth  volume,  including  a  period  of  eighteen  years,  viz  : 
from  April  1722  to  September  1740;  and  yet  it  would  seem  that  pumps 
were  at  this  last  date  used  in  some  of  the  public  wells,  for  in  the  fifth 
volume  under  the  date  of  October  25, 1741,  they  are  referred  to  in  a  “draft 
of  a  bill  for  mending  and  keeping  in  repair  the  public  wells  and  pumps  in 
this  city ;”  and  again  November  8,  1752,  a  bill  was  before  the  corporation 
“for  keeping  in  repair  the  public  wells  and  pumps;  and  January  10,  1769, 
two  hundred  pounds  [were]  ordered  to  be  raised  “  for  mending  and  keeping 
m  repair  the  public  wells  and  pumps.”  The  precise  period  when  pumps 
were  first  introduced  is  therefore  uncertain ;  but  from  the  language  of  the 
minute  of  October  1741,  it  would  appear  that  they  had  then  been  some 
time  in  use  in  public  wells  ;  and  from  another  minute  in  the  same  volume, 
m  private  wells  also,  for  it  was  ordered  that  “  the  pump”  of  an  individual 
should  be  deemed  a  public  one  and  kept  in  repair  at  the  public  expense, 
on  an  application  to  that  effect  being  made  by  the  owner. 

From  the  rapid  growth  of  the  city8  the  number  of  wells  was  increased, 
as  now,  every  year,  and  in  1774  measures  were  taken  to  insure  a  more' 
abundant  supply  from  a  large  well  in  the  Collect,  the  water  to  be  raised 
by  machinery  and  distributed  through  the  city  in  wooden  pipes.  On  the 
22d  April  of  that  year,  Christopher  Coles  proposed  to  the  corporation 
“  to  erect  a  reservoir  and  to  convey  water  through  the  several  streets  of 
this  city.  The  proposition  was  subsequently  approved  of,  and  Mr.  Coles 
directed  “  to  enlarge  the  well  and  proceed.”  A  committee  was  appointed 


“  In  1696  the 
1731  . 

1756  . 
1773  . 
1786  . 


population  was  4,302 
•  •  .  .  6,628 

•  •  .  .  10,381 

•  .  .  .  21,876 

....  23,614 


1790  . 

.  33,131 

1825  . 

.  167,059 

1800  . 

.  60,489 

1830  . 

.  203,007 

1810  . 

.  96,373 

1835  . 

.  270.089 

1820  . 

.  123,706 

> 

1840  . 

312,932 

300 


Philadelphia  Water-works. 


[Book  III. 


to  assist  him  and  to  superintend  the  works,  and  several  contracts  were 
made  for  materials.  To  meet  the  expense  =£2500  in  treasury  notes  were 
ordered  to  be  issued,  and  subsequently  further  amounts  were  printed  and 
issued.  One  of  the  small  notes  is  now  in  the  possession  of  John  Lozier, 
Esq.,  superintendent  of  the  Manhattan  water- works,  and  is  in  these  words: 

NEW-YORK  WATER-WORKS. 

No.  3842. 

This  note  shall  entitle  the  hearer  to  the  sum  of  TWO  SHILLINGS, 
current  money  of  the  colony  of  New-York,  payable  on  demand,  by  th „ 
Mayor,  Aldermen  and  Commonalty  of  the  city  of  New-  York,  at  the  office 
of  chamberlain  of  the  said  city,  pursuant  to  a  vote  of  the  said  Mayor,  Al¬ 
dermen  and  Commonalty  of  this  date.  Dated  the  second  day  of  August,  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-fve. 

By  order  of  the  Corporation,  Wm.  Waddell, 

ii  s.  J.  H.  Cruger. 


It  appears  that  the  well  (near  White  street)  was  enlarged,  and  a  reser¬ 
voir  built,  but  no  pipes  were  laid  nor  machinery  to  raise  water  erected 
before  the  war  broke  out  and  put  a  stop  to  the  work.  The  project  was 
not  again  revived  till  1797,  when  the  Manhattan  Company  was  incorpo¬ 
rated  :  the  present  wells  were  then  made  and  the  water  raised  by  three 
or  four  common  forcing  pumps,  worked  by  horses.  These  pumps  raised 
the  water  by  atmospheric  pressure  twenty-five  feet,  and  forced  it  forty 
feet  higher,  into  a  reservoir  in  the  Park  where  the  post  office  is  now  (1840) 
located.  In  1804  the  pumps  were  replaced  by  two  double  acting  ones 
(No.  122)  fifteen  inches  in  diameter  and  with  a  stroke  of  four  feet.  They 
were  and  still  are  worked  by  one  of  Watt’s  steam-engines.  The  water 
is  raised  to  the  same  elevation  as  before.  These  works  will  probably 
be  discontinued  as  soon  as  the  Croton  aqueduct,  now  being  constructed, 
is  finished. 

The  first  water-works  of  Philadelphia  were  commenced  in  1799,  and 
consisted  of  forcing  pumps,  worked  by  steam-engines  which  raised  water 
from  the  Schuylkill  intt)  a  reservoir  constructed,  at  an  elevation  of  50  feet, 
on  the  banks  of  that  river  ;  and  from  which  it  was  conveyed  to  the  city 
in  pipes  of  bored  logs.  In  1811  the  “  city  councils”  appointed  a  com¬ 
mittee  to  devise  means  for  procuring  a  more  perfect  supply  than  these 
works  afforded  :  and  shortly  after  it  was  determined  to  erect  two  steam- 
engines  and  pumps  on  another  location,  viz  :  at  Fair  Mount,  two  miles 
and  a  half  from  the  city,  and  near  the  upper  bridge  that  crosses  the  Schuyl¬ 
kill.  A  reservoir  318  feet  in  length,  167  in  width,  and  10  in  depth,  was 
made  at  an  elevation  of  98  feet,  into  which  the  pumps  forced  water  from 
the  river. 

The  great  expense  attending  the  employment  of  steam-engines  led  to 
the  adoption  (in  1819)  of  water  as  the  moving  power.  A  dam  was  erected, 
and  in  1822  three  water  wheels  were  put  in  operation ;  these,  by  cranks 
on  their  axles  imparted  motion  through  a  connecting  rod  to  the  pistons  of 
the  pumps.  In  addition  to  the  water  consumed  in  turning  these  wheels, 
a  surplus  remained  to  work  five  additional  ones,  whenever  the  wants  of 
the  city  might  require  them.  An  additional  reservoir  was  also  made, 
which  contains  four  millions  of  gallons.  The  water  in  both  is  102  feet 
above  low  tide,  and  56  above  the  highest  ground  in  the  city.  Iron  pipes 
were  also  substituted  for  the  old  wooden  ones.  The  whole  was  executed 
under  the  directions  of  F.  Graff,  Esq. 

We  took  the  opportunity  while  at  Philadelphia  in  October  of  the  pre- 


Chap.  6.]  A  fine  specimen  of  Hydraulic  Machinery.  301 

• 

sent  year  (1840)  to  visit  Fair  Mount.  Six  breast  wheels  (15  feet  lon^  and 
16  feet  in  diameter)  were  in  operation ;  each,  by  a  crank  on  one  end  of 
its  axle,  communicating  motion  to  the  piston  rod  of  a  single  pump.a  The 
pumps  are  double  acting,  the  same  as  figured  and  described  at  page  271. 
They  are  placed  a  little  below  the  axles  of  the  wheels  and  in  nearly  a  ho¬ 
rizontal  position.  The  cylinders  are  16  inches  diameter;  and,  that  the 
water  may  not  be  pinched  in  its  passage  into  and  escape  from  them,  the 
induction  and  eduction  pipes  are  of  the  same  bore ;  and  all  angles  or 
abrupt  changes  in  their  direction  and  those  of  the  mains  are  avoided.  The 
stroke  of  two  or  three  of  the  pumps  was  four  feet,  and  their  wheels  made 
fourteen  revolutions  per  minute  :  the  others  had  a  stroke  of  five  feet  ten 
inches,  and  the  wheel)^  performed  eleven  revolutions  in  a  minute,  conse¬ 
quently  the  contents  ot  the  cylinders  of  the  latter  were  emptied  into  the 
reservoirs  twenty-two  times  in  the  same  period,  and  those  of  the  former 
twenty-eight  times.  The  cylinders  are  fed  under  a  head  of  water  from 
the  fore  bays  and  they  force  it  to  an  elevation  of  96  feet,  through  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  290.  An  air  chamber  is  adapted  to  each. 

It  is  impossible  to  examine  these  works  without  paying  homage  to  the 
science  and  skill  displayed  in  their  design  and  execution;  in  these  res¬ 
pects  no  hydraulic  works  in  the  Union  can  compete,  nor  do  we  believe 
they  are  excelled  by  any  in  the  world.  Not  the  smallest  leak  in  any  of 
the  joints  was  discovered  ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  water  rushing 
on  the  wheels,  the  whole  operation  of  forcing  up  daily  millions  of  gallons 
into  the  reservoirs  on  the  mount,  and  thus  furnishing  in  abundance  one  of 
the  first  necessaries  of  life  to  an  immense  population — was  performed  with 
less  noise  than  is  ordinarily  made  in  working  a  smith’s  bellows  !  The 
picturesque  location,  the  neatness  that  reigns  in  the  buildings,  the  walks 
around  the  reservoirs  and  the  grounds  at  large,  with  the  beauty  of  the  sur¬ 
rounding  scenery,  render  the  name  of  this  place  singularly  appropriate. 

Dr.  T.  P.  Jones,  the  talented  editor  of  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  In¬ 
stitute,  promised  his  readers  “  A  history  of  the  origin,  progress  and  pre¬ 
sent  state  of  the  Water- works  at  Fair  Mount,”  some  years  ago,  but  which 
has  not  yet  been  published.  His  familiarity  with  the  subject  in  general, 
and  with  those  works  in  particular,  would  make  the  history  highly  inter¬ 
esting  to  the  present  generation,  and  a  source  of  valuable  information  to 
future  ones.  See  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  vol.  iii,  first  series; 
which  contains  a  plan  and  section  of  one  of  the  wheels  and  one  of  the 
pumps. 


*  What  a  contrast  with  the  old  works  at  London  bridge,  where  one  wheel  worked  six¬ 
teen  small  pumps  ;  the  friction  of  the  numerous  pistons  and  the  apparatus  for  moving 
them  consuming  a  great  portion  of  the  power  employed 


302 


Fire  Engines. 


[Book  m. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Fire-engines  :  Probably  used  in  Babylon  and  Tyre — Employed  by  ancient  warriors — Other  devices  of 
theirs — Fire-engines  referred  to  by  Apollodorus — These  probably  equal  in  effect  to  ours:  Spiritalia  of 
Heron  :  Fire-engiue  described  in  it — Pumps  used  to  promote  conflagrations — Greek  fire,  a  liquid  pro¬ 
jected  by  pumps — Fires  and  wars  commonly  united — Generals,  the  greatest  incendiaries — Saying  of 
Crates  respecting  them— Fire  pumps  the  forerunners  of  guns — Use  of  engines  in  Rome — Mentioned  in  a 
letter  of  Pliny  to  Trajan,  and  by  Seneca,  Hesychius  and  Isidore.  Roman  firemen — Frequency  of  fires 
noticed  by  Juvenal — Detestable  practice  of  Crassus — Portable  engines  in  Roman  houses — Modern  en¬ 
gines  derived  from  the  Spiritalia— Forgotten  in  the  middle  ages — Superstitions  with  tegard  to  fires — Fires 
attributed  to  demons — Consecrated  bells  employed  as  substitutes  for  water  and  fire-engines — Extracts 
from  the  Paris  Ritual,  Wynken  de  Worde,  Barnaby  Googe  and  Peter  Martyr  respecting  them — Emble¬ 
matic  device  of  an  old  duke  of  Milan — Firemen’s  apparatus  from  Agricola — Syringes  used  in  Loudon  to 
quench  fires  in  the  17th  century — Still  employed  in  Constantinople — Anecdote  of  the  Capudan  Pacha — 
Syringe  engine  from  Besson — German  engines  of  the  16th  century — Pump  engine  from  Dccaus — Pump 
engines  in  London — Extracts  from  the  minutes  of  the  London  Common  Council  respecting  engines  and 
squirts  in  1667 — Experiment  of  Maurice  mentioned  by  Stow  the  historian — Extract  from  1  a  history  of  the 
first  inventors.’ 

Of  the  machines  described  in  the  1st  and  2d  books  some  are  employed 
in  raising  water  for  the  irrigation  of  land,  and  for  numerous  purposes  of 
rural  and  domestic  economy  ;  others  in  various  operations  of  engineering 
and  the  arts,  but  with  the  exception  of  the  centrifugal  pumps,  (Nos.  95,  6, 
and  7,)  the  liquid  falls  inertly  from  them  all — i.  e.  it  is  not  forcibly  ejected 
as  from  a  forcing  pump  or  syringe  :  whether  it  be  poured  from  a  bucket, 
drawn  from  a  gutter,  escape  from  a  noria,  or  from  the  orifice  of  a  screw, 
or  the  spout  of  an  atmospheric  pump,  it  flows  from  each  by  the  influence 
of  gravity  and  consequently  descends  as  it  flows — such  machines  are  there¬ 
fore  inapplicable  for  projecting  water  on  fires,  because  for  this  purpose  the 
liquid  is  required  to  ascend  after  leaving  the  apertures  of  discharge  and  with 
a  velocity  sufficient  to  carry  it  high  into  the  air ;  and  also  when  conveyed 
to  a  distance  through  flexible  or  other  tubes,  to  be  delivered  from  them  at 
elevations  far  above  the  machine  itself.  As  these  effects  are  produced  by 
the  pumps  described  in  the  present  division  of  the  subject,  most  of  them 
have  at  different  times  been  adopted  as  fire-engines;  some  account  of  these 
important  machines  may  therefore  be  inserted  here. 

Water  is  the  grand  agent  that,  nature  has  provided  for  the  extinguish¬ 
ment  of  flames,  and  contrivances  for  applying  it  with  effect  have,  in  every 
civilized  country,  been  assiduously  sought  for.  In  the  absence  of  more 
suitable  implements,  buckets  and  other  portable  vessels  of  capacity,  at  hand, 
have  always  been  seized  to  convey  and  throw  water  on  fires;  and  when 
used  with  celerity  and  presence  of  mind  at  the  commencement  of  one  have 
often  been  sufficient;  but  when  a  conflagration  extends  beyond  their  reach, 
the  fate  of  the  burning  pile  too  often  resembles  that  of  the  ships  of  Eneas: 

Nor  buckets  poured,  nor  strength  of  human  hand 

Can  the  victorious  element  withstand.  Eneid,  v. 

The  necessity  of  some  device  by  which  a  stream  of  water  might  be  forced 
from  a  distance  on  flames  must  have  been  early  perceived,  and  if  we  were 
to  judge  from  the  frequency  and  extent  of  ancient  conflagrations,  the  pro¬ 
digious  amount  of  property  destroyed,  and  of  human  misery  induced  by 
them,  we  should  conclude  that  ingenious  men  of  former  times  were  stimu¬ 
lated  in  an  unusual  degree  to  invent  machines  for  the  purpose.  That  this 
was  the  case  cannot  well  be  questioned,  although  no  account  of  their  la- 


303 


Chap.  7.J  Fire-engines  employed  in  Ancient  Wars. 

bors  has  reached  our  times.  It  seems  exceedingly  probable  that  some 
land  of  fire-engines  were  used  in  the  celebrated  cities  of  remote  antiquity 
—in  Nineveh,  Tyre,  Babylon  and  others.  It  is  scarcely  possible  that  the 
Tyrian  and  Babylonian  mechanicians,  whose  inventive  talents  and  skill 
were  proverbial,  should  have  left  their  splendid  cities  destitute  of  such 
means  for  preserving  them  from  the  ravages  of  fire.  If  the  great  extent 
of  Babylon,  for  example,  be  considered,  its  location,  (on  an  extensive  plain,) 
the  length  of  its  streets,  (fifteen  miles,)  the  height  of  its  buildings,  (three 
and  four  stories,)  and  its  unrivaled  wealth,  together  with  the  heat  and 
dryness  of  the  climate ;  the  necessity  of  such  machines  will  be  apparent, 
and  what  appears  necessary  to  us,  we  may  rest  assured,  appeared  equally 
so  to  its  mechanicians,  and  that  they  were  quite  as  capable  of  providing 
by  their  ingenuity  for  the  emergency.  Nor  are  we  left  wholly  to  conjec¬ 
ture  respecting  their  knowledge  of  hydraulic  or  pneumatic  machinery, 
since  the  most  memorable  machine  for  raising  water  in  the  ancient  world 
was  made  and  used  at  Babylon,  and  one  which,  as  has  been  elsewhere 
observed,  greatly  exceeded  in  the  elevation  to  which  it  raised  it,  all,  or 
nearly  all  the  water-works  of  modern  days.  Had  they  engines  like  ours 
then?  We  dare  not  say  they  had,  although  we  see  nothing  improbable 
in  the  opinion :  the  antiquity  of  the  syringe  is  unquestionable ;  and  its  ap¬ 
plication  to  project  water  on  flames  must  have  been  as  obvious  in  remote 
as  in  present  times  ;  and  people  would  as  naturally  be  led  then  as  now, 
to  construct  large  ones  for  that  purpose. 

There  are  other  reasons  for  believing  that  syringes  or  pumps  for  squirt¬ 
ing^  water  on  fires  were  in  use  previous  to  the  time  they  are  first  mention¬ 
ed  in  history.  Fire  was  one  of  the  most  common  and  most  destructive 
agents  employed  in  ancient  wars.  When  a  city  was  besieged  or  assaulted, 
it  was  the  first  object  with  the  assailants  to  protect  the  moving  towers,  in 
which  their  battering  engines,  &c.  approached  the  walls,  from  being  con¬ 
sumed  by  fire,  oil  and  pitch,  &c.  thrown  upon  them  from  the  ramparts. 
Every  source  was  examined  that  ingenuity  could  unfold,  for  materials  and 
devices  to  protect  them ;  and  as  not  only  the  lives  and  property  of  the  in¬ 
habitants,  but  often  the  destinies  of  armies  and  even  of  nations  were  on 
such  occasions  at  stake,  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  the  most  perfect 
apparatus  which  could  then  be  procured,  were  employed  both  for  destroy¬ 
ing  buildings  by  fire,  and  also  for  preserving  them  from  it.  We  know 
that  men  were  specially  trained  to  fire  buildings,  and  that  they  were  ex¬ 
pert  in  their  profession,  especially  in  shooting  lighted  arrows  and  darts 
into  and  upon  structures  that  could  not  be  approached ;  hence  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  devices  for  throwing  water  upon  these  missiles  and  the  places  in¬ 
flamed  by  them.  There  is  an  allusion  to  both  practices  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Ephesians,  vi,  16.  Such  a  system  of  warfare  could  never  have  been 
carried  to  the  extent  that  it  was,  and  for  so  many  ages  too,  among  the  cele¬ 
brated  nations  of  old,  without  forcing  pumps  or  something  like  them  bein°' 
used  to  squirt  water  on  such  parts  as  could  not  be  reached  by  it  when 
thrown  from  the  hand.  We  cannot  conceive  how  the  constant  repetition 
ol  one  army  applying  its  energies  to  the  destruction  of  another  by  means  • 
ot  fire,  and  the  latter  equally  intent  on  devising  and  applying  means  to 
extinguish  it,  without  the  application  of  the  syringe  and  of  machines  on  the 
principle  of  the  bellows  occurring  to  them — an  application  so  obvious 
(even  then)  that  the  slightest  mental  effort  to  produce  a  contrivance  for 
the  purpose  could  not  have  overlooked  it,  even  if  the  occasions  were  of 
little  moment,  much  less,  when  the  inventive  powers  of  armies,  and  of 
militat  y  engineers  in  particular,  were  engaged  in  the  research,  and  the  fate 
of  nations  depended  upon  the  result.  From  a  remark  in  one  of  Pliny’s 


304 


Fire  Engines  mentioned  ,hy  Apollodorus. 


[Book  III. 


letters,  to  which  we  shall  presently  refer,  it  appears  that  among  the  Romans 
individuals  were  brought  up  to  th e  j/rofiession  of  extinguishing  fires. 

The  Helepoles ,  or  ‘town  takers’  of  Demetrius,  although  proofs  of  his  me¬ 
chanical  genius,  would  have  availed  him  little  at  the  siege  of  Rhodes,  nor 
the  movable  towers  of  Hannibal  at  Saguntum,  if  these  warriors  had  not 
been  in  possession  of  means  to  prevent  them  from  being  consumed  by  the 
fire  of  the  besieged — of  materials  to  resist  its  effects,  and  apparatus  to  ex¬ 
tinguish  it.  That  the  resources  of  the  ancients  in  these  respects  were  not 
inferior  to  ours,  may  be  inferred  from  several  historical  facts  respecting 
their  modes  of  securing  these  towers.  They  were  generally  covered  with 
raw  hides,  leather  soaked  in  water,  or  cloth  made  of  hair,  and  sometimes, 
although  seldom,  they  were  plated  with  metal.  Such  were  some  of  those 
employed  by  Titus  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem.  They  were  seventy-five 
feet  high  and  were  covered  all  over  with  sheets  of  iron  ;  perhaps  nothing 
else  could  have  resisted  the  incessant  torrents  of  fire  which  the  infuriated 
Jews  showered  upon  them.  But  a  singular  proof  of  the  sagacity  and  re¬ 
searches  of  the  ancients  is,  that  the  modern  application  of  alum  to  render 
wood  incombustible  was  also  known  ;  for  Archelaus,  one  of  the  generals 
of  Mithridates  in  a  war  with  the  Romans,  washed  over  a  wooden  tower 
wdth  a  solution  of  it  and  thereby  defeated  all  the  attempts  of  Sylla  to  set 
the  structure  on  fire.  Thus  we  see  that  when  mechanical  means  failed 
them,  or  were  not  at  hand,  they  had  recourse  to  chemical  ones.  But  that 
water  and  machines  for  dispersing  it,  were  extensively  employed  on  such 
occasions  appears  from  a  remark  of  Vitruvius.  He  observes  that  the  lower 
stories  of  the  towers  contained  large  quantities. of  water  for  the  purpose 
of  extinguishing  fire  thrown  upon  them.  Of  course  they  had  means  of 
projecting  it  wherever  required,  but  of  these  unfortunately  he  is  silent. 
Montfaucon  has  engraved  a  figure  of  a  species  of  wheel  for  the  purpose, 
but  its  representation  is  too  imperfect  to  indicate  the  nature  of  the  ma¬ 
chine  of  which  it  seems  to  have  formed  a  part. 

That  machines  of  the  jmmp  kind  were  used  on  these  occasions  is  evi¬ 
dent  from  the  temporary  contrivance  of  Apollodorus,  mentioned  in  the  re¬ 
mains  of  a  work  of  his  On  War  Machines,  and  quoted  by  Professor  Beck¬ 
man.  We  have  noticed,  at  page  235,  one  of  his  plans  for  extinguishing 
fire  in  the  upper  parts  of  a  building,  and  that  to  which  we  now  refer  is 
from  the  same  passage.  Water,  he  observes,  may  be  conveyed  to  elevated 
places  when  exposed  to  fiery  darts,  by  means  of  the  entrails  of  an  ox  : 
these  natural  tubes  being  connected  to  a  bag  filled  with  water ;  by  com¬ 
pressing  the  bag  the  liquid  will  be  forced  through  them  to  its  place  of 
destination.  This  device,  he  says,  may  be  adopted  when  the  machine 
called  sipho  is  not  at  hand.  Now  if  w'e  had  not  known  that  the  term 
sipho  was  anciently  used  to  designate  syringes  and  other  tubular  instru¬ 
ments,  the  substitute  which  Apollodorus  here  proposes  sufficiently  proves 
that  it  was  a  forcing  pump  to  which  he  refers,  and  one  too  that,  like  our 
fire-engines,  was  furnished  with  leathern  hose  through  which-  the  water 
was  conveyed  to  the  “  elevated  places”  he  mentions.  The  importance  of 
flexible  pipes  accompanying  the  pump  or  sipho,  when  employed  in  war, 
is  obvious ;  for  one  of  the  objects  of  those  who  threw  “fiery  darts”  on  the 
towers  and  other  structures,  was  to  fire  them,  if  possible,  at  places  inac¬ 
cessible  to  water  for  the  most  difficult  to  be  reached — hence  the  necessity 
not  only  of  engines,  to  project  streams  of  that  liquid,  but  also  of  such  tubes 
to  direct  it  to  the  places  inflamed :  and  hence  the  suggestion  of  the  tubes 
mentioned  by  Apollodorus  when  artificial  ones  were  not  to  be  procured : 
an  ox  was  always  within  the  reach  of  an  army. 

As  these  engines  would  of  course  be  similar  to  such  as  were  used  to 


Chap.  7.] 


Fire-Engine  described  by  Heron. 


305 

Ap"oEra!Tornv“ruviuS "hTdlcXd "them  - '’perhfpfth  "eitIlCr 

engines.  Some  persons  may  doubt  this,  buTksCwh 7  h  °U]  ^ 

the  nature  of  ancient  wars  naturallv  led  ,i  e  remembered  that 

Iitary  machinery  anjof  Hefen. •  y  d  ‘°  the  best  construction  of  all  mi- 

conlS  not  ZtZ  “ 

sally  employed.  The  contests  r,F+\>  ’  •  D  ^at  e^ement  was  umver- 

nical  skill  rather  than  of  fighting— craflicfcTof  Ta^^  °f  mecha' 

isstSitz »-  sss&Sf5 «" fz 

ic  engineers.  Uie  successes  of  Demetrius  nnrl  xr„„  -i  , 
were  often  due  to  the  novelty  of  their  engines  •  the  •  Hann,lhal 

ists  were  indeed  proverbially  skilful  °  i  '  .  rthagenian  machm- 

curious  piece  of  mechanism  w  t  ’  7  S°’  ^  m  Romc  itself  a»J 

Cien,  armies  were atofcneml^ed A"' 
water  ;  the  hydraulic  engines  of  Ganymede  nearly  ruined  CUttinf  ,off 

r/h“,ei:iZr^Xen*usf„Yhyndbj  *?  ~f  ^ 


No.  141.  .Egyptian  Fire-Engine  of  the  2d  century  before  Christ,  from  Heron’s  Spiritalia. 

in  thea“mrdoefaA°n  f°rrcinS  PumPs  a*  fire-engines  was  not  new 

AmoL  he  smaUPm  mf  rUSf  0‘'  we  W  evidence 

It Jlarin"/1'11  ^ * “o^t'aTwtk  rfftrtS 

eral  Lata  translations  were  made  and  published  in  the  16th  and  17th 

39 


306 


Fire-Engine  described  by  Heron. 


[Book  III. 


centuries,  and  most  of  them  were  ornamented  with  copies  of  the  original 
illustrations.  This  was  the  Spiritalia  of  Heron,  to  which  we  have  already 
referred,  (page  270.)  As  the  engine  may  interest  some  readers,  a  figure 
of  it  is  annexed.  See  No.  141  on  the  preceding  page. 

To  persons  not  familiar  w{th  hydraulic  machinery  this  figure  will  ap¬ 
pear  a  rude  and  imperfect  affair ;  but  notwithstanding  its  antiquity  and  the 
mutilations  which  it  has  unquestionably  sustained  in  passing  through  the 
hands  of  copyists,  it  exhibits  nearly  all  the  essential  elements  of  a  modern 
engine.  Like  the  machine  of  Ctesibius,  Heron’s  engine  consists  of  two 
brass  forcing  pumps  connected  to  one  discharging  pipe.  The  cylinders 
are  secured  to  a  base  of  wood  and  are  partly  immersed  in  water ;  they 
are  described  in  the  text  as  turned  or  bored  very  smooth,  with  pistons  ac¬ 
curately  fitted  to  work  in  them.  The  piston  rods  are  attached  by  bolts  to 
a  double  lever  at  equal  distances  from  the  centre  or  fulcrum  at  A.  The 
carriage  not  being  necessary  to  elucidate  the  principle  of  the  machine  was 
omitted  by  Heron.  The  rectangular  figure  into  which  the  upper  part  of 
the  discharging  pipe  is  formed,  has  certainly  been  added  by  some  trans¬ 
criber  of  the  manuscript.  Neither  Heron  nor  his  contemporaries  could 
have  made  such  an  obstacle  to  the  issuing  fluid,  and  nothing  of  the  kind 
is  mentioned  in  the  text.  There  is,  moreover,  conclusive  evidence  that 
the  figure  has  been  altered ;  for  example,  there  is  no  provision  represented 
by  which  the -direction  of  the  perpendicular  jet  can  be  changed,  and  hence 
an  engine  made  according  to  it,  would,  on  this  account  alone,  be  useless ; 
now  Heron  not  only  describes  a  movable  tube,  fitted  by  a  joint  (goose 
neck)  to  the  perpendicular  one,  by  turning  of  which  the  water  could  be 
discharged  on  any  given  place,  but  he  refers  his  readers  to  the  figure  of 
it  in  the  illustration. 

Had  Heron’s  machine  an  air  chamber  ?  This  is  an  interesting  question, 
since  if  it  were  determined  in  the  affirmative,  there  would  be  little  left 
for  the  moderns  to  claim  in  fire-engines  except  details  in  the  construction 
of  the  carriages  and  other  matters  of  minor  importance,  that  have  been 
left  unnoticed  in  the  Spiritalia.  The  accounts  of  machines  by  ancient  au¬ 
thors  are  generally  very  concise  ;  they  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  enter 
into  that  minutiee  of  narration  that  characterizes  the  specifications  of  modern 
patents,  nor  would  it.  have  been  of  much  use  to  us  if  they  had,  but  the 
contrary,  for  the  multiplicity  of  mere  technical  terms  would  rather  have 
increased  than  removed  our  embarrassments.  This  is  evident  from  the 
variety  of  explanations  given  of  a  few  such  terms  that  Vitruvius  employs 
in  describing  some  of  the  inventions  of  Ctesibius  and  other  mechanicians  : 
hence  in  all  the  accounts  of  ancient  machinery ,  it  was  of  more  importance 
to  preserve  the  figures  or  illustrations  than  the  text  from  corruption. 

The  description  of  Heron’s  engine  which  the  text  and  the  figure  afford, 

is,  to  persons  conversant  with  such  machines,  sufficiently  explicit,  with  the 
exception  of  that  part  of  both  which  relates  to  the  discharging  pipe  and 
apparatus  connected  to  it — or  in  other  words,  to  the  air  vessel,  for  that 
there  was  one,  we  think  every  intelligent  reader  will  presently  admit. 
Had  the  figure  been  always  exactly  copied  by  the  multipliers  of  manu¬ 
scripts,  of  course  no  obscurity  would  here  have  been  felt,  but  even  in  the 
state  in  which  it  has  reached  us,  an  air  vessel  is  certainly  portrayed.  It 
may  be  asked,  If  this  be  so,  why  was  it  not  discovered  before  1  Possibly 
because  no  one  sought  particularly  for  it :  its  diminutive  size  and  general 
resemblance  to  a  plain  tube  would  prevent  any  one  else  from  recognizing 

it.  It  will  be  seen  in  the  figure  that  one  part  of  the  discharging  pipe 
descends  into  an  enlarged  portion  of  that  below  it,  and  that  a  space  is  left 
between  them ;  thus  constituting  an  air  chamber,  and  precisely  of  the  same 


Chap.  7.] 


Greek  Fire  projected  by  Pumps 


307 

Fand  thif.Tn  gf ne  p11^  USed  !n  “S™  at  this  day.  This  part  of  the  figure 
and  this  alone)  in  Commandine’s  translation  of  the  Spiritalia  is  not  shown 

in  section,  but  the  arrangement  of  the  pipes  is  precisely  as  shown  in  the  cut 

theToth8  adfdm°n  *°  th®  discharging  pipe  could  not  have  been  made  in 
the  16th  century,  when  the  work  fell  into  the  hands  of  printers  and  en¬ 
gravers,  for  at  that  time  the  use  of  it  was  not  known,  white  from  the  small 
dimensions  figured  it  could  have  been  of  no  service.  That  To^iZed 
with  Heron  and  formed  a  prominent  feature  in  the  original  figure  Is  evi- 

paFt  o^the'm  h^  =  k  ^  °f  the  escaPe  of  ^  water  from  this 

pait  of  the  machine,  he  expressly  states  that  it  was  forced  out,  in  the  same 

manner  as  out  of  a  vase  or  fountain,  which  he  had  previously  described 

can  htm\  co™Pres*e.d  air— 1  per  aerem  in  ipso  compressum Nothing 
an  be  plainer  than  tnis ;  for  every  manufacturer  of  pumps  knows  that  in 
the  absence  of  an  air  vessel  there  could  have  been  no  air  to  compress 

that 'thedrv^H5  S?"?06  the  hist°r^  of  this  anciint  engine 
that  the  an  vessel  should  have  been  preserved  through  so  many  a^es  when 

t  dned  WTt  T  °Wni  TlMl8i  ^  ,?Ze  WaS  diminished  its  fora? was  re¬ 
tained.  It  is  no  wonder  that  die  old  copyists  considered  it  an  unsightly 

and  unnecessary  enlargement  of  the  discharging  pipe,  and  hence  they  rJ 
^ced  it  accordmgly-ce^  the  fancy  that  could  add  the  rectangular 
twist  to  the  upper  part,  would  not  hesitate  to  remove  the  supposed  defor¬ 
mity  from  the  lower  one.  Some  persons,  deceived  by  the'  imperfect  re¬ 
presentation,  have  supposed  that  such  engines  were  not  used  in  the  time 

mere  2/f1  fW  ^  ^  description  were  inserted  in  his  work  as 

meie_ hmts  for  future  mechanicians  to  improve  on:  but  the  descrintion 
sufficiently  indicates  that  similar  machines  were  in  actual  use.b  ThePma- 
te  rials  and  workmanship  of  the  pumps— metallic  pistons  and  spindle  valves 

lfthgeT  t0  piTl!nt  ^  Fatte;  fr°m  °penin^  t0°  far  i  the  mode  of  form- 
ng  the  goose-neck  by  a  kind  of  swivel  joint,  somewhat  like  the  union  or 

oupling  screw  ;  the  application  of  an  air  vessel;  two  pumps  forcing  water 

machine  Te  w  W°rked  bJ.a  double  lever,  are  proofs  that  the 
machine  described  by  Heron  was  neither  an  ideal  one,  nor  of  recent 

ongin  or  use.  There  are  features  m  it  that  were  very  slowly  developed 
by  manufacturers  m  modern  times.  It  is  not  at  all  improbable  thatFm 
cient  engines  were  equal  in  effect  to  the  best  of  ours ;  but,  whether  thev' 
were  or  not  one  thing  is  certain,  that  to  the  ancients  belongs  the  merit  o{ 
fhpm?nng  PnnTC1Ples  employed  in  these  machines  and  of  applying 
them  to  practice.  It  is  remarkable  too,  that  fire  engines  made  their  first 
appearance  m  Egypt,  thus  adding  another  to  the  numerous  obligations 

under  which  that  wonderful  country  has  placed  civilized  nations  in  all 
umes  to  come. 

Having  noticed  the  use  of  pumps  to  extinguish  fires  in  ancient  warfare 

we  may  remark  that  they  were  also  employed  in  the  middle  age!  if  noj 

before,  to  promote  conflagrations,  viz:  to  lanch  streams  of  Greek  fire  This 

Zr°U8  Substanc,e  18  ^presented  as  a  liquid  :  Beckman  says  it  cer- 

menledbv7ei  ^  *1  &r  ^  Tbeing  ^Uencbed’  its  violence  was  aug¬ 
mented  by  contact  with  water.  It  was  principally  employed  in  naval 

St0i 'was  aISoCbifwnlOSed  u  Were  tll!wn  into  the  h°st!le 

it  was  also  blown  through  iron  and  copper  tubes  planted  on  the  Drows  of 

foraTstiefmron  lyi1,fiPed  n  m°UtllS  of  an™a,s-  which  seamed  to 

in  the  old  Gerrm'^t  'f  •  among  the  figures  of  war  machines 

h  d  German  translation  ofYegetms  already  mentioned,  one  that 

*  Spiritalia,  p.  70. 

b  aiph°ne8  aUtem  quibus  utuntu'  ^  incendia  hoc  mode  constmuntur.-Ibid. 


308 


Warriors  the  greatest  Incendiaries. 


[Book  III. 


(judging  from  the  flames  issuing  from  monstrous  animals’  mouths)  seems  to 
have  been  designed  for  projecting  Greek  fire,  though  it  is  difficult  to  per¬ 
ceive  how  it  was  done.  Another  mode  of  using  this  terrible  material, 
was  by  forcing  it  in  jets  “  by  means  of  large  fire-engines,”  and  sometimes 
“  the  soldiers  squirted  it  from  hand  engines.”  Its  effects  upon  those  on 
whom  it  was  thrown,  seem  to  have  been  somewhat  similar  to  those  pro¬ 
duced  bv  the  composition  of  alcohol  and  spirits  of  turpentine  recently  adopt¬ 
ed  as  a  substitute  for  oil  in  lamps,  and  which  has  occasioned  so  many  fatal 
disasters,  by  the  explosion  of  vessels  containing  it  and  its  consequent  dis¬ 
persion  over  the  persons  of  the  sufferers.  It  was  easy  (says  Beckman)  to 
conceive  the  iaea  of  discharging  Greek  fire  by  means  of  forcing  pumps, 
because  the  application  of  them  to  extinguish  fires  was  known  long  before 
its  invention.  It  is  supposed  to  have  originated  with  Callinicus,  a  Syrian 
engineer  of  Balbec,  in  the  7th  century.  It  may  however  have  been  known 
to  the  old  Greeks  and  Romans,  for  they  made  use  of  similar  devices  for 
projecting  fire  :  Montfaucon,  in  describing  their  marine  combats,  observes 
“  another  mode  of  annoying  enemies’  ships  was  by  throwing  fire  therein, 
which  they  did  after  different  ways,  some  using  for  that  purpose  siphones, 
and  fire  buckets,  others  threw  in  pots  filled  with  fire.”  From  an  expres¬ 
sion  of  Dr.  G.  A.  Agricola,  a  physician  of  Ratisbon  of  the  last  century,  in 
a  work  on  Gardening,  (see  page  127  in  Bradley’s  translation)  it  would  ap¬ 
pear  as  if  something  like  the  Greek  fire  was  then  in  use.  Enumerating 
several  pernicious  inventions,  he  notices  “'That  infernal  one  of  gunpowder. 
How  many  cities  and  fortresses  has  it  ruined  '(  How  many  thousands  of 
men  has  it  destroyed  1  And  what  is  most  deplorable  is,  that  this  art  grows 
more  and  more  complete  every  day,  and  is  brought  to  that  perfection,  that 
in  Holland  and  some  other  parts  they  have  fire  pumps  filled  with  burning 
compositions,  wherewith  they  eject  fiery  torrents  to  a  great  distance, 
which  may  occasion  dreadful  and  irreparable  damages  to  mankind.” 

Fires  and  wars  have  ever  been  deemed  the  most  awful  of  earthly  cala¬ 
mities,  and,  unfortunately  for  our  race,  they  have  too  often  been  united, 
for  warriors  have  generally  had  recourse  to  the  former  to  multiply  the  mi¬ 
series  of  the  latter ;  and  in  almost  every  age  cities  have,  like  Jericho  and 
Ai,  Hebron  and  Ziglag,  Troy  and  Thebes,  Carthage  and  Athens,  Sagun- 
tum  and  Bagdat,  been  burnt  with  fire ;  and  in  some  cases  “  all  the  souls 
therein  destroyed” — cities  burned  without  inhabitants.”  It  was,  we  be 
lieve,  from  the  horrible,  the  inconceivable  sufferings  endured  on  such  oc¬ 
casions,  that  much  of  the  thrilling  imagery  of  the  Bible  was  derived.  To 
the  offending  Jews,  God  was  represented  as  “a  consuming  fire,”  and  they 
were  urged  to  repentance  “  lest  his  fury  come  forth  like  fire,  and  burn, 
that  none  can  quench  it — lest  he  break  out  like  fire  in  the  house  of  J  oseph 
and  there  be  none  to  quench  it  in  Bethel and  some  of  the  sublimest  ef¬ 
fusions  of  the  prophets  have  reference  to  “  firebrands,  arrows  and  death” 
— to  “  blood  and  fire  and  pillars  of  smoke.”  In  modern  times,  too,  war¬ 
riors  have  been  the  greatest  incendiaries :  hamlets,  towns  and  cities  have 
been  wantonly  consumed,  and  the  “  gallant”  actors  have  made  the  air 
shiver  with  their  shouts  of  acclamation  on  witnessing  the  spreading  con¬ 
flagration.  Well  did  the  anejents  represent  Mars  fierce  in  aspect,  bran¬ 
dishing  a  spear,  and  driving  in  his  chariot  o’er  mangled  corses,  amid  the 
clangor  of  arms  and  the  shrieks  of  the  dying — Fear,  Terror  and  Discord 
in  his  train,  while  before  went  Bellona,  with  her  hair  loose  and  clotted 
with  gore,  and  a  firebrand  in  her  hand.  And  these  are  the  demons  that 
men  professing  Christianity  worship  with  all  the  fervor  of  deluded  hea¬ 
then  ;  and,  what  will  in  future  ^imes  appear  incredible,  they  demand  re¬ 
verence  for  the  act,  and  they — receive  it !  Strange,  that  notwithstanding 


Homan  Firemen. 


309 


Chap.  7.j 

the  boasted  superiority  of  the  age  and  the  benign  spirit  and  precepts  of 
religion — the  profession  of  war — the  most  prolific  source  of  human  misery 
and  crime,  is  still  deemed  honorable ;  and  men  under  whose  tyranny  na¬ 
tions  and  provinces  groan,  and  by  whom  human  life  is  extinguished  not 
only  without  remorse  but  with  indifference,  are  permitted  to  take  prece¬ 
dence  in  moral  society.  Crates  was  certainly  correct  when  he  intimated 
that  wars  would  never  cease  till  men  became  convinced  of  the  folly  and 
wickedness  of  allowing  themselves  to  be  driven  as  soldiers  like  sheep  to 
the  slaughter,  or  like  wolves  to  devour  each  other — but  as  he  expressed 
it,  not  till  men  become  sensible  that  generals  are  only  ass  drivers. 

As  Greek  fire  preceded  gunpowder  in  Europe,  so  pumps  or  the  ‘spout¬ 
ing  engines’  for  projecting  it  may  be  considered  the  forerunners  of  guns: 
it  is  even  possible  that  the  first  idea  of  the  latter  (supposing  they  were  not 
introduced  from  the  east)  might  have  been  derived  from  accidental  explo¬ 
sions  of  the  liquid  in  the  pump  cylinders,  when  the  pistons  would  of  course 
be  driven  out  of  them  like  balls  out  of  cannon.  But  be  this  as  it  may, 
enough  has  been  adduced  to  show  that  the  forcing  pump  and  its  modifica¬ 
tions  have  exerted  no  small  degree  of  influence  in  ancient  wars  and  con¬ 
sequently  in  the  affairs  of  the  old  world. 

Although  the  police  and  other  arrangements  for  the  actual  suppression 
of  fires  in  ancient  Rome  are  not  well  ascertained,  some  interesting  particu¬ 
lars  are  known.  A  body'  of  foremen,  named  matricularii,  was  established 
whose  duty  it  was  to  extinguish  the  flames.  Similar  companies  were  also 
organized  in  provincial  cities.  This  appears  from  Trajan’s  reply  to  Pliny 
respecting  the  formation  of  one  in  Nicomedia,  and  from  which  we  learn 
that  these  ancient  firemen  frequently  created  disturbances  by  their  dissen¬ 
sions  and  tumults.  Pliny  (the  younger)  was  governor  of  Bithynia ;  after 
giving  the  emperor  an  account  of  a  fire  in  Nicomedia,  a  town  in  his  pro¬ 
vince,  he  continues,  “  You  will  consider,  sir,  whether  it  may  not  be  ad¬ 
visable  to  form  a  company  of  firemen,  consisting  only  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  members.  I  will  take  care  none  but  those  of  that  business  shall  be 
admitted  into  it ;  and  that  the  privileges  granted  them  shall  not  be  ex¬ 
tended  to  any  other  purpose.  As  this  corporate  body  will  be  restricted 
to  so  small  a  number  of  members,  it  will  be  easy  to  keep  them  under 
proper  regulations.”  In  answer  the  emperor  sent  the  following  letter  : 

“  Trajan  to  Pliny. — You  are  of  opinion  it  would  be  proper  to  establish 
a  company  of  firemen  in  Nicomedia,  agreeably  to  what  has  been  prac¬ 
ticed  in  several  other  cities.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  societies  of  this 
sort  have  greatly  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  province  in  general,  and  of 
those  cities  in  particular.  Whatever  name  we  give  them,  and  for  what¬ 
ever  purpose  they  may  be  instituted,  they  will  not  fail  to  form  themselves 
into  factious  assemblies,  however  short  their  meetings  may  be.  It  will 
therefore  be  safer  to  provide  such  machines  as  are  of  service  in  extin¬ 
guishing  fires,  enjoining  the  owners  of  houses  to  assist  in  preventing  the 
mischief  from  spreading,  and,  if  it  should  be  necessary,  to  call  in  the  aid 
of  the  populace.”  Pliny’s  Letters,  B.  x.  Ep.  42  and  43.  Melmoth’s 
Translation. 

The  direction  to  procure  “  machines  as  are  of  service  in  extinguishing 
fires”  was  in  consequence  of  Nicomedia  being  destitute  of  them — an  un¬ 
fortunate  circumstance  for  the.  inhabitants,  but  one  that  is  hardly  now  re¬ 
gretted  by  those  who  are  in  search  of  information  respecting  fire-eno-ines 
among  the  ancients  ;  since  it  led  Pliny  to  mention  them,  and  thereby  af- 
ford  us  a  proof  of  their  employment  by  the  Romans.  “  "While  I  was  mak- 
mg  a  progress  [he  writes  to  Trajan]  in  a  different  part  of  the  province,  a 
most  destructive  fire  broke  out  in  Nicorhbdia,  which  not  only  consumed 


310 


Fire-Engines  and  Fires  in  Ancient  Rome.  [Book  Ill 


several  private  houses,  but  also  two  public  buildings,  the  town  house  and 
the  temple  of  Isis,  though  they  stood  on  contrary  sides  of  the  street.  The 
occasion  of  its  spreading  thus  wide  was  partly  owing  to  the  violence  ol 
the  wind,  and  partly  to  the  indolence  of  the  people,  who,  it  appears,  stood 
fixed  and  idle  spectators  of  this  terrible  calamity.  The  truth  is,  the  city 
was  not  furnished  with  either  engines ,  buckets,  or  any  single  instrument 
proper  to  extinguish  fires  ;  which  I  have  now  however  given  directions 
to  be  provided.”  It  has  been  generally  imagined  [observes  Melrnoth] 
that  the  ancients  had  not  the  art  of  raising  water  by  engines,  but  this  pas¬ 
sage  seems  to  favor  the  contrary  opinion.  The  word  in  the  original 
[for  engine]  is  sipho,  which  Hesychius  explains  instrumentum  ad  jacvlan- 
dus  aquas  adversus  incendia — an  instrument  to  throw  up  water  against 
fires.  But  there  is  a  passage  in  Seneca  which  seems  to  put  the  matter 
beyond  conjecture,  though  none  of  the  critics  upon  this  place  have  taken 
notice  of  it.  Solemus  (says  he)  duabus  manibus  inter  se  junctus  aquam 
concipere  et  compressa  utrinque  palma  in  modum  siphonis  exprimere.  Q. 
N.  ii,  16,  where  we  plainly  see  the  use  of  this  sipho  was  to  throw  up 
water.  In  the  French  translation  of  De  Sacy,  (Paris  1S09,)  the  word  is 
rendered  q^mps  ■ — “  D’ailleurs,  il  n’y  a  dans  la  ville,  ni  pompes  ni  seaux 
publics,  enfin  nul  autre  des  instrumens  necessaires  pour  eteindre  les  em- 
brasemens.”  And  Professor  Beckman  quotes  both  Hesychius  and  Isidore 
to  prove  that  “  a  fire-engine,  properly  so  called,  was  understood  in  the  4th 
and  in  the  7th  centuries  by  the  term  si]d/o,”  and  we  may  add  that  Agri¬ 
cola  in  the  16th  century  designated  syringes  for  extinguishing  fires  by  the 
same  term.  Heron’s  engine  is  also  named  a  siphon.  See  note  p.  307. 

From  an  expression  in  the  letter  of  Pliny  just  quoted,  we  learn  that 
men  were  regularly  brought  up  to  the  art  of  extinguishing  fires,  the  same 
as  to  any  other  profession :  Of  the  company  that  he  proposed  to  estab¬ 
lish,  he  remarks,  “  I  will  take  care  that  none  but  those  of  that  business 
shall  be  admitted  into  it.”  The  buildings  in  ancient  Rome  were  very 
high,  the  upper  stories  were  mostly  of  wood,  and  the  streets  and  lane*s 
were  extremely  narrow,  hence  the  suppression  of  conflagrations  there 
must  have  been  an  arduous  business,  and  one  that  required  extraordinary 
intrepidity  and  skill ;  qualifications  that  could  only  be  obtained  by  expe¬ 
rience.  Besides  engines  for  throwing  water,  the  firemen  used  sponges  or 
mops  fixed  to  the  end  of  long  poles,  and  they  had  grapples  and  other 
instruments  by  means  of  which  they  could  go  from  one  wall  to  another, 
(Encyc.  Antiq.)  Of  the  great  elevation  of  the  houses  several  Roman 
writers  speak.  Seneca  attributed  the  difficulty  of  extinguishing  fires  to 
this  cause.  Juvenal  mentions 

Roofs  that  make  one  giddy  to  look  down.  Sat.  vi. 

When  the  city  was  rebuilt  after  the  great  conflagration,  (supposed  to 
have  been  induced  by  Nero,)  the  height  of  the  houses  was  fixed  at  about 
seventy  feet.  These  were  raised  to  a  certain  height  without  wood,  being 
arched  with  stone,  and  party  walls  were  not  allowed.  That  fires  were 
constantly  occurring  in  obi  Rome  is  well  known.  Juvenal  repeatedly 
mentions  the  fact  :  Thus  in  his  third  satire : — 

Rome,  where  one  hears  the  everlasting  sound 

Of  beams  and  rafters  thundering  to  the  ground, 

Amid  alarms  by  day  and  fears  bynight. 

And  again : 

But  Io  !  the  flames  bring  yonder  mansion  down  ! 

The  dire  disaster  echoes  through  the  town  ; 

Men  look  as  if  for  solemn  funeral  clad, 

Now,  now  indeed  these  nightly  fires  are  sad. 


Chap.  7.] 


311 


'Portable  Engines  in  Roman  Houses. 

Their  frequency  induced  Augustus  to  institute  a  body  of  watchmen  to 
guard  against  them,  and,  from  the  following  lines  of  Juvenal,  it  appears 
that  wealthy  patricians  had  servants  to  watch  their  houses  during  the  night: 

With  buckets  ranged  the  ready  servants  stand, 

Alert  at  midnight  by  their  lords’  command.  Sat.  xiv. 

As  every  calamity  that  befalls  mankind  is  converted  by  some  men  to 
their  own  advantage,  so  the  numerous  fires  in  Rome  led  to  the  detestable 
practice  of  speculating  on  the  distresses  they  occasioned.  Thus  Crassus, 
the  consul,  who,  from  his  opulence  was  surnamed  the  Rich,  gleaned  his 
immense  wealth,  according  to  Plutarch  “  from  war  and  from  fires  ;  he 
made  it  a  part  of  his  business  to  buy  houses  that  were  on  fire,  and  others 
that  joined  upon  them,  which  he  commonly  got  at  a  low  price  on  account 
of  the  fear  and  distress  of  the  owners  about  the  event.”  But  the  avarice 
of  Crassus,  as  is  the  case  with  thousands  of  other  men,  led  to  Ins  ruin. 
"With  the  hope  of  enlarging  his  possessions,  he  selected  the  province  of 
Syria  for  Ins  government,  or  rather  for  his  extortion,  because  it  seemed  to 
promise  him  an  inexhaustible  source  of  wealth :  but  by  a  retributive  Provi¬ 
dence  his  army  was  overthrown  by  the  Parthians,  whom  he  attempted  to 
subdue,  and  who  cut  off  his  head,  and  in  reference  to  his  passion  for  gold 
fused  a  quantity  of  that  metal  and  poured  it  down  his  throat. 

Among  other  precautions  for  preventing  fires  from  spreading  that  were 
adopted  in  Rome  on  rebuilding  the  city,  was  one  requiring  every  citizen 
to  keep  in  his  house  “  a  machine  for  extinguishing  fire.”  What  these  ma¬ 
chines  were  is  not  quite  certain,  whether  buckets,  mops,  hooks,  syringes 
or  portable  pumps.  That  they  were  the  last  is  supposed  to  be  proved 
by  a  passage  in  the  writings  of  Ulpian,  a  celebrated  lawyer  and  secretary 
to  the  Emperor  Alexander  Severus,  wherein  he  enumerates  the  things 
that  belonged  to  a  house  when  it  was  sold,  such  as  we  name  fixtures, 
and  among  them  he  mentions  siphones  employed  in  extinguishing  fires. 
Beckman  thinks  the  leaden  pipes  which  conveyed  water  into  the  houses 
for  domestic  purposes  might  be  intended  ;  but  they  would  hardly  have 
been  designated  as  above,  merely  because  the  water  conveyed  through 
them  was  occasionally  used  to  put  out  fires.  This  was  not  their  chief  use, 
but  an  incidental  one.  That  they  were  pumps  or  real  fire-engines  was 
the  opinion  of  Alexander  ab  Alexandro,  a  learned  lawyer  of  the  15th 
century ;  an  opinion  not  only  rendered  probable  by  the  terms  used  and 
the  necessity  of  such  implements  for  the  security  of  the  upper  stories, 
which  neither  public  engines  nor  streams  from  the  aqueducts  could  reach, 
but  also  from  the  apparent  fact,  that  syringes  or  portable  pumps  have  al¬ 
ways  been  kept  (to  a  greater  or  less  extent)  in  dwellings  from  Roman 
times.  And  a  sufficient  reason  why  they  should  generally  be  sold  with 
the  houses,  might  be  found  in  their  dimensions  being  regulated  according 
to  those  of  the  buildings  for  which  they  were  designed. 

The  population  of  Rome  was  so  great  that  the  area  of  the  city  could 
not  furnish  sites  sufficient  for  the  houses  ;  and  hence  (as  Vitruvius  has  ob¬ 
served,  B.  ii,  cap.  8)  the  height  of  the  walls  was  increased  in  order  to 
multiply  the  number  of  stories — ‘  for  want  of  room  on  the  earth  the  build¬ 
ings  were  extended  towards  the  heavens.’  Portable  fire-engines  were 
therefore  particularly  requisite,  in  order  promptly  to  extinguish  fires  on 
their  first  appearance,  whether  in  the  upper  or  lower  floors.  In  the  latter 
case,  when  this  was  not  done,  the  people  in  the  higher  stories  would  be 
cut  off  from  relief  and  the  means  of  escape.  Were  some  of  our  six  and 
seven  story  buildings  in  the  narrow  streets,  densely  filled  with  human 
beings,  and  a  raging  fire  suddenly  to  biirst  out  on  the  ground  floors,  the 


312 


Fire-Engines  forgotten  in  the  Middle  Ages.  [Book  III. 

probability  is  that  many  lives  would  be  lost,  notwithstanding  the  great 
number  of  our  public  engines,  and  hose  and  ladder  companies.  Juvenal 
intimates  the  distressed  situation  of  those  dwelling  above  under  such 
circumstances. 

Hark  !  where  Ucalegon  for  water  cries 

Casts  out  his  chattels,  from  the  peril  flies, 

Dense  smoke  is  bursting  from  the  floor  below.  Sat.  iii. 

However  perfect  or  imperfect  hydraulic  and  hydro-pneumatic  engines 
in  ancient  Alexandria  and  Rome  may  have  been,  it  is  certain  that  these 
machines  and  the  arts  related  to  them  experienced  the  withering  influ¬ 
ence  of  that  moral  and  mental  desolation  which  raged  throughout  Europe 
during  the  dark  ages.  The  decline  of  learning  was  necessarily  accom¬ 
panied  with  a  corresponding  decay  in  all  the  useful  and  ornamental  arts  : 
some  of  these  have  disappeared  altogether,  and  have  never  been  recover¬ 
ed,  so  that  the  attainments  of  the  ancients  in  them  have  perished.  But  the 
connection  between  literature  and  the  arts  was  as  apparent  in  their  resto¬ 
ration  as  in  their  declension — if  they  departed  together  they  also  returned 
in  company.  The  revival  of  learning  not  only  led  to  the  introduction  of 
printing  and  the  invention  of  the  press,  but  it  furnished,  in  the  multiplica¬ 
tion  of  ancient  manuscripts,  then  extant,  immediate  employment  for  both ; 
and  although  it  may  be  supposed  that  there  can  be  little  or  no  relation  be 
tween  Greek  or  Latin  manuscripts  and  modern  fire-engines,  yet  there 
really  is  an  intimate  one,  for  it  is  all  but  certain  that  the  first  idea  of  these 
machines  as  now  made,  was  derived  from  Heron’s  Spiritalia ;  just  as  the 
application  of  double  and  treble  forcing  pumps  in  modern  water-works, 
was  from  Vitruvius’  treatise  on  architecture.  The  printing  press,  there¬ 
fore,  not  only  opened  the  literary  treasures  of  the  ancients  to  the  world 
at  large,  which  had  previously  been  confined  to  a  few,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  made  us  acquainted  with  some  of  their  machinery  and  their  arts, 
that  had  long  been  forgotten  or  lost  sight  of. 

Fire-engines  were  nearly  or  altogether  forgotten  in  the  middle  ages  : 
portable  syringes  seem  to  have  been  the  only  contrivances,  except  buckets, 
for  throwing  water  on  fires,  and  from  their  inefficiency  and  other  causes, 
their  employment  was  very  limited.  The  general  ignorance  which  then 
pervaded  Europe  not  only  prevented  the  establishment  of  manufactories 
of  better  instruments ;  but  the  superstitions  of  the  times  actually  discouraged 
their  use.  There  is  not  a  more  singular  fact  (and  it  is  an  incontrovertible 
one)  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind,  than  that  the  religious  doctrines 
and  opinions  of  a  large  portion  of  mankind  should  have  in  every  age 
produced  the  most  deplorable  results  with  regard  to  conflagrations.  The 
Parsees,  Ghebres,  &c.  of  Asia,  and  other  religious  sects,  which  have  sub¬ 
sisted  from  the  remotest  ages,  never  willingly  throw  water  upon  fires — 
they  consider  it  criminal  to  quench  it,  no  matter  how  disastrous  the  result 
may  be :  they  had  rather  perish  in  it  than  thus  extinguish  the  emblem  of  the 
Deity  they  worship.  “  They  would  sooner  be  persuaded  to  pour  on  oyl 
to  increase,  than  water  to  assuage  the  flame.”0  Among  such  people  fire- 
engines  of  course  were  never  used.  Another  and  a  larger  part  of  the 
human  race  though  they  entertain  no  such  reverence  for  fire,  are  so 
far  influenced  by  the  pernicious  doctrine  of  Fatalism,  as  to  make  little  or 
no  efforts  to  suppress  it.  They  look  upon  fires  as  the  act  of  God  !  deter¬ 
mined  by  him  !  and  therefore  conclude  it  useless  to  contend  with  him,  in 
attempting  to  extinguish  those  which  He  has  kindled  !  Hence  the  pro¬ 
verbial  indifference  of  Mahommedans  in  the  midst  of  conflagrations.  What 


a  Ovington’s  Voyages  10  Surat  in  1689,  page  372. 


313 


Chap.  7.] 


Bells  used  as  Substitutes  for  Fire-engines. 


Torcen  has  said  of  Surat  in  particular,  is  applicable  to  every  city  of  Asia 
and  of  the  East.  “  Many  fine  buildings  have  been  destroyed  by  fire 
which,  according  to  the  Mahommedan  doctrine  of  predestination,  it  is  in 
vam  to  withstand.”  Of  the  Chinese,  by  far  the  shrewdest  of  Asiatics,  Mr. 
Davis  remarks,  “  Ihe  foolish  notion  of  fatalism  which  prevails  amono-  the 
people,  makes  them  singularly  careless  as  regards  fire  ;  and  the  frequent 
occurrence  of  accidents,  has  no  effect  upon  them,  although  the  fearful  con¬ 
flagration  of  1822,  went  far  to  destroy  the  whole  city,”  (Canton.) 

The  miserable  delusions  which  ecclesiastics  established  in  Europe  during 
the  middle  ages  were  quite  as  preposterous,  and  equally  effective  in  par- 
alizing  the  energies  of  the  people.  It  is  difficult  to  reflect  on  them  without 
feeling  emotions  of  wonder  as  well  as  pity,  at  the  wretched  condition  of 
our  r^ce  when  void  of  knowledge  ;  and  of  gratitude,  that  in  our  times  the 
shackles  of  ignorance  and  superstition  are  rapidly  rusting  away.  It  was 
a  common  belief  that  fires  (and  various  other  calamities)  were  induced  by 
wicked  spirits,  and  that  the  best  mode  of  removing  the  evils  was  by  driv¬ 
ing  the  authors  of  them  away  !  These  intangible  workers  of  mischief 
according  to  the  demonologists  of  the  times,  consisted  of  numerous  classes] 
£nd  the  labors  of  each  were  confined  to  certain  elements.  It  was  those 
who  roamed  in  the  air  that  were  the  greatest  incendiaries.  “  Aeriall 
spirits,  or  divells,  are  such  as  keep  quarter  most  part  in  the  aire  [they! 
cause  many  tempests,  thunder  and  lightnings,  teare  oakes,  fire  steeples 
houses ,”  &c.  (See  Burton’s  Anatomy  of  Melancholy.)  When  a  house] 
therefore,  was  on  fire,  the  priests,  instead  of  stimulating  by  their  exam¬ 
ple  the  bystanders  to  exert  themselves  in  obtaining  water,  &c.  had  re¬ 
course  to  the  images  and  pretended  relics  of  saints,  which  they  brought 
out  of  the  churches,  in  order  to  exert  their  influence  in  stopping  the  pro¬ 
gress  of  the  flames,  and  expelling  the  invisible  authors  of  them.  °The' pall 
or  sacred  covering  of  the  altar,  was  also  frequently  carried  in  procession] 
to  contribute  to  the  overthrow  of  the  fiends.  But  when  a  church  itself 
took  fire,  (such  was  the  ignorance  of  the  times,)  the  people  then  heartily 
olasphemed  the  saint  to  whom  it  was  dedicated,  for  not  preventing  the 
mischief;  (Encyc.  Antiq.)  like  Sylla  abusing  the  image  of  Apollo  when 
he  was  defeated  in  battle. 


Other  curious  but  popular  substitutes  for  water  and  fire-engines,  were 

church  Bells :  these  were  consecrated  with  imposing  ceremonies.  They  were 

washed  inside  and  out  with  holy  water — perfumed  with  censers — anointed 
with  sacred  oil — named  and  signed  with  the  cross,  that  devils  (says  the 
ritual)  “  hearing  this,  bell  may  tremble  and  flee  from  the  banner  of  the 
cross  designed  upon  it.”  Besides  striking  demons  with  horror  and  driving 
them  from  the  vicinity,  these  bells  had  the  wonderful  power  of  allaying 
storms,  tempests,  thunder  and  lightning,  and  extinguishing  fires ;  and 
some  of  them  had  the  rare  gift  of  ringing  on  important  occasions  of  their 
own  accord.4  M.  Arago,  in  a  paper  on  Thunder  and  Lightning,  inquires 
(among  other  alledged  means  of  dissipating  thunder  clouds)  into  this  old 
superstition  of  “  Ringing  of  Bells ;”  and  he  cites  specimens  of  prayers, 
stilt  offered  up,  on  their  consecration,  according  to  the  Paris  Rituaf,  “  O 
eternal  God  !  grant  that  the  sound  of  this  Bell  may  put  to  flight  the  fire 
strokes  of  the  enemy  of  man,  the  thunder  bolt,  the  rapid  fall  of  stones,  as 
j  w  j  d!sasters  and  tempests.”  In  the  “Golden  Legend”  of  Wynken 
de  Worde,  the  old  English  printer,  it  is  said  “  the  evil  spirytes  that  ben 
in  the  region  of  th’  ayre,  doubte  moche  when  they  here  the  Belles  rin°-en: 


*  See  a 

author  of 


partieular  aceount  of  the  ceremonies  of  consecrating  bells  as 
Observations  on  a  Journey  to  Naples.”'  Lon.  1691. 


witnessed  by  the 


40 


314 


[Book  III. 


Ancient  Apparatus  for  Extinguishing  Fires , 

and  tkis  is  the  cause  why  the  Belles  nngen  whan  it  thondreth,  and  whan 
grete  tempeste  and  rages  of  wether  happen,  to  the  end  that  the  feinds  and 
wycked  spirytes  should  ben  abashed  and  flee,  and  cease  of  the  movynge 
of  tempeste.”  The  following  lines  to  the  same  effect,  are  from  Barnaby 
Googe,  an  old  British  poet : 

If  that  the  thunder  chaunce  to  rore, 

And  storuiie  tempestes  shake, 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

The  clarke  doth  all  the  belles  forthwith 
At  once  ill  steeple  ring  : 

With  wondrous  sound  and  deeper  farre 
Than  lie  was  wont  before, 

Till  in  the  loftie  heavens  darke, 

The  thunder  bray  no  more, 

For  in  these  christned  belles  they  thinke 
Doth  lie  such  powre  and  might 
As  able  is  the  tempeste  great, 

And  storme  to  vanquish  quight. 

The  application  of  bells  to  the  purposes  of  fire-engines  is  also  mentioned 
by  Peter  Martyr,  in  his  “  Common  Places,”  a  work  dedicated  to  Queen 
Elizabeth.  Black  letter,  1583.  Speaking  of  things  consecrated  by  ptK 
pists  in  common  with  the  ancient  heathen,  he  says  of  bells — “  they  be 
washed,  they  be  annointed,  they  be  conjured,  they  are  named  and  handled 
with  far  greater  pomp  and  ambition,  than  men  are  when  they  are  bap¬ 
tized,  and  more  is  attributed  to  them  than  to  the  prayers  of  godly  men. 
For  they  say,  that  by  the  ringing  of  them — the  wicked  spirits,  the  host  of 
adversaries,  the  laying  await  of  enemies,  tempestes,  hayle,  stormes,  whirl- 
windes,  violent  blastes  and  hurtfull  thunderclaps,  are  driven  away,  flames 
and  fires  are  extinguished ,  and  finally  whatever  else  soever!”  Part  iv, 
cap.  9,  p.  125. 

There  is  no  small  ringing  of  bells  in  this  city  (New-York)  during  fires; 
but  their  unaided  effects  on  the  devouring  element,  ere  other  means  have 
arrived,  has,  we  believe,  been  but  small.  Few  have,  however,  been  con¬ 
secrated  ;  but  as  from  one  to  two  hundred  Spanish  bells  have  recently 
been  sold  here,  (having  been  taken  from  the  convents  in  consequence  of 
the  civil  war  which  has  so  long  raged  in  that  country,)  this  virtue  of  sacred 
bells  may  soon  be  tested.  Certainly,  if  they  can  do  a  moiety  of  the  good 
things  mentioned  above,  they  were  worth  much  more  than  forty  cents  per 
lb.  the  average  price  at  which  they  were  sold. 

We  have  had  recourse  in  a  few  instances  to  heraldry,  or  rather  to  the 
emblems  or  personal  devices  of  ancient  families,  for  information  respecting 
machines,  some  of  which  are  no  longer  in  use  ;  as  the  eolipile,  and  the 
atmospheric  sprinkling  pot :  see  pages  261  and  396.  Besides  these  the 
syringe  and  the  bellows  have  also  been  adopted  on  such  occasions;  and  it 
may  be  here  observed  that  the  device  of  Galeaz,  duke  of  Milan,  the  second 
of  the  name,  was  a  brand  burning  and  two  fire  buckets.®  This,  although  no 
proof  that  machines  of  the  pump  kind  were  not  in  use  to  extinguish  fires 
in  Italy  during  the  15th  century,  is  an  indication  that  none  were  employed 
at  the  time  when  the  device  was  adopted. 

The  oldest  sketch  of  a  complete  set  of  apparatus  for  extinguishing  fire 
that  we  have  seen,  is  in  a  cut  representing  the  interior  of  a  laboratory  or 
smelting  furnace,  in  the  De  Re  Metallica  of  Agricola,  page  308.  The 
implements  are,  a  syringe,  a  sledge  hammer,  two  fire  hooks  and  three 
leathern  buckets  ;  conveniently  arranged  against  a  wall.  See  the  annexed 
illustration.  These  figures  seem  to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  Beckman 


a  Devices  Heroi'ques.  A  Lyon.  1577,  page  50. 


315 


Chap.  7.] 


From  Agricola „ 


and  subsequent  authors,  nor  is  this  surprising  since  they  form  a  very  small 
and  obscure  part  of  the  original  engraving.  We  noticed  the  latter  several 
times  before  observing  them.  The  syringe  was  made  of  brass  ;  it  is  de¬ 
signated  siphunculus  ori- 
chalceus,  cujus  usus  est  in 
incendiis.  In  these  figures 
we  behold  all  that  was 
preserved  through  the 
middle  ages  of  ancient 
firemen’s  machinery  :  the 
engine  of  Heron  seems  to 
have  been  quite  forgotten. 
Indeed  the  syringe  itself 
was  not  generally  used  in 
Europe  till  late,  for  it  was 
not  till  the  close  of  the 
16th  century  that  “  hand 
squirts,”  as  they  were 
named,  were  introduced 
into  London.  Previous  to 
that  time  watchmen,  buck- 
i  „  ets,  hooks  and  ladders,  on- 

ly  were  m  use.  Cutting 
away  with  axes  and  throwing  water  from  buckets  are  mentioned  (observes 
Fosbroke)  by  Petronius  and  Gervase  of  Canterbury.  The  owners  of 
houses  or  chimneys  that  took  fire  were  fined;  and  men  were  appointed  to 
watch  for  fires  and  givq  the  alarm.  In  1472  a  night  bellman  was  em¬ 
ployed  m  Exeter  to  alarm  the  inhabitants  in  case  of  fire,  and  in  1558, 
leathern  buckets,  ladders  and  crooks,  were  ordered  to  be  provided  for 
the  same  city ;  no  application  of  the  pump  seems  to  have  been  then 
thought  of. 

Syringes  continued  to  be  used  in  London  till  the  latter  part  of  the  17th 
century,  when  they  were  superseded  by  more  perfect  machines.  An  ac¬ 
count  of  them  and  the  mode  of  working  them  would  make  a  modern  fire¬ 
man  smile.  They  were  usually  made  of  brass  and  held  from  two  to  four 
quarts.  The  smaller  ones  were  about  two  feet  and  a  half  long,  and  an 
inch  and  a  half  in  diameter ;  the  bore  of  the  nozzles  being  half  an  inch. 
Three  men  were  required  to  work  each,  which  they  achieved  in  this  man¬ 
ner  :  two,  one  on  each  side,  grasped  the  cylinder  with  one  hand  and  the 
nozzle  with  the  other ;  while  the  third  one  worked  the  piston  !  Those 
who  held  the  instrument  plunged  the  nozzle  into  a  vessel  of  water,  the 
operator  then  drew  back  the  piston  and  thus  charged  the  cylinder,  and 
when  it  was  raised  by  the  bearers  and  in  the  required  position,  he  pushed 
in  the  piston  and  forced,  or  rather  endeavoured  to  force,  the  contents  on 
the  fire.  We  are  told  that  some  of  these  syringes  are  preserved  in  one 
or  two  of  the  parish  churches.  It  can  excite  no  surprise  that  London 
should  have  been  almost  wholly  destroyed  in  the  greht  fire  of  1666,  when 
such  were  the  machines  upon  which  the  inhabitants  chiefly  depended  for 
protecting  their  property  and  dwellings.  If  the  diminutive  size  of  these 
instruments  be  considered,  the  number  of  hands  required  to  work  each, 
beside  others  to  carry  water  and  vessels  for  them,  the  difficulty  and  often 
impossibility  of  approaching  sufficiently  near  so  as  to  reach  the  flames 
with  the  jet,  the  loss  of  part  of  the  stream  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  ' 
each  stroke  of  the  piston,  and  the  trifling*  effect  produced — the  whole  act 
of  using  them,  appears  rather  as  a  farce,  or  the  gambols  of  overgrow** 


316  Turkish  Fire-Engines.  [Book  III- 

boys  at  play,  than  the  well  directed  energies  of  men  to  subdue  the  raging 
element. 

In  Asia  syringes  have  probably  been  always  in  limited  use.  They  are 
the  only  instruments  of  the  pump  kind  now  known  there,  if  China  be  ex¬ 
cepted.  Very  effective  engines  on  the  European  plan  are  made  by  the 
Chinese.  (Chinese  Repos,  vol.  iv.) 

The  fire-engine  of  the  Turks  is  an  improvement  on  the  syringe,  but 
not  much  more  effective.  The  author  of  “  Sketches  of  Turkey”  observes, 
when  speaking  of  fires  in  Constantinople,  “  Indeed,  when  we  afterwards 
saw  the  machines  used  by  the  Turks  to  extinguish  fires,  we  were  not  sur¬ 
prised  at  the  feeble  resistance  which  they  could  oppose  to  the  progress  of 
the  devouring  element.  The  engines,  in  fact,  are  not  larger  than  those 
employed  with  us  to  water  gardens  :  they  have  but  a  single  chamber, 
which  is  about  eight  inches  long  by  three  or  four  in  diameter  ;  they  are 
readily  carried  about  by  hand.”  Commodoi-e  Porter,  in  his  interesting 
account  of  “ Constantinople  and  its  Environs,”  says  their  fire-engines  “are 
like  those  we  use  in  our  gardens,  for  watering  the  beds  and  walks,  and  de¬ 
liver  about  as  much  water  as  a  good  large  syringe.  When  an  alarm  of  fire 
is  given,  a  man  seizes  on  one  of  these  and  runs  to  the  spot  indicated,  with 
the  engine  on  his  shoulder,  another  brings  a  skin  of  water,  pours  it  into 
the  reservoir  and  they  pump  away.”  A  characteristic  anecdote  is  thus 
facetiously  related  by  Commodore  Porter.  “  They  had  heard  of  the  fire- 
engines  and  fire  companies  of  the  United  States — how  half  a  shingle  could 
be  burnt,  and  the  engines  save  the  other  half  from  the  flames.  They  could 
not  understand  it.  Mr.  Eckford  fortunately  arrived  with  his  beautiful 
ship,  having  one  of  our  engines  on  board,  requiring  some  twenty  men  to 
work  it.  The  Capudan  Pacha  heard  of  it — ‘  Mash  Allah  !  let  us  see  it,’ 
exclaimed  the  old  man.  The  engine  was  brought  on  shore  and  placed  in 
the  Navy  Yard  ;  a  short  suction  was  fixed  to  it  and  put  into  the  Bospho¬ 
rus;  men  were  set  to  work  it — the  Navy  Yard  was  soon  inundated,  and 
the  Bosphorus  began  to  run  dry  !  ‘  Mash  Allah  !’  said  he,  ‘  very  good 

— but  it  will  require  a  sea  to  supply  it  with  water.  It  won’t  do  for  us, 
for  there  is  no  sea  in  the  middle  of  the  city.’  They  therefore  have  thought 
best  to  stick  to  their  squirts,  and  to  let  the  fire  spread  until  the  wind 
changes,  or  it  is  tired  of  burning.” 

Sandys,  in  the  beginning  of  the  17th  century,  visited  Constantinople, 
and  speaks  of  the  frequency  of  fires  in  that  city  :  he  observes,  “  It  is  not  to 
be  marvelled  at,  for  the  citizens  dare  not  quench  the  fire  that  burneth  their 
own  houses,  because  officers  are  appointed  for  that  purpose.”  He  is  si¬ 
lent  respecting  the  instruments  then  used. 

When  the  useful  arts  began  to  excite  attention,  the  defects  of  portable 
syringes  were  too  apparent  to  be  neglected,  hence  in  the  early  part  of  the 
16th  century  several  attempts  were  made  to  remedy  them,  by  those  no¬ 
ble  spirits  who  burst  through  the  prejudice  that  had  so  long  consigned 
the  subjects  of  practical  mechanics  to  the  mere  makers  of  machines,  as  one 
unworthy  of  a  philosopher’s  pursuit;  and  from  the  cultivation  of  which 
no  distinction,  sa^e  such  as  was  allied  to  that  of  a  skilful  artisan,  could 
be  derived — a  species  of  fame  from  which  professors  of  philosophy  shrunk, 
like  Plato,  with  feelings  of  horror.  To  render  the  syringe  an  efficient  fire- 
engine,  would  seem  to  be  impossible,  except  by  converting  it  into  a  forc¬ 
ing  pump,  and  in  that  case  it  would  be  no  longer  a  syringe.  As  long, 
therefore,  as  such  an  idea  did  not  occur  to  engineers,  they  had  no  resource 
but  to  improve  the  “  squirt”  as  well  as  they  could  ;  and  however  hope¬ 
less  the  task  may  now  appear,  it  was.  not  only  attempted,  but  to  a  certain 
extent  accomplished,  and  with  considerable  ingenuity  too,  as  will  appear 


Chap.  7.]  Syringe  Engine  from  Besson.  317 

from  the  following  figure,  No.  143.  It  is  described  in  Besson’s  “  Thea¬ 
tre,”  and  must  therefore  have  been  invented  previous  to  1568,  the  date  of 
the  permission  to  print  his  work. 


No.  143.  Syringe  Engine  from  Besson.  A.  D.  1568. 


“  Proposition  De  U Autheur : — Artifice  autant  singulier  (comme  je 
“  pense)  que  non  point  commun,  pourjecter  l’eau  contre  un  grand  feu, 
“  mesmement  lors  que  pour  la  grandeur  de  la  damme,  nul  ne  peut  entrer 
“  ny  approcher  de  la  maison  qui  brusle.  Declaration  de  la  mesme  figure  : 
“  Cest  instrument,  qui  est  faict  en  forme  de  Cone,  se  soustient  sur  deux 
“  Roues  :  ayant  sa  bouche  tournee  vers  le  septentrion  :  et  aupres  de  sa 
“  base  il  y  a  des  demi  cercles,  qui  servent  a  l’hausser,  au  baisser,  d’avan- 
“  tage  vers  sa  dicte  bouche  septentrionale  est  un  Entonnoir,  pour  y  verser 
“  l’eau  dedans :  et  en  sa  base,  ou  bien  partie  meridionale,  est  une  vis,  dont 
“  est  pousse  dedans  et  recule  un  Baston  auquel  sont  des  Estouppes,  ainsi 
“  qu’aux  sii-ingues.  Le  reste  appert.” 

In  reading  the  above,  it  should  be  remembered  that  letters  of  reference 
to  designate  the  different  parts  of  machines  were  not  then  in  general  use, 
but  the  sides  and’  angles  of  the  pages  were  marked  with  various  points  of 
the  compass ;  and  particular  parts  pointed  out  by  their  position  with  re¬ 
gard  to  these,  and  by  the  intersection  of  lines  drawn  between  them.  In 
this  engine  several  defects  of  the  “  hand  squirts”  are  avoided  ;  as  the  ne¬ 
cessity  of  inverting  the  instrument  to  refill  it  by  plunging  the  nozzle  into 
the  vessel  of  water,  the  small  quantity  contained  in  the  former,  and  the 
consequently  incessant  repetition  of  the  operation  and  interruption  of  the 
jet,  and  the  difficulty  of  directing  it  on  the  flames  with  certainty  or  preci¬ 
sion.  Besson,  (if  he  was  the  inventor,)  therefore,  greatly  enlarged  the 
capacity  of  the  cylinder,  making  it  sufficient  to  contain  a  barrel,  or  more  ; 
and  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  placed  it  on  a  carriage.  To  eject  the  water 
uniformly,  he  moved  the  piston  by  a  screw ;  and  when  the  cylinder  was 
emptied,  it  was  refilled  through  the  funnel  by  an  attendant,  as  the  piston 
was  drawn  back  by  reversing  the  motion  of  the  crank.  When  recharged, 
the  stop  cock  in  the  pipe  of  the  funnel  was  closed  and  the  liquid  forced 
out  as  before.  As  flexible  pipes  of  leather,  the  “  ball  and  socket”  and 
“  goose-neck”  joints  had  not  been  introduced,  some  mode  of  changing 
the  direction  of  the  jet  of  this  enormous  syringe  was  necessary.  To  effect 
this,  it  is  represented  as  suspended  on  pivots,  which  rest  in  two  upright 
posts :  to  these  are  secured  (see  figure)  two  semicircular  straps  of  iron, 
whose  centres  coincide  with  the  axis,  or  pivots,  on  which  the  syringe 
turns.  A  number  of  holes  are  made  in  each,  and  are  so  arranged  as  to  be 
opposite  each  other.  A  bolt  is  passed  through  two  of  these,  and  also 
through  a  similar  hole,  in  a  piece  of  metal,.,  that  is  firmly  secured  to  the 
upper  part  of  the  open  end  of  the  cylinder ;  and  thus  holds  the  latter  in 


318 


Old  German  Engines. 


[Book  III. 


any  position  required.  The  iron  frame  to  which  the  box  or  female  part 
of  the  screw  is  attached,  is  made  fast  to  the  cylinder  ;  and  it  is  through  a 
projecting  piece  on  the  end  of  this  frame  that  the  bolt  is  passed.  By 
these  means,  any  elevation  could  be  given  to  the  nozzle,  and  the  syringe 
could  be  secured  bv  passing  the  bolt  through  the  piece  just  mentioned, 
and  through  the  corresponding  holes  in  the  straps.  When  a  lateral  change 
in  the  jet  was  required,  the  whole  machine  was  moved  by  a  man  at  the 
end  of  the  pole,  as  in  the  figure.  To  the  frame,  jointed  feet  were  attach¬ 
ed,  which  were  let  down  when  the  engine  was  at  work.  The  women 
represented  (one  only  is  given  in  our  figure)  reminds  us  of  a  remark  by 
Fosbroke :  “  In  the  middle  ages  during  fires  women  used  to  fetch  water 

in  brazen  pails  to  assist.”  Considering  the  age  when  this  engine  was 
devised  and  the  objects  intended  to  be  accomplished  by  it,  it  certainly 
has  the  merit  of  ingenuity  as  well  as  originality.  Beroald  says  of  it : 
“  Ceste  noble  invention  est  si  souvent  requise,  pour  esteindre  les  grand 
feux  desquels  on  ne  peut  approcher  ;  que  sans  faute  elle  merite  d’estre 
plus  au  long,  et  plus  ouvertement  expliquee,  afin  qu’elle  soit  mieux  en- 
tendue.”  It  will  be  obvious  to  every  practical  mechanic  that  engines  of 
this  kind,  of  large  dimensions,  must  have  been  at  best  but  poor  affairs.  To 
make  the  piston  work  sufficiently  accurate  and  tight,  and  to  keep  it  so, 
must  have  been  a  work  of  no  small  difficulty. 

A  correspondent,  in  a  late  number  of  the  Lon.  Mechanics’  Magazine, 
vol.  xxx,  has  communicated  a  very  imperfect  figure  of  this  engine  to  that 
work,  extracted  from  an  English  book,  published  in  1590,  entitled  “A 
Treatise  named  Luc  Anson  ace,  divided  into  four  books,  which  in  part 
are  collected  out  of  diverse  authors,  diverse  languages,  and  in  part 
devised  by  Cyprian  Lucar,  Gentleman.”  London :  1590.  It  is  very 
obvious  that  Lucar  copied  the  engine  in  question  from  Besson’s  work, 
which  was  published  in  1579,  but  was  authorized  to  be  printed  in  1568 ; 
and  which  Besson’s  death  then  prevented.  The  following  extract  from 
Lucar’s  book  is  not  without  interest.  “And  here  at  the  end  of  this  chapter 
I  will  set  before  your  eyes  a  type  of  a  *  squirt’  which  hath  been  de¬ 
vised  to  cast  much  water  upon  a  burning  house,  wishing  a  like  squirt  and 
plenty  of  water  to  be  alwaies  in  a  readinesse  where  fire  may  do  harme;  for 
this  kind  of  squirt  may  be  made  to  holde  an  hoggeshed  of  water,  or  if  you 
will,  a  greater  quantity  thereof,  and  may  be  so  placed  on  his  frame,  that 
with  ease  and  a  smal  strength,  it  sahl  be  mounted,  imbased  or  turned  to 
any  one  side,  right  against  any  fired  marke,  and  made  to  squirt  out  the 
water  upon  the  fire  that  is  to  be  quenched.” 

The  Germans  were  proverbially  in  advance  of  the  rest  of  Europe  in 
the  15th,  16th  and  17th  centuries,  in  almost  every  department  of  the  arts. 
“  The  excellency  of  these  people  [observes  Heylin  in  his  Cosmography] 
lieth  in  the  mechanic  part  of  learning,  as  being  eminent  for  many  mathe¬ 
matical  experiments,  strange  water-works,  medicinal  extractions,  chemistry, 
the  art  of  printing,  and  inventions  of  like  noble  nature,  to  the  no  less  be¬ 
nefit  than  admiration  of  the  world.”  As  early  as  A.  D.  1518,  some  kind 
of  fire-engines  were  used  in  Augsburg,  being  mentioned  in  the  building 
accounts  of  that  city.  They  were  named  “  instruments  for  fires,”  and 
“  water  syringes  useful  at  fires.”  Their  particular  construction  is  unknown ; 
but  from  a  remark  in  the  accounts  respecting  wheels  and  poles,  they  are 
supposed  to  have  been  placed  on  carriages :  they  were  probably  large 
syringes  and  mounted  like  the  one  represented  in  the  last  figure. 

The  oldest  pump  engines  of  modern  times  were  certainly  made  in  Ger¬ 
many,  and  about  the  close  of  the  16th  or  beginning  of  the  next  century. 
The  first  one  noticed  by  Beckman  is  that  of  Hautsch,  which  the  Jesuit 


319 


Chap.  7.] 


Pump  Engine  from  Decaus. 


Schottus  saw  tried  at  Nuremberg  in  1656.  In  giving  an  account  of  it 
ochottus  remarks  that  the  invenrion  was  not  then  new,  it  being  known  in 
other  cities,  and  he  himself  remembered  having  seen  a  small  one  in  his 
nat1Ve  city  (Komgshofen)  forty  years  before,  consequently  about  1617. 

e  are  not  informed  by  either  the  professor  or  jesuit  of  the  particular 
construction  of  this  small  engine,  but  there  is  a  book  extant  that  was  pub¬ 
lished  m  1615,  which  contains  a  figure  and  description  of  a  German 
engine  oi  that  time,  and  which  furnishes  the  information  desired.  This 
book  is  the  “  Forcible  Movements”  of  Decaus,  a  work  which,  like  the 
theatre  des  Jnstrumens  of  Besson,  escaped  the  notice  of  Beckman* 


No.  144.  German  Pump  Engine  from  Decaus.  A.  D.  1615. 


This  machine  is  named  “  A  rare  and  necessary  Engin,  by  which  you 
may  give  great  reliefe  to  houses  that  are  on  fire  we  give  the  whole  of 
the  explanation  :  “This  engin  is  much  practiced  in  Germany ,  and  it  hath 
been  seen  what  great  and  ready  help  it  may  bring ;  for  although  the  fire 
be  40  loot  high,  the  said  engin  shall  there  cast  its  water  by  help  of  four 
or  five  men  lifting  up  and  putting  down  a  long  handle,  in  form  of  a  lever, 
where  the  handle  of  the  pump  is  fastned  :  the  said  pump  is  easily  un- 
derstood  :  there  are  two  suckers  [valves]  within  it,  one  below  to  open  when 
the  handle  is  lifted  up,  and  to  shut  when  it  is  put  down  ;  and  another  to 
open  to  let  out  the  water :  and  at  the  end  of  the  said  engin  there  is  a  man 
which  holds  the  copper  pipe,  turning  it  to  and  again  to  the  place  where 
the  fire  shall  be.”  In  other  words,  this  was  a  single  forcing  pump,  such 
as  figured  at  No.  118,  and  secured  in  a  tub.  For  the  convenience  of 


.  °f  Decaus  history  scarcely  any  thing  is  known— even  his  name  is  left  in  doubt,  for 
ho  1"s°mel‘,*lcs  named  Isaak,  at  others  Solomon  de  Caus.  An  account  of  his  book  may 
an  error  »  Uart  *  A,,.ecdotejJ  °f  the  Steam-Engine,  vol.  i,  p.  27.  But  there  seems  to  be 
been  mar  o  „  gluSn  of  ]he  Ell§llsl1  translation  by  Leak,  which  is  stated  to  have 
neen  mat  e  in  1707,  whereas  the  copy  in  our  possession  is  dated  nearly  fifty  years  ear- 
li  .r.  It  is  entitled  New  and  rare  inventions  of  Water-works,  shewing  the  easiest 

iI'nronn«mJSmWateu  l^en  8Pr'n«  »  by  which  invention  the  perpetual  motion 

,‘  I  .1  *  ’  labours  performed  and  varieties  of  motions  and  sounds  pro 

U •*]  '  p°r  I  “^  'isefull,  profitable  and  delightfull  for  all  sorts  of  people:  first 
1 1  .  ,m  T  reilc  '  by  Isaak  de  Caus,  a  late  famous  Engenier,  and  now  translated  into 
English  by  John  Leak.”  London  :  printed  by  and  for  Joseph  Moxon.  1659. 


320 


Engines  and  Squirts  at  the  Fire  of  London ,  1666.  [Book  IIL 


transportation  the  whole  was  placed  on  a  sled,  and  dragged  to  a  fire  by 
ropes.  The  bore  of  the  forcing  pipe  seems  to  have  been  small  compared 
with  that  of  the  pump  cylinder,  a  circumstance  combined  with  the  long 
lever  and  the  number  of  men  employed  in  working  the  latter,  that  contri¬ 
buted  to  increase  the  elevation  of  the  jet.  This  machine  exhibits  a  de¬ 
cided  improvement  on  the  primitive  syringe,  and  constitutes  a  great  step 
towards  the  modern  engine.  In  the  short  angular  tube  to  which  the  jet 
pipe  is  attached,  we  behold  the  germ  of  the  more  valuable  goose-neck. 

Notwithstanding  the  superiority  of  pump  engines  over  the  syringe,  many 
years  elapsed  before  they  were  generally  adopted.  “  The  English  [ob¬ 
serves  a  British  writer]  appear  to  have  been  unacquainted  with  the  pro¬ 
gress  made  by  the  German  engineers  ;  or  to  have  been  very  slow  in 
availing  themselves  of  their  discoveries,  for  at  the  close  of  the  16th  cen¬ 
tury  “  hand  squirts ”  were  first  introduced  in  London  for  extinguishing 
fires;  and  it  was  not  till  the  beginning  of  the  next,  that  they  began  to 
place  them  in  portable  and  larger  reservoirs — when  placed  in  the  latter 
and  worked  by  a  lever,  the  engines  thus  obtained  were  considered  a  great 
mechanical  achievement ;  for  when  in  1633,  three  of  them  were  taken  to 
extinguish  a  large  fire  on  London  bridge,  they  were  considered  “  such 
excellent  things,  that  nothing  that  was  ever  devised  could  do  so  much 
good,  yet  none  of  them  did  prosper,  for  they  were  all  broken.”  The  ob¬ 
servation  that  “  hand  squirts”  or  syringes  were  placed  in  reservoirs  and 
then  worked  by  a  lever  is  not  strictly  correct :  they  were  small  forcing 
pumps  that  were  employed.  A  syringe  could  not  act  at  all  if  permanently 
fixed  in  a  vessel,  because  it  discharges  the  water  through  the  same  orifice 
by  which  it  receives  it.  Some  improvements  were  made  on  fire-engines 
by  Greatorix  in  1656,  as  mentioned  by  Evelyn  :  what  they  were  is  not 
known.  The  probability  is,  that  they  related  to  the  carriage  or  sled.  If 
his  engines  were  the  same  that  were  advertised  in  1658,  this  was  the 
case,  for  they  were  recommended  as  “  more  traversable  in  less  room,  and 
more  portable  than  formerly  used.”  Fosbroke’s  Encyc.  Antiq. 

But  the  fire-engine  as  thus  improved  had  still  many  imperfections  :  the 
water  was  projected  in  spurts  as  from  a  syringe  ;  and  the  jet  not  only 
ceased  with  the  stroke  of  the  piston,  but  a  portion  of  the  water  was  in 
consequence  lost  by  falling  between  the  fire  and  engine  at  the  termination 
of  each  stroke.  An  obvious  mode  of  rendering  the  jet  constant  was  by 
connecting  two  pumps  to  one  discharging  pipe,  (as  in  the  figure  of  Heron’s,) 
and  working  the  pistons  alternately  either  by  a  double  lever  or  two  single 
ones.  This  was  first  adopted  by  the  old  German  engineers,  and  thus 
another  step  was  taken  towards  perfecting  these  useful  instruments.  In¬ 
stead  of  a  circular  tub,  a  square  box  or  cistern  was  adopted  and  mounted 
on  four  solid  wheels  in  place  of  a  sled;  and  a  strainer,  or  false  bottom, 
perforated  with  numerous  small  holes,  was  placed  within  the  cistern  to 
prevent  gravel  or  dirt,  thrown  in  with  the  water,  from  entering  the  pump. 
Such  appear  to  have  been  the  best  fire-engines  in  England  when  the 
great  fire  in  London  occurred  in  1666.  They  are  referred  to  in  the  official 
account  of  the  fire,  dated  Whitehall,  September  8th,  of  the  same  year — 

“  this  lamentable  fire  in  a  short  time  became  too  big  to  be  managed  by  any 
engines .”  But  nothing  can  show  their  general  inefficiency  in  a  stronger 
light  than  the  measures  adopted  by  the  city  government  the  following  year 
to  guard  against  a  similar  calamity.  Instead  of  relying  upon  engines,  they 
seem  to  have  retained  their  confidence  in  the  old  syringe. 

1.  By  an  act  of  the  Common  Council,  the  city  was  divided  into  four 
districts,  and  “  each  thereof  was  to  be  provided  with  eight  hundred  lea¬ 
thern  buckets — fifty  ladders,  of  different  sizes,  from  twelve  to  forty-two 


321 


Chap.  7.] 


English  Engines  in  lpj  j. 


feet  m  length— two  brazen  hand  squirts  to  each  parish— four-and-t we ntv 
picka.x  sledges — and  forty  shod  shovels.  y 

2.  That  each  of  the  twelve  companies  provide  themselves  with  an  en- 

^uck®ts  three  ladders  six  pickax  sledges-and  two  hand 
squuls  to  be  ready  upon  all  occasions.  And  the  inferior  companies  such 
a  number  of  small  engines  and  buckets,  as  should  be  allotted  them  by  the 
Lord  May  of  and  court  of  Aldermen.  J 

3.  That  the  Aldermen  passed  the  office  of  Shrievalty,  do  provide  their 
several  houses  with  four-and-twenty  buckets,  and  one  hand  squirt  each 

squi^Zh  mVe  n0t  SerVed  dmt  °ffice’  twelve  buckets  and  one  hana 

4.  Ana  for  the  effectual  supplying  the  engines  and  squirts  with  water 
pumps  were  to  be  placed  in  all  wells ;  and  fire  plugs  in  the  several  main 
pipes  belonging  to  the  New  River  and  Thames  Water- works.”  Maitland. 

ie  oldest  account  of  English  fire-engines  that  we  have  seen  is  in  a 
small  old  quarto  in  our  possession,  the  title  page  of  which  is  wanting 
1  rom  two  poetical  addresses  to  the  author,  it  appears  that  the  initial  let¬ 
ters  of  his  name  were  I.  B.,  and  that  the  work  was  entitled  “A  Treatise 
on  Art  and  Nature  Two  thirds  of  it  are  occupied  with  “  water-works  ” 
and  the  rest  With  “fier- works,”  except  four  or  five  pages  “on  voyces  cals 
ci yes  and  sounds  z.  e.  on  making  of  whistles,  &c.  for  sportsmen  to  imi¬ 
tate  the  voices  of  certain  birds  and  other  game.  The  date  of  publication 
was  about  1634:  this,  we  infer  from  page  51,  where,  speaking  of  “  The 
engin  near  the  north  end  of  London  bridge,  [he  observes]  which  engin  I 
circumspectly  vieued  as  I  accidentally  passed  by,  immediately  after  the 
late  fier  that  was  upon  the  bridge.  Anno  1633.”  Shops  and  dwelling 
housms  were  built  on  both  sides  of  the  bridge  at  that  time. 

Alter  describing  several  modes  of  raising  water  by  sucking,  forcing  and 
Cham  pumps,  he  continues  Having  sufficiently  spoke!  concerning 
mils  and  engins  for  mounting  water  for  meer  conveyance,  thence  we  ma? 
derive  divers  squirts  and  petty  engins  to  be  drawn  upon  wheeles  from 
p  ace  to  place,  for  to  quench  fier  among  buildings  ;  the  use  whereof  hath 
been  found  very  commodious  and  profitable  in  cities  and  great  townes.” 
Mence  engines  were  at  this  time  not  uncommon  in  England  No  less 
than  seven  are  figured  by  the  author,  and  all  are  placed  in  cisterns  or  tubs 
mounted  on  wheels:  neither  air  vessels  nor  hose  pipes  are  described  or 
Mentioned.  Five  of  the  engines  consist  of  single  cylinders  ;  of  these  some 
are  in  a  perpendicular  position,  others  are  laid  horizontally,  and  one  is 
inverted  and  fed  by  a  branch  pipe  covered  by  a  valve.  The  last  one  figured 
has  two  horizontal  cylinders,  a  suggestion  of  the  author’s,  and  the  piston 

r6  rr  aS  'VOrke4  Ornately  by  pallets  or  arms  on  a  vertical 
i  1  .t°  whl°h  a  reciprocating  rotary  movement  was  imparted  by  pushing 
a  honzcutal  lever  to  and  fro.  One  of  these  old  fire-engines  is  a  specie! 
of  bellows  pump,  the  construction  of  which  we  will  endeavour  to  explain* 

1  wo  brass  vessels  were  connected  at  their  open  ends  to  a  ba Qf  lea- 
resemble,  both  in  shape  and  size,  two  men’s  hats,  the  linings 
rt  hlch  beirjg  pulled  out  and  sewed  together  form  a  cylindrical  ba<r 
etween  them.  A  circular  opening,  six  or  seven  inches  in  diameter,  was 
^  a  horlzontal  P^ce  of  plank  fixed  in  the  cistern  of  the  engine, 

V  p  i  l  11S  °Pe"lnS  one  of  the  vessels,  with  its  crown  upwards,  was 

fn^ne,  loT Vmade-  fuSt  iy  &;CreWS  througb  tbe  rim  :  the  other  vessel  being 
from.  £  b^  tbe  hag  and  hanging  loosely  in  the  water.  Within 
•  i  vesse  (in  the  centre  of  its  bottom-)^  a  valve  opening  upwards  ad- 
m  e  ie  uater,  and  on  the  top  or  crown  of  the  upper  vessel,  another 
valve,  also  opening  upwards,  was  placed.  Over  the  last  valve  the  base  of 

41 


322 


Extract  from  Harris’s  History  of  Inventers.  [Book  III. 

the  jet  pipe  was  secured.  To  work  this  machine,  the  rim  of  the  lower 
vessel  was  connected  at  opposite  points,  by  two  iron  rods  or  slings  and  a 
cross  head,  to  the  end  of  a  lever,  by  which  the  lower  vessel  was  moved  up 
and  down — compressing  the  bag  when  raised,  and  stretching  it  to  its 
natural  length  when  lowered;  like  the  lantern  bellows  No.  105,  or  the  bel¬ 
lows  pump  No.  106.  To  make  the  vessel  rise  and  fall  perpendicularly, 
the  two  rods  were  passed  through  holes  in  the  plank.  Water  was  kept 
in  the  cistern  as  high  as  the  plank;  so  that  when  the  movable  vessel  was 
raised  the  contents  of  the  bag  would  be  forced  into  the  upper  vessel  and 
expelled  through  the  jet  pipe,  and  when  it  was  again  lowered,  the  water 
would  enter  through  its  valve  and  fill  both  as  before.  These  engines,  he 
observes,  had  sometimes  two  levers  and  were  worked  by  two  men,  “  the 
lower  brasse  [vessel]  being  poysed  with  two  sweeps/’ 

The  goose-neck  was  used  in  England  at  this  time.  It  is  not  represented 
in  the  figures,  which  are  very  indifferently  executed,  but  is  sufficiently 
well  defined  in  the  description  of  one  of  the  engines.  The  author  directs 
a  hollow  ball  to  be  placed  on  the  orifice  of  the  forcing  pipe,  “  having  a 
[jet]  pipe  at  the  top  of  it,  and  made  to  screw  another  pipe  [elbow]  upon 
it,  to  direct  the  water  to  any  place.” 

Small  or  hand  engines  continued  to  be  employed  in  London  in  the  18th 
century.  This  appears  from  a  law  passed  in  the  6th  year  of  Queen  Anne’s 
reign,  by  which  it  was  enacted  that  “  each  parish  shall  keep  a  large  en¬ 
gine,  and  an  hand  engine,  and  a  leather  pipe,  and  socket  of  the  same  size 
as  the  plug  or  fire  cock,  of  the  water  mains,]  that  the  socket  may  be  put 
into  the  pipe  to  convey  the  water  clear  to  the  engine,”  under  a  penalty  of 
ten  pounds.  In  case  of  a  fire,  the  first  person  who  arrived  with  a  parish 
engine  to  extinguish  it  was  entitled  to  thirty  shillings — the  second  twenty, 
and  the  third  ten,  provided  the  engines  were  in  good  order,  “  with  a  socket 
or  hose,  or  leather  pipe.”  The  following  year,  the  owners  or  keepers  of 
“  other  large  engines,”  (not  parish  engines,)  were  entitled  to  the  same 
reward  upon  arriving  with  them  and  assisting  in  extinguishing  a  fire. 

It  is  a  singular  proof  of  the  general  ignorance  of  hydraulic  machinery, 
or  want  of  enterprise  in  London  pump  makers  of  the  16th  and  17th  cen¬ 
turies,  that  they  so  long  continued  the  use  of  “  squirts”  and  engines  with 
single  cylinders,  when  they  had  daily  before  their  eyes  in  the  Thames 
Water- works  examples  of  the  advantages  of  combining  two  or  more  to 
one  pipe.  The  application  also  of  such  machines  as  fire-engines  was  ob¬ 
viously  enough  shown  to  them ;  for  when  Maurice  had  finished  his  labors 
in  1582,  the  mayor  and  aldermen  went  to  witness  an  experiment  with  his 
pumps  at  London  bridge  r  “  and  they  saw  him  throw  the  water  over  Saint 
Magnus’s  steeple,  before  which  time  [says  Stow]  no  such  thing  was  known 
in  England  as  this  raising  of  water.”  Immediately  subsequent  to  the  above 
date,  the  “  squirt”  manufacturers  might  surely  have  imitated.  Maurice’s 
machine,  but  they  did  not  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  afterwards ;  that  is, 
not  until  such  engines  had  been  introduced  a  second  time  from  Germany, 
and  designed  expressly  to  put  out  fires. 

Before  the  improvements  of  Newsham  and  his  contemporaries  of  the 
18th  century,  some  important  additions  would  seem  to  have  been  made 
in  England,  since,  previous  to  1686  “  the  engine  for  extinguishing  fire” 
was  claimed  as  an  English  invention.  This  is  stated  in  a  small  volume  pub¬ 
lished  that  year  in  London  by  John  Harris,  and  apparently  edited  by  him. 
It  .is  entitled  “  A  pleasant  and  compendious  history  of  the  first  inventers 
and  instituters  of  the  most  famous  arts,  misteries,  laws,  customs  and 
manners  in  the  whole  world,  together  with  many  other  rarities  and  re¬ 
markable  things  rarely  made  known,  and  never  before  made  public  :  to 


323 


Chap.  8.J  Large  Engine  made  by  Hautsch  at  Nuremberg,  1656. 


which  is  added  severa  curious  inventions,  peculiarly  attributed  to  En<r. 
land  and  English  men.  We  shall  offer  no  apology  for  closing  this  chap¬ 
ter  with  the  following  abstract,  although  the  concluding  part  only  refers  to 
our  subject'  “  Fine  Spanish  needles  were  first  made  in  England  by  a 
Negro  m  Cheapside,  who  refused  to  communicate  his  art :  but  in  the 
eighth  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth’s  reign,  Elias  Corous,  a  German,  made 
it  known  to  the  English.  About  the  fifth  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  way 
of  making  pins  was  found  out  by  the  English,  which  before  were  brought 
in  by  strangers  to  the  value  of  60,000  pound  a  year.  Watches  were  the 
invention  of  a  German,  and  the  invention  brought  into  England  Anno  1580 
r  he  Q™ous  ^enters  and  improvers  were  Cornelius  Van  Dreble  and 

irIrne  US'  firSt/locks  were  brought  into  England  much 

about  the  same  time  Chames  for  watches  are  said  to  be  the  invention  of 

Mr.  Tomackee  The  engine  for  clock  wheels  is  an  English  invention  of 
about  one  hundred  years  standing,  as  likewise  that  for  the  speedy  cutting- 
down  wheels  for  watches  Other  late  inventions  there  are,  to  whom  J 
their  inventers  the  English  lay  claime,  as  an  engine  for  raising  glass,  an 
engine  for  spinning  g  ass,  an  engine  for  cutting  tobacco,  the  rouling  press 
the  art  of  damasking  lumen  and  watering  of  silks,  the  way  of  separating 
go id  rom  silver  and  brass,  boultmg  mills,  making  caine  chairs,  the  curious 
art  of  colouring  and  marbling  books,  making  of  horn  ware,  and  the  engine 
to  extinguish  fire,  and  the  like.”  * 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Fire-engines  Continued:  Engines  by  Hautsch-Nuremberg-Fire-engines  a.  Strasbourg  and  Yores 
— Couphng  screws  Old  engine  with  air  chamber-Canvas  and  leather  hose  and  Dutch  engines-Eu- 
gines  of  Perier  and  Leopold— Old  English  engines— Newsham’s  engines— Modern  French  engine— Air 
chambers— Table  of  the  height  of  jets— Modes  of  working  fire-engines— Engines  worked  by  steam.  Fire 
engines  in  America:  Regulations  respecting  fires  in  New  Amsterdam-Proclamations  of  Governor 
Stuyvesant-Extracts  from  old  minutes  of  the  Common  Council-First  fire-engines-Philadelphia  and 
New-York  engines— Riveted  hose-Steam  fire-engines  now  being  constructed.  Devices  to  extinguish 
fire  without  engines— Water  bombs— Protecting  buildings  from  fire-Fire  escapes-Couvre  feu-cu°rfew 
bells-Measunng  time  with  candles-Ancient  laws  respecting  fires  and  incendiaries-The  dress  in 
which  Roman  incendiaries  were  burnt  retained  in  the  auto  da  fe. 

The  fire-engine  mentioned  in  the  previous  chapter,  which  Schottus  wit¬ 
nessed  m  operation  at  Nuremberg  in  1656,  appears  to  have  been  equal  to 
any  modern  one  m  the  effects  ascribed  to  it,  since  it  forced  a  column  of 
water,  an  inch  in  diameter,  to  an  elevation  of  eighty  feet.  One  German 
author  says  a  hundred  feet.  It  was  made  by  John  Hautsch,  who,  like 
most  of  the  old  inventors,  endeavored  to  keep  the  construction  of  his 
machine  a  secret.  _  He  refused  to  allow  Schottus  to  examine  its  interior  • 
though  the  latter  it  is  said  readily  conceived  the  arrangement,  and  from 
his  account  it  has  been  supposed  the  cylinders  were  placed  in  a  horizontal 
position,  lhe  cistern  that  contained  the  pumps  was  eight  feet  lonjr,  two 
in.  readth,  and  four  deep ;  it  stood  on  a  sled  ten  feet  in  length  and  four  in 
width,  and  the  whole  was  drawn  by  two  horses.  The  levers  were  so  ar¬ 
ranged  that  twenty-eight  men  could  be  employed  in  working  them.  The 
manufacture  of  these  engines  was  continued  by  George  Hautsch,  the  son, 
W.,°  1S  suppose  to  have  made  improvements  in  them,  as  some  writers  as¬ 
cribe  the  invention  of  fire-engines  to  him.  % 


324 


Strasbourg  Fire-Engine.  [Book  III. 


In  the  16th  century  no  place  could  have  furnished  equal  facilities  with 
Nuremberg  for  the  fabrication  of,  and  making  experiments  with,  hydraulic 
machines.  It  was  at  that  time  the  Birmingham  of  Europe.  “  Nuremberg 
brass”  was  celebrated  for  ages.  Its  mechanics  were  so  mfmerous  that, 
for  fear  of  tumults,  they  were  not  allowed  to  assemble  in  public  “  except 
at  worship,  weddings  and  funerals.”  No  other  plac®,  observes  an  old 
writer,  had  “  so  great  a  number  of  cui'ious  workmen  in  all  metals.”  The 
Hautschs  seem  to  have  been  favorites  with  the  genius  of  invention  that 
presided  over  the  city  ;  an  aptitude  for  and  an  inclination  to  pursue  me¬ 
chanical  researches  were  inherited  by  the  family.  From  a  remark  of  Dr. 
Agricola  of  Ratisbon,  in  his  curious  work  on  Gardening,  we  learn  that 
one  of  them  did  not  confine  himself  to  devices  for  throwing  streams  of 
water  into  the  air  ;  for  he  contrived  a  machine  by  means  of  which  he  in¬ 
tended  to  raise  himself  into  the  upper  regions.  “  What  can  be  more  ridi¬ 
culous  [exclaims  the  author  just  named]  than  the  art  of  flying,  sailing 
or  swimming  in  the  air  ]  Yet  we  find  there  have  been  some  who  have 
practiced  it,  particularly  one  Hautsch  of  Nuremberg,  who  is  much  spoken 
of  for  Ins  fining  engine.  In  the  mean  time  it  is  well  for  the  world  that 
these  attempts  have  not  succeeded;  for  how  should  we  seize  malefactors] 
They  would  fly  over  the  walls  of  towns  like  Apelles  Vocales,  who  they 
tell  us  saved  himself  by  flying  over  the  walls  of  Nuremberg,  and  the  print 
of  whose  feet  is  there  shown  to  strangers  to  this  day.”  The  art  of  fly¬ 
ing  was  a  standard  subject  with  Nuremberg  mechanics  for  centuries 
and  several  curious  results  are  recorded,  but  perhaps  nothin^  more  so 
than  the  above  objection  to  it. 


No.  145.  Fire-engine  belonging  to  Strasbourg,  A.  D.  1739. 


For  nearly  a  hundred  years  after  the  date  of  Hautsch’s  engine  those 
used  throughout  Europe,  with  the  exception  perhaps  of  a  few  cities  in 
Germany,  were  very  similar  to  those  described  by  Belidor,  as  employed 
in  France  in  his  time.  They  consisted  simply  of  two  pumps  placed  in  a 
chest  or  cistern  that  was  moved  on  wheels  or  sleds,  and  sometimes  carried 
by  men  like  the  old  sedan  chair.  These  engines  differed  from  each  other 
only  in  their  dimensions  and  the  modes  of  working  them.  Nos.  145  and 
146  will  oonvey  a  pretty  correct  idea  of  them  during  the  early  part 
of  the  18th  century.  The  former  belonged  to  Strasbourg,  the  latter  to  Ypres. 


325 


Chap.  8.] 


Fire-Engine  at  Ypres. 


The  front  part  of  the  cistern  in  which  the  pumps  are  fixed,  is  separated 
ya  perforated  board  from  the  hinder  part,  into  which  the  water  was 
poured  from  buckets.  The  cylinders  were  four  inches  in  diameter,  and 
the  pistons  had  a  stroke  of  ten  inches.  Each  pump  was  worked  by  a  sepa- 
ia  e  lever,  A  A;  an  injudicious  plan,  since  a  very  few  hands  could  be 
employed  on  each ;  and  as  the  engine  had  no  air  vessel  it  was  necessary 
in  order  to  keep  up  the  jet,  that  the  piston  should  be  raised  and  depressed 
a  ernately  a  condition  not  easily  performed  by  individuals  unused  to  the 
operation,  and  acting  under  the  excitement  of  a  spreading  conflagration. 

,  contriva.nce  for  changing  the  direction  of  the  jet  was  very  defective 
and  considering  the  date  of  this  engine  it  is  surprising  that  such  a  one  was 
then  m  use.  A  short  leathern  pipe  would  have -been  much  better.  It 
wi  be  perceived  that  the  jet  pipe  is  connected  to  the  perpendicular  or 
fixed  one  by  a  single  elbow,  instead  of  a  double  one,  like  the  ordinarv 
goose-neck.  The  joints  were  also  made  differently.  The  short  elbow 
piece  had  a  collar  or  ring  round  each  end,  and  the  jet  and  perpendicular 
pipes,  where  they  were  united  to  the  elbow,  the  same.  The  faces  of 
these  collars  were  made  smooth,  so  as  to  fit  close  to  and  at  the  same  time 
turn  on  each  other  :  loose  flanches  on  the  pipes  were  bolted  to  others  on 
to  elbow,  and  thus  drew  the  collars  together  so  as  to  prevent  water 
Irorn  leaking  through.  Now  it  will  be  seen  that  although  the  joint  which 
unites  the  e  bow  to  the  perpendicular  pipe  would  allow  the  jet  pipe  to  be 
turned  m  a  lateral  or  horizontal  direction,  there  appears  no  provision  to 
raise  or  to  lower  it,  and  no  apparent  use  at  all  for  the  other  joint.  We 
were  at  first  at  a  loss  to  divine  how  the  stream  could  be  directed  up  and 
down  as  occasions  might  require,  for  .Belidor  has  not  explained  it ;  but  on 
examining  more  closely  the  figure  in  his  work,  we  found  that  the  jet  pipe 
itseli  was  not  straight,  but  bent  near  its  junction  with  the  elbow:  this  dis¬ 
solved.  the  mystery,  for  it  was  then  obvious  that  by  twisting  this  pipe 
round  in  its  joint,  its  smaller  orifice  could  be  inclined  up  or  down  at  plea¬ 
sure.  This  very  imperfect  device  is  also  shown  in  the  next  figure1  the 

jet  pipe  being  curved  through  its  whole  length,  instead  of  a  single  bend  as 
£u  the  last  one. 


I  he  pumps  of  this  engine  are  substantially  the  same  as  those  of  the  last, 
but  the  piston  rods  are  moved  by  a  short  vibrating  beam  placed  directly 


326 


Fire  Engine 


[Book  III. 


over  the  cylinders.  The  axle  of  the  beam  is  continued  through  both  sides 
of  the  wooden  case,  and  to  its  squared  ends  two  iron  rods  are  fitted,  like 
crank  handles  on  the  axles  of  grindstones.  To  the  lower  ends  of  these 
rods  are  attached,  by  bolts,  two  horizontal  bars  of  wood,  on  the  outside  of 
which  a  number  of  long  pins  are  inserted,  as  shown  in  the  cut.  When 
the  engine  was  in  use  men  laid  hold  on  these  pins,  one  man  to  each,  and 
pushed  and  pulled  the  bars  to  and  fro,  somewhat  as  in  the  act  of  rowing, 
and  thus  imparted  the  requisite  movement  to  the  pistons:  a  mode  of  work¬ 
ing  fire-engines  that  might,  we  think,  be  adopted  with  advantage  in  mo¬ 
dern  ones  ;  for  the  vigorous  working  of  these  is  so  exhausting,  that  the 
strongest  man  can  hardly  endure  it  over  a  minute  at  a  time.  The  jet  pipe 
of  this  engine  is  connected  to  the  other  by  coupling  screws  or  “  union 
joints,”  the  most  useful  and  ingenious  device  for  joining  tubes  that  ever  was 
invented;  and  one  which,  from  its  extensive  application  in  practical  hy¬ 
draulics,  in  gas  and  steam  works,  and  also  in  philosophical  apparatus,  has 
become  indispensable.  We  notice  it  here  on  account  of  its  having  been 
erroneously  attributed  to  a  modern  engineer ;  whereas  it  was  not  new 
when  introduced  into  Ypres  fire-engines  above  a  hundred  years  ago. 

Two  of  the  greatest  improvements  ever  made  in  these  machines  were 
introduced  about  the  same  time,  viz  :  the  air  chamber  and  flexible  pipes 
of  leather  and  canvas  ;  upon  these  principally  the  efficiency  of  modern 
engines  depends.  By  the  former  the  stream  ejected  from  a  single  pump  is 
rendered  continuous  ;  and  by  the  latter,  it  is  no  longer  necessary  to  take 
the  engine  itself  into,  or  close  to,  a  building  on  fire  ;  where  in  most  cases 
it  is  impossible,  from  the  heat  of  the  flames  and  from  smoke,  to  use  it  with 
effect.  The  modern  author,  or  rather  introducer,  of  the  beautiful  device 
for  rendering  the  broken  or  interrupted  jets  of  old  engines  uniform,  is  not 
known.  In  accordance  with  the  customs  of  the  age,  he  probably  kept  it 
secret  as  long  as  he  could.  We  suspect  that  Hautsch’s  engine  was  fur¬ 
nished  with  an  air  chamber,  and  that  it  was  on  that  account  chiefly  that  he 
was  so  anxious  to  prevent  its  construction  from  becoming  known.  Beck¬ 
man  states  that  Hautsch  used  a  flexible  pipe  to  enable  him  readily  to  change 
the  direction  of  the  jet,  “but  not  an  air  chamber,  which  Sehottus  certainly 
would  have  described.”  How  Sehottus  could  have  done  this,  when  ac¬ 
cording  to  Prof.  B.  himself,  Hautsch  refused  to  let  him  see  the  interior  of 
the  engine,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine ;  and  unless  he  had  been  acquainted 
with  the  properties  of  an  air  vessel,  had  the  engine  even  been  thrown  open 
to  his  inspection,  he  could  hardly  have  comprehended  its  action,  unless 
explained  to  him  by  the  manufacturer;  at  any  rate,  the  secret,  if  it  was  in 
Hautsch’s  possession,  was  not  long  after  divulged  ;  for  in  1675  an  anony¬ 
mous  writer  in  the  Journal  des  Scavans  figured  and  described  an  engine 
with  this  appendage  The  account  was  the  same  year  translated  and  pub¬ 
lished  in  volume  xi  of  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  p.  679.  As  this 
is  the  earliest  notice  of  the  application  of  an  air  vessel  to  pumps  in  modern 
times  that  we  have  met  with,  it  is  entitled  to  a  place  here. 

“  This  engine  [No.  147]  is  a  chest  of  copper,  pierced  with  many  holes 
above,  and  holds  within  it  the  body  of  a  pump  whose  sucker  is  raised  and 
abased  by  two  levers.  These  levers  having  each  of  them  two  arms,  and  each 
arm  being  fitted  to  be  laid  hold  on  by  both  hands  of  a  man.  Each  lever 
is  pierced  in  the  middle  by  a  mortaise,  in  which  an  iron  nail  [bolt]  which 
passes  through  the  handle  [rod]  of  the  sucker,  turns  when  the  sucker  is 
raised  or  lowered.  Near  the  body  of  the  pvfrnp  there  is  a  copper  pot, 
I,  [air  vessel]  joined  to  it  by  the  tube  G,  and  having  another  tube  K  N  L, 
which  in  N  may  be  turned  every  way.  To  make  this  engine  play,  water 
is  poured  upon  the  chest  to  enter  in  at  the  holes  that  are  in  the  cover 


327 


Chap.  8.J  With  Air  Vessel,  A.  D.  1675. 

thereof.  The  water  is  drawn  in  to  the  body  of  the  pump  at  the  hole  F, 
at  the  tame  when  the  sucker  is  raised ;  and  when  the  same  is  let  down, 
the  valve  of  the  same  hole  shuts,  and  forces  the  water  to  pass  through  the 
hole  into  the  tube  G  of  which  the  valve  being  lifted  up,  the  water  enters 
r  ?0t’  an<^  bottom  it  enters  through  the  hole  into  the  tube 

K.  N  L  in  such  a  manner,  that  when  the  water  is  higher  than  the  [orifice 
of  the]  tube  K,  and  the  hole  of  the  tube  G  is  shut  by  the  valve ,  the  air  in¬ 
closed  in  the  pot  hath  no  issue,  and  it  comes  to  pass,  that  when  you  con¬ 
tinue  to  make  the  water  enter  into  the  pot  by  the  tube  G,  which  is  much 
thicker  [larger]  than  the  aperture  of  the  end  L,  at  which  it  must  issue,  it 
must  needs  be,  that  the  surplus  of  the  water  that  enters  into  the  pot,  and 
exceeds  that  which  at  the  same  times  issues  through  the  small  end  of  the 
jet,  compresses  the  air  to  find  place  in  the  pot ;  which  makes  that,  whilst 
the  sucker  is  raised  again  to  make  new  water  to  enter  into  the  body  of  the 
pump,  the  air  which  has  been  compressed  in  the  pot  drives  the  surplus  of 
the  water  by  the  force  of  its  spring,  meantime  that  a  new  compression  of 
the  sucker,  makes  new  water  to  enter  and  causes  also  a  new  compression 
of  the  air.  And  thus  the  course  of  the  water,  which  issues  by  the  jet,  is 
•always  entertained  in  the  same  state.”  The  box  or  chest  had  two  pro¬ 
jecting  pieees  on  eaeh  side,  through  whieh  two  staves  were  passed  for  the 
■convenience  of  carrying  it.  This  small  engine  appears  to  have  been  in 
every  respect  an  effective  one  ;  the  whole  of  the  parts,  both  of  the  pump 
and  apparatus  for  working  it,  were  well  adapted  to  produce  the  best  ef¬ 
fect.  The  goose-neck  seems  to  have  been  formed  of  a  species  of  ball 
and  socket  joint. 


No.  117.  View  iuid  Section  of  a  Fire  -engine  with  Air 'Vessel.  A.  £>.  1675. 

One  might  suppose  that  when  this  account  of  the  construction  and  ef- 
fcects  of  air  chambers  was  published  to  the  world,  and  in  the  standard 
journals  of  France  and  England,  that  they  would  speedily  have  been 
•adopted  in  fire-engines  throughout  Europe.  Such,  however,  was  not  the 
fact;  on  the  contrary,  they  appear  to  have  remained  comparatively  un¬ 
known  for  nearly  fifty  years  longer ;  for  it  was  not  till  the  expiration  of 
the  first  quarter  of  the  18th  oentury  that  they  began  to  be  much  used,  and 
•some  years  more  elapsed  before  they  were  generally  employed.  We  can 
•only  account  for  this  by  the  limited  circulation  of  the  scientific  journals 
•named,  and  their  being  confined  principally  to  learned  men  ;  who  then  as 
formerly  felt  indifferent  towards  mechanical  researches  :  mechanics  in 
'daose  days  were  no  great  readers,  and  the  few  who  possessed  a  taste  for 


328 


Dutch  Engines  and  Hose  Pipe.  [Book  III. 

books  were  commonly  without  the  means  to  gratify  it.  It  is  however, 
singular  that  this  account  of  the  air  vessel  should  have  escaped  the  re¬ 
searches  of  Beckman,  and  especially  so  as  it  was  republished  in  1704  by 
Harris  in  his  Lexicon  Technicum,  and  in  1705  by  Lowthorp  in  the  abridg¬ 
ment  of  the  Philosophical  Transactions.  He  observes,  “  I  can  find  no 
older  engine  with  an  air  chamber  than  that  described  by  P errauLt,  and  of 
which  he  has  given  a  figure.  He  says  it  was  preserved  in  the  king’s 
library  at  Paris ;  that  it  was  employed  for  throwing  water  to  a  great 
height  during  fires  ;  and  that  it  had  only  one  cylinder,  and  yet  threw  out 
a  continued  jet  of  water.  He  neither  mentions  the  period  of  the  invention, 
nor  the  name  of  the  inventor,  and  I  can  only  add  that  his  book  was  printed 
in  1684.”  Beckman,  in  a  note,  states  that  he  had  not  seen  the  first  edi¬ 
tion  of  Perrault’s  work,  and  therefore  knew  not  whether  the  French  en¬ 
gine  was  described  in  it.  We  may  here  make  the  same  remark,  since  the 
only  copy  in  our  possession  is  of  the  edition  of  1684,,  having  endeavored, 
but  without  success,  to  procure  an  impression  of  the  previous  one. 

In  1672  hose  or  leathern  tubes  were  first  publicly  used,  in  modern  times, 
to  convey  water  from  engines  to  fires  by  John  and  Nicholas  Van  der 
Heide,  in  Amsterdam,  of  which  city  they  were  inspectors  or  superintend¬ 
ents  of  fire  apparatus.  They  made  the  tubes  in  fifty  feet  lengths,  with 
brass  screws  fitted  to  the  ends,  so  that  any  number  could  quickly  be  con¬ 
nected  together,  as  occasions  might  require.  The  introduction  of  hose 
pipes  forms  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  fire-engines,  for  they  wonderfully 
increased  the  effect  and  extended  the  application  of  these  machines.  Pre¬ 
vious  to  their  adoption  large  engines  could  not  be  used  to-  extinguish  fires 
in  the  interior  of  dwellings — it  was  only  when  the  flames  burst  through 
the  windows  or  roof,  that  they  came  into  play  ;  and  even  then,  it  was  often 
with  difficulty  and  danger  that  they  could  be  brought  sufficiently  near  to> 
discharge  the  water  with  effect,  while  in  most  cases  the  jet  was  so  much 
diffused  by  the  resistance  of  the  air  or  wind  as  to  descend  rather  in  a 
shower  of  spray  than  in  a  compact  stream.  For  want  of  hose  the  engines- 
themselves  were  also  frequently  burnt ;  this  was  indeed  a  common  occur¬ 
rence,  and  is  often  mentioned  in  the  notices  of  conflagrations.  In  the  great 
fire  of  London  the  rapid  spread  of  the  flames  drove  the  firemen  from  their 
engines,  and  many  were  consumed.  In  1731  a  great  part  of  the  town  of' 
Blandford,  England,  was  destroyed,  and  in  an  account  published  by  one- 
of  the  sufferers,  it  is  said  “  the  engines  were  play’d,  but  were  soon  burnt.”' 
This  loss  of  engines  was  invariably  caused  by  the  want  of  hose  ;  for  when 
plenty  of  the  latter  is  at  hand,  the  former  can  be  placed  and  worked  at 
any  convenient  distance  from  the  fire,  and  the  liquid  discharged  upon 
almost  any  part  of  it. 

Another  advantage  resulting  from  the  introduction  of  leathern  pipes- 
was  in  making  the  engines  supply  themselves.  Before  the  use.  of  hose, 
water  was  poured  from  buckets  into  the  cistern  in  which  the  pumps  were 
placed ;  hence  when  a  fire  broke  out,  one  of  the  first  objects  was  to  form 
a  lane  of  men,  extending  from  the  engine  to  the  nearest  rivulet,  pond, 
well,  or  other  source  of  water  ;  those  on  one  side  passed  along  the  full 
buckets  to  the  engine,  while  those  on  the  other  returned  the  empty  ones.  To- 
dispense  with  this  number  of  men,  the  Van  der  Heides  screwed  one  end 
of  a  hose  pipe  to  the  lower  part  of  the  cistern  and  extended  the  other  to 
the  edge  of  a  pond  or  well,  where  its  orifice  was  widened  into  a  bag  that 
was  kept  open  by  a  frame.  Into  this  bag  the  labourers  poured  the  con¬ 
tents  of  their  buckets,  and  sometimes  portable  pumps  were  used  to  raise 
water  into  it,  for  it  was  necessary  that  it  should  be  sufficiently  elevated 
above  the  cistern  of  the  engine  that  its-  contents  might  readily  flow  inlo» 


Chap.  8.] 


Perier's  Engines. 


3  29 

the  latter.  This  was  the  first  step  towards  using  suction  hose  .,.,,1 

which*, h^  5r°perty  pr?ferred  ™ki"S  ”<>"  machines  alto'e, her.  " 

made  ,bou{l67a/tei„T677n  PA,  “Foments  were 

an  expire  privilege  ,„  l^su"  t  f 

1695  there  were  in  Amsterdam  upwards  of  sixtv  of  d  3,  ^  L? 

When  a  fire  broke  out,  the  six  thal  were  located^eares,^ VerFTl’  “d 

extinguish  it.  The  use  of  leather  and  canvas  hose  became  generaUn", he 
next  century.  In  1720  the  lntt^  ,xrQc  ,  •  t  caine  benera‘  m  the 

and  other  places  in  Germany  “  WOV°"  "’lth°Ut  sea™  ”  Leipsic 

taiS16  Pmfe6  enr\8  0f  the  Van,  der  Heides  had  «“•  is  not  ascer- 

wfn.  T  SSyS .  jleIr  interMl  construction  is  no  where 
i epi esented.  1  here  is  strong  evidenre  that  ttmi  i  n 

j  Tjie:^e'  er  ^een  common  in  all  the  towns  of  the  Netherlands  ”  as  V 
der  Heide  s  engines  were.  Mr.  Chambers,  in  his  Cyclopedia  A  ’  1)^28 
observes,  article  Hydrocanisterium,  “  The  Dutch  and  others  use  a  I  ~8’ 
Si  tuJ»  ofleather,  sail-cloth,  or  the  like,  which^;  caZor  conduct 
m  the  hand  from  one  room  to  another,  as  occasion  requires  ^so  that  the 
engine  may  be  applied  where  the  fire  is  only  withinside  and  dl  ? 
burst  out  to  expose  it  to  its  external  action.  To^mprovJ ’on L  orL  i 
fire  engine,  they  have  since  contrived  to  make  it  yieldP  a  continual 

in  1744 'd3  Be he°r  Wr0t®’.air  vessels  were  not  common  in  Holland  and 
in  1744,  Desaguliers  speaking  of  their  advantages,  remarks  “  In  the 

of  engines  to  put  out  fires  which  have  no  air  vLsdsHike  V  Dutch  en 
gines,  oi  old  parish  engines,  a  great  deal  of  water  is  lost  at  the  bemnnine 
and  end  of  the  jet  or  spouting  of  the  water.”  Philos,  ii,  164.  Be^kmaif 

<dy  we™’ "by  L™6’8  Were  Mt  C0“m°n  “  °Crma^  aft- 

were  greatly  celebrated  in  their  respective  countries.  They  were  some’ 

fo™ofaras?he  ■Venrsf°-  tlle  “S'™’  th°Ugh  Ver/  erroneously, 
tar  as  the  principle  of  its  construction,  application  of  the  air  ves 

tImsrbytcTew’  HlXlble  PipGS  °f  lea?ei;  and  CanVas>  the  connection  of 
thmV  SCr^8’  ^C’  W6re  concerned,  the  engine  was  perfected  before 

rp,  •  lme.;  mdeed  not  one  of  them  contributed  any  thing  essential  to  it 

in  the  mem  C°nS1Sted;n  improving  these  machines  in  various  minor  details  • 
m  the  arrangement  of  the  different  parts,  construction  of  the  Targes' 

moi  duXTiId'T5  m0li0n  “  ‘h°  Pis'°ns'  a”d  “  re”de>mg  the  whole 
these  respects  the  P  rT  y-  8Upen°r  w°rkmanshiP  and  materials.  In 
Initll  C  t  ,  S  “ie,nslneer'  we  '"dicve  surpassed  his  competitors 

belt  Leopold  tdt  tl,ree  th8t  e“ered  the  field. 1* erie restarted 

No  account  of  P  ^  '  We?  some  advance  of  Newsham. 

XNo  account  of  Pener  s  engines  is  to  be  found  in  modern  books  •  even 

Behdor  ha,  taken  no  notice  of  them.  To  supply  this  deTciencv  weTn 

tended  to  insert,  figure  of  one,  taken  from  the  2ded.  of  Poliniere’s  “Ex- 

aCllnied  lha?cyoTe’”  ***■  1718’  <the  work  with  which  we  am 
acquainted  that  contain,  a  representation  of  them,)  but  on  account  of  the 

42 


330 


Perier' s  Engines. 


[Book  III 


unusual  number  of  illustrations  required  in  this  chapter,  it  is  omitted.  A 
short  description  will  suffice.  After  describing  an  atmospheric  pump  be¬ 
longing  to  the  arsenal  of  Paris,  and  another  attached  to  a  hotel  in  the  fau¬ 
bourg  St.  Antoine,  which  had  two  spouts  and  two  valves  in  the  suction 
pipe,  the  author  observes,  J’ay  vu  a  Paris  des  pompes  dont  on  se  sert  pour 
tacher  d’  eteindre  le  feu  quand  il  arrive  des  incendies;  and  he  then  enters 
into  a  minute  description  of  one  of  these  Parisian  engines.  In  its  general 
appearance  it  resembled  the  Dutch  one  No.  148,  consisting  of  two  work¬ 
ing  cylinders  with  an  air  vessel  between  them,  the  piston  rods  moved  by 
a  double  lever,  through  the  ends  of  which  staves  four  feet  in  length  were 
inserted.  The  pump  cylinders  were  sixteen  inches  long  and  four  in  dia¬ 
meter,  but  instead  of  being  placed  in  a  square  wooden  box  or  cistern, 
they  were  secured  in  an  open  copper  pan,  of  an  oval  shape,  and  the  same 
depth  as  the  cylinders,  and  fastened  by  bolts  to  a  base  of  wood  or  piece 
of  plank,  to  the  four  corners  of  which  short  ropes  were  fastened.  At  one 
end  of  the  pan,  the  leather  hose  which  conveyed  the  water  to  the  fire  was 
connected  by  a  screw  to  a  copper  pipe  that  communicated  with  the  lower 
part  of  the  air  chamber.  The  leather  tubes,  Poliniere  observes,  were 
lubricated  with  a  composition  of  tallow  and  wax  to  render  them  pliable ; 
and,  to  prevent  mice  and  other  vermin  from  destroying  them,  soaked  in 
an  infusion  of  colycinth  or  bitter  apple.  In  furnishing  the  pumps  with 
water,  Perier  adopted  the  first  device  of  the  Van  der  Heides,  and  hence 
we  infer  that  he  was  ignorant  of  the  better  mode  of  making  them  supply 
themselves  through  suction  pipes.  As  they  could  only  draw  water  out  of 
the  vessel  in  which  they  were  placed,  and  it  being  too  small  and  inconve¬ 
nient  for  numbers  of  people  to  pour  the  contents  of  their  buckets  into  it 
when  the  engine  was  in  use,  a  canvas  or  sail  cloth  bag,  coated  with 
pitch  or  tar,  was  connected  by  a  flexible  pipe  of  the  same  material,  to  the 
lower  part  of  the  pan.  This  bag  was  of  a  conical  form,  the  wide  end  be¬ 
ing  uppermost,  and  supported  with  the  mouth  open  on  a  folding  frame, 
something  like  a  high  camp  stool.  Into  this  bag  the  water  for  the  supply 
of  the  pumps  was  poured.  It  might  of  course  be  placed  at  any  conveni¬ 
ent  distance  from  the  engine,  by  means  of  additional  lengths  of  pipes  that 
were  always  kept  ready  and  which  were  connected  together  by  screws. 
These  engines,  Poliniere  says,  forced  the  water  through  the  orifice  of  the 
jet  pipe  to  a  surprising  distance.  He  observes  also  that  smaller  ones  were 
in  use ;  which  consisted  of  a  single  cylinder  and  air  chamber,  and  were 
worked  by  a  single  lever. 

The  following  extract  relating  to  Perier’s  engine  is  from  the  Diction- 
naire  CEconomique,  3d.  edit.  Paris,  1732,  from  which  it  appears  that  at 
that  date  they  were  small  affairs,  and  differed  but  little  from  our  garden 
engines  ;  in  other  words,  they  were  then  nothing  more  than  pompes  porta¬ 
tive ,  the  name  by  which  they  were  designated  at  the  first.  “  La  pompe 
que  le  Sieur  du  Perier  a  inventee  ou  perfectionnee  est  tres  commode  dans 
les  incendies.  Deux  hommes  la  peuvent  ais^ment  transporter  avec  tout 
son  attirail,  et  la  placer  dans  tel  lieu  que  l’on  voudra.  Il  n’est  pas  neces- 
saire  qu’elle  soit  dans  l’endroit  ou  se  trouve  l’eau,  il  y  a  un  canal  de  coutil 
cire  en  dedans,  qui  sert  a  conduire  l’eau  jusqu’a’la  pompe.  Ce  canal 
peut  £tre  augmente  en  y  adaptant  d’autres  canaux  faits  de  la  m6me  facon. 
La  pompe  etant  placee  dans  le  lieu  le  plus  commode,  ou  peut  encore  por¬ 
ter  l’eau  dans  le  plus  fort  de  l’incendie  par  le  moien  d’un  canal,  qui  est 
fait  de  cuir,  et  qu’on  augmente,  autant  qu’on  veut,  en  y  ajoutant  d’autres 
canaux  par  le  moien  de  quelques  vis.  La  matiere  dont  est  compose,  ce 
canal  donne  la  facilite  de  passer  d’un  appartement  dans  l’autre  pour  ap- 
pliquer  l’eau  dans  l’endroit  le  plus  necessaire.  Les  circonvolutions  du 


Chap  8.] 


Leopold's  Engines. 


331 

eanal  n’emp6chent  point  l’eau  d’agir  avec  violence,  et  la  force  avec  la- 
quelle  elle  agit  est  d  autant  plus  grande,  que  les  hommes  qui  font  aller  la 
porape,  emploient  eux-memes  plus  de  force,  la  quantite  d’eau  depend  en¬ 
core  du  nombre  de  pistons.”  r 

In  1699  Perier  obtained  from  the  king  an  exclusive  privilege  to  con¬ 
struct  fire-engines,  which  Professor  Beckman  thinks  were  the  first  public 
ones  employed  m  Paris.  In  1716  an  ordinance  of  the  king  directed  a 
larger  number  than  those  already  m  use,  to  be  distributed  in  different 
parts  of  the  city,  and  public  notice  to  be  given  where  they  could  be  found 
in  case  of  fire  a  In  1722  there  were  thirty  in  use,  besides  others  belong- 
P^llc  bVlldlngs-  As  these  machines  had  air  vessels,  it  is  strange 
that  Belidor  neither  mentions  the  fact  nor  refers  to  Paris  engines  ht  all. 
After  describing  a  Dutch  one,  No.  148,  he  quotes  (as  if  he  knew  of  no  others 
with  air  vessels)  Perrault’s  description  of  the  one  that  was  in  the  king’s 

bbrary  fifty  years  before,  and  an  account  of  another  that  Du  Fay  saw  at 
Strasbourg  in  1725.  J 

Leopold’s  engines  do  not  appear  to  have  possessed  any  peculiar  feature 
to  which  he  could  lay  claim  as  inventor.  They  seem  to  have  been  iden¬ 
tical  or  nearly  so  with  the  one  described  in  the  Journal  des  Savans  forty 
years  before,  (No.  147.)  Each  consisted  of  a  single  pump  with  an  air  ves¬ 
sel  enclosed  in  a  copper  chest.  One  man  raised  a  jet  by  it  to  the  height 
of  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet.  Leopold  kept  the  construction  for  some 
time  a  secret,  and  with  this  view  the  pump  was  entirely  enclosed  in  the 
chest;  a  cover  being  soldered  on  the  latter.  Beckman  says  he  made  and 
sold  a  great  number  of  them.  In  1720  he  published  a  description  of  them 
in  a  pamphlet;  and  in  1724  he  inserted  an  account  of  them  in  his  Theatrum 
Machmarum  Hijdraulicarum,  a  work  published  that  year  at  Leipsic  in 
three  volumes  folio.  r 

The  annexed  figure,  No.  148,  exhibits  an  improvement  on  Leopold’s 

engine,  having  two  cylinders  and 
workingby  a  double  lever.  Small 
engines  seem  to  have  been  prefer¬ 
red  to  those  of  large  dimensions, 
such  as  were  made  by  Hautsch, 
or  those  of  modern  times.  Before 
the  introduction  of  hose  pipes, 
small  ones  were  certainly  more 
useful,  since  they  could  be  carried 
into  any  part  of  a  house  when  on 
fire,  but  when  flexible  pipes  of  lea¬ 
ther  and  canvas  became  common, 
their  efficiency  was  not  to  be  com- 
No.  148.  Dutch  Fire-Eugine.  A.  D.  1739.  pared  with  that  of  the  large  sizes. 

English  fire-engines  were  much  the  same  dimensions  as  those  used 
on  the  continent  till  Newsham  and  contemporary  engineers  introduced 
others  that  approached  in  size  those  in  present  use  ;  but  for  several 
years  after  the  smaller  ones  retained  the  preference.  The  London  ma¬ 
nufacturers  made  six  different  sizes,  the  larger  one  only  being  placed 
on  wheels.  JSven  in  the  middle  of  the  18th  century  such  as  are  re¬ 
presented  by  the  figure  on  the  next  page  were  common  in  that  city.  A 
similar  figure  was  published  by  Mr.  Clare  in  1735  in  his  work  on  the 
motion  of  fluids,  and  so  late  as  1765  it  was  described  (in  the  London  Ma¬ 
gazine  for  that  year)  as  the  engine  in  commqn  use.  As  an  indication  that 

*  Supplement  to  Diet.  CEconomique.  Amsterdam,  1740.  Tom.  ii,  163. 


332 


English  Fire-Engine  of  the  18</i  Century.  [Book  III 

air  vessels  were  not  used  in  England  before  tne  18tb  century,  it  may  be 
observed  that  in  the  year  last  named,  those  engines  which  had  them  were 
named  “  constant  stream’d  engines,”  to  distinguish  them  from  those  that 
had  none — such  being  called  squirting  engines. 


No.  149.  English  Fire-Engine  of  the  middle  of  the  18th  century. 

In  1729  Switzer  published  his  System  of  Hydrostatics,  in  which  he  in 
serted  the  circulars  of  two  rival  engine  makers — Fowke  and  Newsham. 
As  these  documents  contain  some  interesting  particulars  respecting  the 
state  of  practical  hydraulics  at  the  time,  as  well  as  of  fire-engines,  we  insert 
some  extracts  from  each,  previous  to  introducing  Newsham’s  engine. 

“Mr.  Fowke,  Nightingale  Lane,  Wapping :  makes 

“  1.  Constant  stream'd  engines  for  extinguishing  fires,  the  large  sizes  play 
two  streams  at  once,  being  the  first  and  only  of  their  kind,  and  does  the 
office  of  two  engines,  and  so  contrived  as  to  be  drawn  through,  (and  if 
occasion  requires,)  worked  in  a  passage  three  feet  wide,  which  no  other 
can,  and  will  feed  themselves  with  a  sucking  pipe.  Their  movements  are 
easy  and  natural,  having  a  perpendicular  stroke,  and  are  without  either 
rack,  wheel,  chain  or  crank,  whereby  the  friction  is  lessened  more  than 
any  others,  and  consequently  requires  less  strength,  are  more  useful,  and 
less  liable  to  disorder  and  decay,. and  much  cheaper  than  any  other;  and 
therefore  are  by  judicious  persons  esteemed  preferable  to  all  others.  By 
screwing  a  pipe  they  water  gardens,  dispersing  the  particles  of  water  for 
about  fourteen  yards  square,  like  small  rain.  The  four  larger  sizes  run 
on  wheels,  and  the  other  two  carried  by  two  men  like  a  chair. 

“2.  Engines  which  will  work  either  by  water,  wind,  horses  or  men,  and 
so  contrived  that  either  may  work  at  a  time,  or  be  assistant  to  each  other, 
whereby  large  quantities  of  water  may  be  raised,  so  that  if  the  height,  dis¬ 
tance  and  quantity  required  be  known,  the  expense  and  strength  may  be 
calculated  so  as  to  serve  cities,  towns,  noblemen  and  gentlemen’s  seats 
and  fountains,  brewers,  distillers,  dyers;  and  for  draining  of  lands,  ponds, 
and  mines  of  lead,  coal,  &c. 

“3.  Pumps  which  may  be  worked  by  one  man,  for  raising  water  out  of 
any  well  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  deep,  sufficient  for  the 
service  of  any  private  house  or  family ;  and  so  contrived  that  by  turning 
a  cock,  may  supply  a  cistern  at  the  top  of  the  house,  or  a  bathing  vessel 
in  any  room  ;  and  by  screwing  on  a  leather  pipe,  the  water  may  be  con¬ 
veyed  either  up  stairs  or  in  at  a  window,  in  case  of  any  fire. 

“4.  All  manner  of  fancies  in  fountains.” 


Chap.  8.] 


New  sham's  Engines. 


333 

ita  l  nUmbl;r  ?f  erected  by  him  in  London  and 

Fowke  Concludes  with  a  table  of  prices  of  fire-en°ines 
e  smallest  being  XU  and  tile  largest  ,£00.  Newsham’s  circular  is  oh’ 
viouriy  designed  to  counteract  the  effect  of  Fowke's. 

useM  XLITTT'  °f  C1°th  F“r’  H"*™’  e" the  most 
Uon'Z6.!;'1';  ,he"°bi%'  “  St-  so  general  anTpprot! 

royal  palace  A? 7 aZ1 “  i*®  °'U""  Ume  ordered  f"r  the  use  of  that 
mriloi'  fi  ’  ^  “  S  a  ^Urt^er  encouragement  (to  prevent  others  from 
oiking  the  same  sort,  or  any  imitation  thereof)  his  majesty  has  since  been 

funnel  7  P  eaS  J  t0.^r^nt  hlm  his  second  Otters  patent,  for  the  better  se- 

fron  an  A pr0IeVty  m  tbl®’  and  several  other  inventions  for  raising  water 
tiom  any  depth,  to  any  height  required.  ° 

The  hugest  engine  will  go  through  a  passage  about  three  foot  wide  in 
"omp/ete  working  order,  without  taking  off  or  putting  on  any  tW  a’nd 
may  be  worked  with  ten  men  in  the  said  passage.  One  man  can  quick  v 
and  Z  baSe|  ”°,Ve  '  6  abofl,  in  “the  compass  it  sta.Z^ 

d  is  to  be  play  d  without  rocking,  upon  any  uneven  ground  with  hands 
and  feet,  or  hands  only,  which  cannot  be  parallels  by  afy  otherT.  what 
oever  There  is  conveniency  for  above  twenty  men  fo  applletfu 
strength,  and  yet  reserve  both  ends  of  the  cistern  clear  from^ncumbrance 
hat  others  at  the  same  time  may  be  pouring  in  water,  whirS  ^h 
arge  copper  strainers.  The  staves^  that  are  fixed  through  the  leavefs 

a  aW  iS  °f  the  eugWe’  f°r  the  men  t0  work  by>  thouSh  very  light’ 
as  alternate  motions  with  quick  returns  require;  yeVwill  not  spring  and 

flth  6aSt:  u  the  StaVGS  °f  such  ^gines  as  are  wrought  at  the 
ends  of  the  eastern,  will  spring  or  break,  if  they  be  of  such  a  le^h  as  is 

necessary  for  a  large  engine,  when  a  considerable  power  is  appVd  ■  and 

cannot  be  fix’d  fast,  because  they  must  at  all  tijs  be  taken  o^t  before 

do  neit£.ne  ^  tbrough  a  Passage.  The  playing  two  streams  at  once 
o  neither  issue  a  greater  quantity  of  water,  W  is  it  new  or  so  useful’ 

diere  havmg  been  of  the  like  sort  at  the  steel-yard,  and  other  places,  thirty 

.  ry  years;  and  the  water  being  divided,  the  distance  and  force  are 
accordingly  lessen’d  thereby.  are 

“  Those  who  pretend  to  make  the  forcers  work  in  the  barrels,  with  a  per- 
P  1CU,ar  ®tr°ke»  wlthout  rack,  wheels,  chains,  crank,  pully,  or  the  like 
rq  a-n^  of  contnved  leavers,  or  circular  motion  whatsoever,  with  less 
fnction,than  if  guided  and  work’d  by  wheel  and  chains,  (wl  ich  of  all 
methods  is  the  best,)  do  only  discover  their  ignorance  ;  they  may  as  ret 

Httle'steenSh’a^Td  Weigllt,Caa  be  dragg’d  uPon  a  sledge,  with  as 
i uue  strength,  as  if  drawn  upon  wheels. 

w  ,,  V°  th°  treddles>  on  which  the  men  work  with  their  feet,  there  is  no 

”.d  s°aiSforPthTrfUl'  "rh  ‘he  Hke  Ve'°city  or  ‘lu!cklre*b  rtnd  more  natural 
/  ,  j  1  th®  men-  Gw»t  attempts  have  been  made  to  exceed  but  none 

yet  could  equal  this  sort;  the  fifth  size  of  which  hath  play’d  above  the 

ylldVkigh^nd  ?°yal  Exchange  ;  which  is  upwards  of  fifty-five 

V  “  Thom’  \i  118  ‘n  1  hp  Presence  of  many  thousand  spectators. 

well  &c  or  out  ITT  fCed  themSelVf  Tkh  WatGr  fr°m  a  cana]>  Pond, 
terruptino’  the  stream Th™  C1Ste/n%by  tbe  *urn  cock,  without  in- 
durable  in  all  flip'1  ’  ,ey  arG  ^ai*  ^CSS  Iab  e  to  disorder,  much  more 
water  to  a  t-eat  dFr’  a»d  P%  off  large  quantities  of 

pipes  of  anvlnml' d,stan.ce»  eitkfr  from  the  engine,  or  a  leather  pipe,  or 
cumbersome  cnm-P  U<1Ulr-d  ’  (the  screws  all  fitting  each  other.)  This  the 
1  1  Ulg  engmes,  which  take  up  four  times  more  room,  can- 


334 


Newsham' s  Engine. 


[Book  III. 


not  perform ;  neither  do  they  throw  one  fourth  part  of  their  water  on  the 
fire,  at  the  like  distances,  but  lose  it  by  the  way;  nor  can  they  use  leather 
pipe  with  them  to  much  advantage,  whatever  necessity  there  may  be  for 
it.  The  five  large  sizes  go  upon  wheels,  well  box’d  with  brass,  fitted  to 
strong  iron  axles,  and  the  other  is  to  be  carried  like  a  chair.” 

No.  150  is  a  vertical  section  of  the  pumps 
in  Newsham’s  engine,  with  the  air  vessel 
between  them,  and  showing  also  the  sectors 
and  chains  by  which  motion  is  transmitted 
from  the  levers  to  the  piston  rods,  and  the 
latter  preserved  in  a  perpendicular  position. 
The  chains  are  similar  to  watch  chains  in 
their  construction,  and  the  length  of  each 
is  equal  to  the  arc  of  one  of  the  sectors. 
Pour  are  used,  two  to  each  sector.  Their 
mode  of  operation  is  in  this  manner :  One 
end  of  a  chain  is  fastened  to  the  top  of  a 
piston  rod,  by  a  bolt  and  nut  as  represent¬ 
ed,  and  the  other  end  riveted  to  the  lower 
extremity  of  the  sector;  so  that  when  the 
latter  is  turned  down  by  depressing  the 
lever,  it  necessarily  draws,  by  this  chain, 
the  piston  down  with  it.  Another  chain  is 
fastened  in  the  same  manner  to  the  lower 
part  of  the  piston  rod,  (that  is  above  the  cy¬ 
linder,)  and  the  upper  extremity  of  the 
sector,  and  hence  when  the  lever  is  elevated,  this  chain  raises  the  piston  with 
it.  He  probably  derived  the  idea  of  thus  working  them  from  Newcomen’s 
mode  of  working  pumps  by  the  atmospheric  steam-engine.  The  round 
opening  below  the  valves  in  the  above  figure,  is  where  the  suction  pipe 
is  continued  to  the  hose,  shown  at  one  end  of  the  cistern  in  the  next  figure 


No.  150.  Section  of  Newsham’s  Engine. 


Chap.  8.J 


Modern  English  Engines. 


335 

No.  151  is  an  external  view  of  one  of  Newsham’s  engines  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  as  drawn  by  Mr.  Labelye,  the  engineer  of  Westminster 
bridge,  and  inserted  by  Desaguliers  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Philoso¬ 
phy,  in  1744.  Its  general  appearance  is  far  inferior  to  modern  ones,  but 
the  essential  parts — the  pumps — were  equal  to  those  now  used.  The 
strong  iron  shaft  by  which  the  pistons  were  raised  and  depressed  was 
continued  along  the  top  of  the  cistern,  and  to  it  the  levers  were  secured 
as  at  present ;  but  in  addition  to  the  levers,  sectors,  like  those  that  moved 
the  pistons,  were  also  fastened  to  it — portions  of  two  of  these  are  shown  in 
the  cut,  and  there  were  two  others  near  the  upright  case  :  to  their  upper 
parts,  two  long  strips  of  plank,  or  tr eddies,  were  suspended  by  short 
chains,  and  on  these  planks,  six  men,  who  stood  upon  the  cistern  and 
held  by  the  hand  rails,  alternately  threw  their  weight ;  first  on  the  tred- 
dle  on  one  side  of  the  carriage,  and  then  on  the  other,  and  thus  aided  the 
firemen  at  the  levers  in  working  the  engine.  The  box  or  trough,  with  a 
grate  within  it,  at  the  end  of  the  cistern,  was  for  the  purpose  of  emptying 
buckets  of  water  to  supply  the  pumps,  when  the  suction  pipe  (figured  be¬ 
low  it)  was  not  used.  The  small  flap  on  the  end  of  the  upright  case  co¬ 
vered  printed  directions  how  to  use  and  keep  the  engine  in  order. 

If  the  section,  No.  150,  be  compared  with  English  engines  in  previous 
use,  one  of  which  is  figured  at  No.  149,  it  will  be  seen" at  a  glance  how 
great  were  the  improvements  that  Newsham  introduced.  Independently 

°*  j  jf  ^ree  most  original  of  his  contributions — the  sectors  and  chains _ 

treddles— and  working  the  pumps  with  long  staves  at  the  sides  of  the 
carriage  instead  of  short  ones  at  the  ends — the  whole  machine  was  im¬ 
proved  more  or  less  in  every  part.  To  keep  the  cistern  and  levers  as  low 
as  possible,  the  carriage  was  placed  on  bent  axles.  He  introduced  and 
improved  the  three-way  cock,  and  the  goose-neck  was  perfected  in  his 
hands  ;  the  elbows  being  jointed  to  each  other  by  very  fine  screws.  De¬ 
saguliers  thought  that  no  part  of  the  engine  could  be  altered  for  the  bet¬ 
ter.  A  writer  m  the  London  Magazine  for  1752,  (page  395,)  says  that 
Newsham  in  these  machines  gave  “  a  nobler  present  to  his  country  than 
if  he  had  added  provinces  to  Great  Britain.”  Their  merits  w^ere  gene¬ 
rally  acknowledged  :  he  received  orders  for  them  from  various  parts  of 
Europe,  and  it  will  be  seen  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  chapter  that  those 
first  used  in  this  city  were  made  by  him. 

The  celebrity  his  engines  acquired  had  a  blighting  effect  on  other  ma¬ 
nufacturers — like  Aaron’s  rod  swallowing  up  those  of  his  competitors. 
His  engines  were  purchased  for  the  use  of  the  parishes  throughout  the 
country  generally,  and  also  by  the  various  insurance  companies,  which, 
unlike  ours,  are  at  the  sole  expense  of  extinguishing  fires,  and  of  provid¬ 
ing  the  means  to  effect  it.  Every  insurance  company  in  English  cities 
keeps  in  its  pay  a  number  of  firemen  to  take  charge  of  and  work  its  own 
engines.  Two  horses  are  attached  to  each  engine  to  draw  it  to  and 
from  fires.  The  height  of  the  jet  from  Newsham’s  engines  was  about 
^  He  mentions  in  his  circular  having  thrown  it  to  an  elevation 
°i  jyLyj1^  yards ,  but  he  was  certainly  mistaken. 

Several^  improvements  have  been  made  in  English  fire-engines  since 
Newsham  s  time,  but  they  are  chiefly  confined  to  the  carriage,  and  to  de¬ 
tails  and  arrangements  of  the  various  parts.  Treddles  are  dispensed  with, 
and  the  carriages  are  made  longer,  so  that  a  greater  number  of  men  can 
be  employed  in  working  them.  They  resemble  American  engines  so 
closely ,  that  a  separate  figure  of  a  modern  English  engine  is  unnecessary. 

I  he  reader  is  therefore  referred  to  N®.  154.  Others  on  the  principle  of  the 
•emi-rotary  pump,  (No.  140,)  are  also  used  to  a  limited  extent  in  London. 


336 


Modern  French  Engine. 


[Book  III. 


The  following  figure  of  a  modern  French  fire-engine  is  from  the  Ma- 
nuel  du  Fondeur ;  Paris,  1S29.  It  consists  of  two  cylinders  and  an  air 
vessel  arranged  in  the  usual  way.  One  of  the  pumps,  and  half  of  the  air 
chamber,  is  shown  in  section.  The  cistern  is  more  elevated  than  in  Eng¬ 
lish  or  American  engines,  and  from  the  consequent  height  of  the  levers 
would  seem  more  inconvenient  to  be  Worked.  The  suction  pipe  is  of 
copper  with  folding  joints,  and  a  perforated  hollow  ball  at  the  extremity  to 
prevent  dirt  or  gravel  from  entering  with  the  water.  A  short  leathern 
tube  connects  this  pipe  with  the  suction  cock.  This  engine  is  worked  at 
the  ends  of  the  carriage,  and  the  piston  rods  are  connected  to  the  lever  by 
slings,  and  made  to  rise  and  fall  in  a  perpendicular  position  by  radius  bars 
jointed  to  the  upper  ends  of  the  latter,  and  to  permanent  pieces  that  pro¬ 
ject  from  the  frame  that  supports  the  fulcrum. 


No.  152.  Modern  French  Fire-engine. 


The  elevation  of  the  jet  depends  upon  the  pressure  to  which  the  air  in 
the  air  chamber  is  subjected;  the  elasticity  or  spring  of  that  fluid  being 
inversely  as  the  space  it  is  made  to  occupy.  Before  an  engine  is  set  to 
work  the  interior  of  the  chamber,  like  that  of  all  empty  vessels,  (to  use  a 
vulgar  solecism,)  is  filled  with  common  air,  of  that  degree  of  density  in 
which  it  appears  near  the  earth’s  surface  ;  but  when  the  pumps  are  set  to 
work,  the  water  forced  by  them  into  the  chamber  crowds  the  air  into  the 
dome  or  upper  part  of  that  vessel,  whence  there  is  no  passage  for  its  es¬ 
cape;  and,  as  the  liquid  accumulates,  the  air  is  condensed  more  and  more, 
until,  by  its  reaction  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  it  drives  the  latter  through 
the  jet  or  hose  pipe,  and  with  a  force  exactly  proportioned  to  the  degree 
of  its  compressure.  Thus  if  the  volume  of  air  in  the  chamber  be  com¬ 
pressed  into  half  its  bulk,  the  jet  would  rise  to  about  32  or  33  feet,  (if  not 
retarded  by  friction,  angles  or  other  imperfections  in  the  pipe;)  and  if  it 
were  made  to  occupy  one  third  of  its  former  space,  its  spring  would  be 
three  times  greater  than  common  air,  and  would  force  the  jet  to  an  eleva¬ 
tion  of  about  64  or  66  feet ;  and  so  on.  A  tabular  statement,  similar  to 


Chap.  8.] 


Modes  of  Working  Fire-Engines , 


337 

the  following,  exhibiting  the  relation  between  the  height  of  a  jet  and  the 
air  s  compressure,  has  long  been  published.  It  is,  however,  of  little  use 
to  practical  men.  We  doubt  if  a  column  of  water  of  the  size  of  those 
thrown  by  ordinary  engines  could  be  raised  by  any  means,  two  hundred 
feet  above  the  orifice  of  the  pipe  whence  it  issued  :  the  resistance  of  the 
atmosphere  would  disperse  it  before  it  could  reach  that  elevation. 


Volume  of  air  contained  in  the  air 
chamber  compressed  to 

JL 
2 
JL 

3 
JL 

4 
1 

5 
JL 

6 

T 
1 
8 

X 
9 


X  0 


Ratio  of  the  air’s 
elasticity. 

-  2  - 

-  3  - 

-  4  - 

-  5  - 

-  6  - 

-  7  - 

-  8  - 

-  9  - 

10  - 


Height  to  which  it  is  said  the 
water  will  spout. 

-  33  feet 

66  “ 

99  “ 

-  132  “ 

165  “ 

-  198  “ 

-  231  “ 

-  264  “ 

-  297  “ 


Great  as  are  the  advantages  derived  from  air  chambers,  some  attention 
to  them  is  required  in  order  to  secure  at  all  times  the  benefit  they  are 
designed  to  impart.  When  neglected  (and  we  believe  few  parts  of  an 
engine  exercise  the  attention  of  firemen  less)  they  often  become  actually 
injurious,  for  when  no  advantage  is  derived  from  the  elasticity  of  the  con¬ 
fined  air,  the  water  is  impeded  in  its  progress  by  passing  through  them. 
Upon  the  trial  of  engines  it  sometimes  occurs  that  the  water  is  thrown 
higher  at  their  first  working  than  after  they  have  been  a  few  minutes 
in  use,  and  this  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  of  the  firemen  to  make  the 
jet  reach  the  first  elevation.  This  result  has  sometimes  been  attributed  to 
fatigue  in  the  men — to  obstacles  in  the  pipes — to  grit  or  sand  under  the 
valves,  &c.  whereas  in  fact  it  was  often  due  to  the  air  vessel  alone  ;  i.  e. 
to  the  escape  of  air  from  it.  This  escape  may  be  occasioned  by  mi¬ 
nute  leaks  in  the  chamber,  but  when  no  such  imperfections  exist  the  air 
frequently  makes  }js  exit,  and  its  place  becomes  occupied  by  the  liquid. 
Whenever  air  is  subjected  to  great  pressures  in  contact  with  water,  it  is 
quickly  absorbed  by  the  latter,  and  in  this  way  it  is  that  it  often  disappears 
from  the  air  chambers  of  fire-engines,  and  also  from  those  of  pressure-en¬ 
gines,  Heron’s  fountain,  water  rams,  &c.  When  a  long  suction  hose  is 
attached  to  an  engine  and  the  latter  worked  at  a  moderate  velocity,  a 
sufficient  supply  of  air  to  replace  that  taken  up  by  the  water,  commonly 
enters,  unknown  to  the  firemen,  through  the  seams  and  joints  ;  but  when 
one  engine  is  fed  by  another  pouring  water  into  its  cistern,  there  is  little 
chance  for  the  requisite  supply  of  air,  unless  a  minute  opening  were  left 
in  the  cap  that  screws  over  the  orifice  of  the  suction  pipe,  at  one  end  of 
the  engine.  # 

The  suction  cocks  of  some  engines  diminish  their  useful  effect  in  con¬ 
sequence  of  the  holes  through  the  plugs  being  smaller  than  other  pas¬ 
sages  for  the  water. 

The  great  desideratum  in  modern  fire-engines  is  an  improved  mode  of 
working  them.  At  page  72  we  remarked  that  experimental  researches 
have  shown  the  useful  effect  of  a  man  working  a  pump,  in  the  ordinary 
way  with  a  lever,  to  be  fifty  per  cent  less  than  when  he  turns  a  crank  ; 
and  that  when  his  strength  is  applied  as  in  the  act  of  rowing,  the  effect  is 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent  more  than  in  moving  a  pump  lever 
This  is  sufficient  to  induce  efforts  to  supersede  the  present  mode  of  work¬ 
ing  the  pumps  of  fire-engines,  and  particularly  so,  as  the  labor  is  so  se- 

43 


338 


Steam  Fire-Engines. 


[Book  III. 


vere  that  few  can  continue  it  above  a  minute  or  two  at  a  time,  when  if 
relays  of  men  are  not  ready,  buildings  on  fire  are  left  to  fate.  The  jars 
or  concussions  produced  by  the  violent  contact  of  the  levers  with  the 
sides  of  the  carriage  at  every  stroke,  is  a  source  of  waste  of  firemen’s 
energy,  and  want  of  uniformity  in  their  movements  when  at  work,  is 
another.  In  the  29th  vol.  of  the  London  Mechanics’  Magazine,  a  contri¬ 
vance  is  described  for  diminishing  the  shocks  consequent  on  the  contact 
of  the  levers  with  the  carriage.  It  consists  of  three  spiral  springs  enclosed 
in  cylindrical  cases  secured  on  each  side  of  the  carriage  ;  pads  rest  on  the 
springs  and  project  above  each  case,  and  upon  them  the  levers  strike  when 
pulled  down.  Blocks  of  caoutchouc  were  previously  tried,  but  the  vio¬ 
lence  of  the  blows  soon  rendered  that  material  useless.  The  velocity 
with  which  engines  are  sometimes  worked  also  occasions  a  useless  expen¬ 
diture  of  their  strength  ;  we  have  seen  some  drawing  water  through  long 
suction  pipes,  and  the  pumps  worked  so  quickly  that  the  water  certainly 
had  not  time  to  pass  through  the  hose  and  Jill  the  cylinders,  ere  the  pis¬ 
tons  began  to  descend. 

If  some  mode  of  making  the  carriage  immovable,  and  the  pumps  were 
worked  by  long  cranks  on  each  side,  the  firemen  could  not  only  perform 
fifty  per  Cent  more  labor,  but  they  could  do  it  with  less  exertion,  and 
consequently  endure  it  longer.  A  modification  of  the  plan  adopted  in 
the  Ypres  engine,  page  325,  would  be  still  more  effective ;  in  addition 
to  which  ropes  might  be  attached  to  the  bars,  and  any  number  of  specta¬ 
tors  could  then  assist. 

If  we  review  the  progress  of  fire-engines  in  modern  times,  from  the 
simple  syringe  to  the  splendid  machines  of  the  present  day,  we  shall  find 
that  every  important  improvement  in  the  apparatus  for  raising  the  water, 
was  a  nearer  approach  to  the  engine  described  by  Heron.  Previous  to 
the  16th  century,  syringes  or  squirts  only  were  in  use,  and  not  till  the 
Spiritalia  had  been  translated  and  printed  do  we  meet  with  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  pumps.  At  first  a  single  working  cylinder  was  employed,  and  the 
piston  moved  by  a  single  lever  as  in  No.  144 ;  then  two  cylinders,  each 
worked  by  a  separate  lever,  were  united  to  one  discharging  pipe — next 
the  double  lever,  as  figured  by  Heron,  by  which  an  alternating  movement 
of  the  pistons,  and  a  more  efficient  application  of  the  force  employed  was 
secured  ;  then  the  goose-neck,  also  mentioned  by  Heron — and  lastly,  the 
air  vessel  made  its  appearance-.  If  the  beautiful  and  philosophical  device 
^st  mentioned,  be,  as  some  persons  have  supposed,  a  modern  invention, 
why  is  it  that  no  one  has  ever  rose  up  to  claim  it  1  is  not  this  a  tacit  ad¬ 
mission  that  it  was  derived  directly  from  the  Spiritalia,  or  from  Vitruvius’s 
description  of  the  machine  of  Ctesibius  'l  To  the  ancients,  then,  we  are 
indebted  for  the  most  valuable  features  in  our  fire-engines,  and  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  conclude  that  those  used  in  ancient  Egypt  and  old  Rome 
were  as  effective  as  ours.  If  they  \i|ere  not,  it  is  very  strange  that  Heron 
should  have  hit  upon  that  construction  of  them  and  that  arrangement  of 
their  parts,  which  we  have  only  acquired  after  a  century  spent  in  ex¬ 
periments. 

Of  late  years  “  steam  fire-engines”  have  been  introduced  with  success 
in  some  parts  of  Europe  :  a  small  horizontal  steam-engine  with  its  boiler, 
being  arranged,  on  the  carriage  of  the  fire-engine.  One  large  pump  cylin¬ 
der  only  is  used,  and  its  piston  and  that  of  the  steam  cylinder  are  attached 
to  the  same  rod.  Mr.  Braithwaite,  a  London  engineer,  was,  we  believe, 
the  first  who  made  one  of  these  machines.  The  steam  cylinder  was  seven 
and  a  half  inches  diameter,  and  the  pump  six  and  a  half ;  the  water  was 
forced  through  an  ajutage  of  seven-eighths  of  an  inch,  to  an  elevation  of 


Chap.  8.J 


American  Fire-Engines. 


339 

ofniSiW  tW  T  °fget!lngt}ie  aPParatus  int0  Play  from  the  moment 
•  ibmtmg  the  fuel,  was  eighteen  minutes.  When  an  alarm  of  fire  was 

given  the  fuel  was  kindled  and  bellows  attached  to  the  engine  were  work- 
ed  by  hand.  When  the  horses  were  harnessed  to  drag  the  machile  to 
ie  hre,  the  bellows  were  worked  by  the  motion  of  the  wheels  (See 
London  Mechanics’  Magazine  for  1830,  and  in  volume  xviii,  for  1832 
theie  is  a  figure  and  description  of  one  made  by  Mr.  B.  for  the  Prussian 
government,  being  designed  to  protect  the  public  buildings  of  Berlin.) 

ne  or  two  of  these  machines  on  an  improved  plan  by  Mr.  Ericsson 
are  now  being  constructed  in  this  city.  J  ’ 

Fire-engines  in  America.— The  first  use  of  fire-engines  is  an  impor- 
tant  event  m  any  country,  and  may  be  considered  as  constituting  an  epoch 
n  the  history  of  its  useful  mechanism:  moreover,  wherever  the'fare  made 
they  indicate  a  certain  degree  of  refinement  in  civilization  and  an  ad- 
anced  state  of  the  mechanic  arts.  To  their  introduction  into  this  conti- 

pecW  thTsmteT8  ^  and ,  Probabiy will,  have  recourse  for  data  res- 
pecting  the  state  of  society  in  the  early  days  of  the  republic,  and  the  still 

i  iei  times  during  which  the  country  was  subject  to  Europe  •  for  the 
circumstances  which  precede,  and  eventually  lead  to  the  adoption  of  fire- 
engines,  invariably  reflect  light  on  the  manners  and  customs,  the  police  and 
othei  municipal  regulations  of  the  times,  as  well  as  on  many  of  the  arts 
particularly  those  connected  with  building.  The  following  extracts  from 

c°itVC1oa  NeT  Yomk  th6,^S  °5Ce’  th6ir  intr°duction  into  tlm 

y  ew  \  oik,  will  oe  found  to  illustrate  some  of  the  above  remarks 

:  dt?eS  T  appear  1  jat.  either  scluirts  or  engines  were  used  during  the 
ini  !  i  rrl  Te™me(\  ln  Possession  of  its  founders;  viz:  from  A.  D. 
1614  to  1664.  1  he  volume  of  Dutch  records  preserved  in  the  clerk’s  of¬ 

fice  to  which  we  referred  page  299,  contains  several  enactments  relating 
to  fires  and  fire  wardens,  but  no  mention  is  made  of  instruments  for  extin¬ 
guishing  fires  until  1648,  when  ladders,  hooks  and  buckets  were  ordered 

from  the  ‘«ndA  T  hav<Lnever  been  P™ted,  a  few  extracts 

om  the  Ordinances  of  the  Director-General  and  the  Council  of  the  New 

M»v  9QlaiR?v  Wl1  be  aCCePtable  to  most  waders.  The  first  one  is  dated 
lay  29,  1647 :  it  cannot  perhaps,  be  strictly  considered  as  related  to  our 
subject,  although  it  was  designed  to  remove  a  fruitful  source  of  fires  viz  • 
inebriety.  On  the  above  date  the  Director-General,  Petrus  Stuyvesant , 
issued  a  proclamation,  addressed  to  certain  of  the  inhabitants  “  who  are  in 
the  habit  of  getting  drunk,  of  quarrelling,  fighting,  and  of  smiting  each 
other  on  the  Lord’s  day  of  rest,  of  which  on  the  last  Sunday,  we  our- 
se Ives  witnessed  the  painful  scenes.”  It  appears  from  this  and  other 
cts  to  the  same  effect,  that  the  governor  had  considerable  difficulty  in 
keeping  a  portion  of  his  people  sober;  and  from  following  a  practice  which 
e  denounces  as  the  “  dangerous,  injurious,  and  damnable  selling,  giving 

tive/of  thisMnd  ”Ut’  WmeS>  beerS’  and  ardent  sPirits  to  the  Indians  or  na- 

to  PP?ama;°"  is  m°re  '°  our  purP°se-  “  Wherem  it  has  come 

knowledge  of  his  excellency,  the  Director-General  of  New  Ne¬ 
eles  thedCmman°a'  ^  and  °f  -he  Islands  °f  the  Same’  and  tbeir  Excellen- 
es  the  Councillors,  that  certain  careless  persons  are  in  the  habit  of  neg- 

fires”  wherpbQ  l^T  cbiran!es  by  sweeping,  and  paying  no  attention  to  thefr 
fiby-  ately  fires  have  occurred  in  two  houses;  and  whereas  the 
ger  ot  hre  is  greater  as  the  number  of  houses  increases  here  in  New- 
Amsterdam ;  and  whereas  the  greater  number  of  them  are  built  of  wood 
re  covere  with  reeds,  together  with  the  fact  that  some  of  the  houses 
have  wooden  chimmes,  which  are  very  dangerous :  Therefore,  by  the 


340 


Extracts  from  old  Dutch  Records.  [Book  III 

prompt  and  excellent  Director-General  and  tkeir  honours  the  Councillors, 
it  has  been  deemed  advisable  and  highly  necessary  to  look  into  this  mat¬ 
ter,  and  they  do  hereby  ordain,  enact,  and  interdict,  that  from  this  time 
forth  no  wooden  or  platted  chimnies  shall  be  permitted,  .  .  .  Those  already 
standing  shall  be  permitted  to  remain  during  the  good  pleasure  of  the 

fire  wardens .  As  often  as  any  chimnies  shall  be  discovered  to  be 

foul,  the  fire  wardens  aforesaid  shall  condemn  them  as  foul,  and  the  owner 
shall  immediately,  and  without  any  gainsaying,  pay  the  fine  of  three 
guilders,  for  each  chimney  thus  condemned  as  foul ;  to  be  appropriated  to 
the  maintenance  of  fire  ladders ,  hooks,  and  buckets  ;  which  shall  be  pro¬ 
vided  and  procured  [from  Holland]  the  first  opportunity.  And  in  case  the 
house  of  any  person  shall  be  burned,  or  be  on  fire,  either  through  his  own 
negligence,  or  his  own  fire,  he  shall  be  mulcted  in  the  penalty  of  twenty- 
five  guilders,  to  be  appropriated  as  aforesaid.  Thus  done,  passed  and  pub¬ 
lished  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  this  23d  day  of  January,  1648.” 

This  ordinance  does  not  appear  to  have  produced  the  desired  effect, 
since  a  similar  one  was  published  in  September  of  the  same  year.  In  Fe¬ 
bruary  1656  another  was  issued,  by  which  the  fire  wardens  were  directed  to 
establish  such  penalties  for  chimneys  or  houses  taken  fire  “  as  shall  be found 
among  the  customs  of  our  Fatherland.”  At  the  close  of  the  following  year 
the  mse  of  squirts  or  engines  does  not  appear  to  have  occurred  to  the  inha¬ 
bitants,  a  circumstance  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  such  machines 
were  at  that  time  little  used  in  Holland,  and  this  also  appears  from  an  al¬ 
lusion  to  the  practice  of  quenching  fires  there,  in  a  proclamation  prohibit¬ 
ing  wooden  chimneys,  flag  roofs,  &c.  “  In  all  well  regulated  cities  and 

corporations,  it  is  customary  that  fire  buckets,  ladders  and  hooks,  are  in 
readiness  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  and  in  public  houses,  for  the  time  of 
need.  [Here  is  no  mention  of  engines,  although  the  instruments  used  in 
Holland  are  obviously  alluded  to.J  The  Director-General  and  the  coun¬ 
cillors  do  ordain  and  authorize  in  these  premises,  the  burgomasters  of 
this  city,  either  personally  or  by  their  treasurer,  promptly  to  demand  for 
every  house,  whether  small  or  large,  one  beaver,  or  eight  guilders  in  sea- 
want,  according  to  the  established  price;  for  the  purpose  of  ordering  from 
the  revenue  of  the  same,  by  the  first  opportunity,  from  Fatherland,  two 
hundred  and,  fifty  leather  fire  buckets;  and  out  of  the  surplus,  to  have  made 
some  fire  ladders  and  fire  hooks :  and  in  addition  to  this,  once  a  year,  to 
demand  for  every  chimney,  one  guilder  for  the  support  and  maintenance 
of  the  same.  Thus  done  in  the  session  of  the  director-general  and  coun¬ 
cillors,  held  in  the  fort  of  Amsterdam,  in  New  Netherlands,  this  15th  day 
of  December,  A.  D.  1657.” 

After  New  Netherlands  became  a  British  province,  similar  ordinances 
continued  to  be  enacted  till  the  year  1731,  when  two  of  Newsham’s  en¬ 
gines  were  ordered  from  London.  These  were  probably  the  first  fire-en¬ 
gines  used  on  this  continent.  The  following  extracts  are  from  the  mi¬ 
nutes  of  the  common  council. 

“  At  a  common  council  held  the  16th  day  of  February  1676-7,  in  the 
28M.  year  of  Charles  II.  Ordered  that  all  and  every  person  and  persons 
that  have  any  of  the  city’s  ladders,  buckets  or  hooks  in  their  hands  or 
custody,  forthwith  bring  the  same  unto  the  mayor,  as  they  will  answer  the 
contrary  at  their  peril.”  The  same  date  some  wells  were  ordered  to  be 
made  “for  the  public  good  of  the  city,”  among  which  was  “one  over 
against  Youleff  Johnson’s  the  butcher;  and  another  in  Broadway  against 
Mr.  Vandike’s.”  “  At  a  common  council  held  the  15th  day  of  March 
1683,  in,  the  36 th  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  Ordered  that  provision  be 
made  for  hooks,  ladders  and  buckets,  to  be  kept  in  convenient  places 


341 


Chap.  8.]  And  from  Minutes  of  the  Common  Council. 

within  this  city,  for  avoyding  the  peril  of  fire.”  No  mention  is  here  made  of 
engines,  nor  in  the  next  extract,  wherein  the  want  of  instruments  to  quench 
file  is  especially  referred  to.  “  Feb.  28,  1686  :  Whereas  great  damages 
have  been  done  by  fire  in  this  city,  by  reason  there  were  not  instruments 
to  quench  the  same.  It  is  ordered  that  every  inhabitant  within  the  city 
whose  dwelling  house  lias  two  chimnies  shall  provide  one  bucket  for  its 
use  :  and  every  house  having  more  than  two  hearths,  shall  have  two 
buckets.”  Every  brewer  was  to  provide  six,  and  every  baker  three  buck¬ 
ets,  under  a  penalty  of  six  shillings  for  every  bucket  ordered.  “  January, 
1689  :  Ordered  that  there  be  appointed  five  Brent  masters  for  the  city  of 
N ew-\ ork,  as  follows:  Peter  Adolf,  Derek  Vanderbrink,  Derek  Ten 
Eyk,  Jacob  Borlen,  Tobias  Stoutenburgh  ;  and  that  five  ladders  be  made 
to  serve  upon  occasion  of  fire,  with  sufficient  hooks  thereto.” 

November  16,  1695  :  Every  dwelling  in  the  city  was  to  be  provided 
with  one  or  more  buckets  by  New-Year’s  day.  The  tenants  were  to 
provide  them  for  the  houses  they  occupied,  and  the  cost  to  be  deducted 
from  the  rent.  Every  brewer  was  again  ordered  to  procure  for  his  pre¬ 
mises  six,  and  every  baker  three.  Several  buckets  were  lost,  and  the 
public  crier  was  directed  to  give  notice.  These  “  orders”  do  not  appear 
to  have  been  implicitly  obeyed,  for  they  were  frequently  repeated,  and 
in  November  1703,  a  penalty  was  attached  for  noncompliance.  “  Octo¬ 
ber  1,  1706  :  Ordered  that  Alderman  Vanderburgh  do  provide  for  the 
public  use  of  this  city,  eight  ladders  and  two  fire  hooks,  and  poles  of  such 
length  and  dimensions  as  he  shall  judge  to  be  convenient,  to  be  used  in 
case  of  fire.”  November  20,  1716,  a  committee  was  appointed  “to  pro¬ 
vide  a  sufficient  number  of  ladders  and  hooks  for  the  public  use  of  this 
city  in  case  of  fire.”  In  November  1730,  fire-engines  are  first  men¬ 
tioned.  On  the  18th  of  that  month  among  other  provisions  enacted  for 
the  prevention  and  extinguishment  of  fires,  one  is  in  the  following  words : 
11  And  be  it  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  forthwith  provision 
be  made  for  hooks,  ladders  and  buckets,  and  fire-engines,  to  be  kept  in 
convenient  places  within  the  city  for  avoiding  the  peril  of  fire.”  At  the 
same  time  the  inhabitants  were  again  directed  to  provide  and  keep  buckets 
in  their  houses.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  active  measures  to  procure 
the  engines  were  taken  till  the  next  year,  for  under  the  date  of  May  6 
1731,  the  common  council  “  Resolved  that  this  corporation  do  with  all 
convenient  speed  procure  two  complete  fire-engines ,  with  suction  and  all 
materials  thereunto  belonging,  for  the  public  service :  that  the  sizes  thereof 
he  the  fourth  and  sixth  sizes  of  Mr.  Newsham's  fire-engines  :  and  that  Mr. 
Mayor,  Alderman  Cruger,  Alderman  Rutgers  and  Alderman  Roosevelt, 
or  any  three  of  them,  be  a  committee  to  agree  with  some  proper  merchant 
or  merchants  to  send  to  London  for  the  same  by  the  first  conveyance, 
and  report  upon  what  terms  the  said  fire-engines,  &c.  will  be  delivered  to 
this  corporation.” 

On  the  12 th  of  June  the  committee  reported  that  the  engines  could  be 
imported  at  an  advance  of  120  per  cent  on  the  invoice  ;  and  they  were 
ordered  accordingly.  They  seem  to  have  arrived  about  the  1  st  of  De¬ 
cember  ,  for  on  that  day,  a  room  in  the  City  Hall  was  ordered  to  be  fitted  up 
“for  securing  the  fire-engines.”  On  the  14  th  of  December  a  committee 
of  two  was  appointed  “  to  have  the  fire-engines  cleaned  and  the  leathers 
oiled  and  put  into  boxes,  that  the  same  may  be  fit  for  immediate  use.” 
January  2d,  1732.  The  mayor  and  four  members  of  the  court  were  au¬ 
thorized  to  employ  persons  to  put  the  fire-engines  in  good  order,  and  also 
So  agree  with  proper  persons  to  look  after  a;id  take  care  of  the  same.  It 
Appears  that  Anthony  Lamb  was  the  first  superintendent  of  fire-engines, 


342 


Fire-Engines  in  America 


[Book  III 


for  on  the  2ith  of  January  1735,  the  mayor  was  ordered  “  to  issue  his  war¬ 
rant  to  the  treasurer  to  pay  Mr.  Anthony  Lamb,  overseer  of  the  fire-engines, 
or  order,  the  sum  of  three  pounds,  current  money  of  this  colony,  in  full 
of  one  quarter  of  a  year’s  salary,  due  and  ending  the  first  instant.”  On 
the  same  date  a  committee  was  appointed  to  employ  workmen  “  to  put 
them  in  good  repair,  and  that  they  have  full  power  to  agree  with  any 
person  or  persons  by  the  year,  to  keep  the  same  in  such  good  plight,  re¬ 
pair  and  condition,  and  to  play  the  same  as  often  as  there  shall  be  occasion 
upon  any  emergency.” 

April  15,  1736.  “  A  convenient  house  [was  ordered]  to  be  made  conti¬ 
guous  to  the  watch-house  in  the  Broad  street  for  securing  and  well  keeping 
the  fire-engines  of  the  city.”  This  seems  to  have  been  the  first  engine 
house.  May  1,  1736.  Jacobus  Turk,  a  gunslnith,  was  appointed  to  take 
charge  of  the  fire-engines  and  to  keep  them  in  repair  at  his  own  cost,  for 
a  salary  of  ten  pounds  current  money.  Mr.  Turk  undertook  during  the 
next  year  to  make  an  engine ,  for  May  15,  1737,  the  common  council  or¬ 
dered  the  sum  of  ten  pounds  to  be  advanced  “  to  the  said  Jaeobus  Turk, 
to  enable  him  to  go  on  with  finishing  a  small  fire-engine  he  is  making  for 
an  experiment :”  probably  the  first  made  in  America. 

November  4,  1737.  The  common  council  drew  up  a  petition  to  the  le¬ 
gislature  to  enable  the  corporation  “  to  appoint  four-and-twenty  able  bo¬ 
died  men,  inhabitants  within  this  city,  who  shall  be  called  the  firemen  of  this 
city,  to  work  and  play  the  fire-engines  within  the  same,  upon  all  occasions 
and  emergencies,  when  they  shall  be  thereunto  required  by  the  overseer 
of  the  said  engines,  or  the  magistrates  of  the  said  city  :  and  that  the  said 
firemen  as  a  recompense  and  reward  for  that  service,  may  by  the  same 
law  be  excused  and  exempted  from  being  elected  and  serving  in  the  office 
of  a  constable,  or  being  enlisted,  or  doing  any  duty  in  the  militia  regiment, 
troop,  or  companies,  in  the  said  city,  or  doing  any  duty  in  any  of  the  said' 
offices  during  their  continuance  as  firemen  aforesaid.”  This  law  was 
passed  by  the  assembly  in  September  folio  wing,  and  the  duty  of  firemen  de¬ 
fined.  The  next  notice  of  engines  occurs  ten  years  afterwards,  in  March 
1748,  when  the  corporation  “  ordered  that  one  of  the  fire-engines  of  this 
city,  of  the  second  size,  be  removed  to  Montgomery’s  Ward  of  this  city, 
near  Mr.  Hardenbrooks ;  and  that  a  shed  be  built  thereabouts  at  the  charge 
of  this  corporation  for  the  securing  and  keeping  the  same.”  By  this  it 
appears  that  several  engines  besides  the  two  original  ones  were  then  in 
use:  The  one  just  named  was  a  different  size  (much  smaller)  than  those 
first  ordered.  It  is  uncertain  whether  the  additional  ones  were  made  by 
Mr.  Turk,  but  probably  not,  since  both  large  and  small  ones  were  ordered; 
from  London  for  several  years  after  this  date.  From  the  following  ex¬ 
tract  we  find  that  several  of  the  large  fire-engines  (the  sixth  size  of  New- 
sham)  belonged  to  the  city.  February  28,  174$,  “Ordered  that  Major 
Vanhousand  and  Mr.  Provost  do  take  care  to  get  a  sufficient  house  .built 
for  one  of  the  large  fire-engines,  to  be  kept  in  some  part  of  Hanover  square 
at  the  expense  of  this  corporation,  and  that  there  be  a  convenience  made 
therein  for  hanging  fifty  buckets:  and  also  ordered  that  there  be  one  hun¬ 
dred  new  fire  buckets  made  for  the  use  of  this  corporation  with  all  con¬ 
venient  speed.” 

May  8,  1752.  “  Ordered  that  Jacob  Turk  have  liberty  to  purchase  six 
small  speaking  trumpets  for  the  use  of  this  corporation,”  i.  e.  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  giving  directions  to  firemen  during  conflagrations.  June  20,  1758. 
“  One  large  fire-engine,  one  small  do.  and  two  hand  do.”  were  ordered 
to  be  procured  from  London.  July  24,  1761.  Mr.  Turk,  after  superin¬ 
tending  the  engines  foe  twenty-five  years,  was  superseded  by  Jacobus 


Chap.  8.] 


Before  the  TV ar  of  Independence. 


343 

Stoutenburgh,  who  was  directed  to  take  charge  of  them  at  a  salary  of 
thirty  pounds  ;  and  “the  late  overseer,  Mr.  Jacobus  Turk,  [was  ordered 
toj  deliver  up  to  the  said  Jacobus  Stoutenburgh,  the  said  several  fire-en¬ 
gines.  November  19,  1762.  The  firemen  were  directed  to  wear  leather 
caps  when  on  duty.  May  7,  1772.  An  engine  was  ordered  to  be  pro¬ 
vided  for  the  Out  ward  July  10,  1772.  “Alderman  Gautier  laid  before 
this  board  an  account  of  the  cost  of  two  fire-engines  belonging  to  Thomas 
liiher:  and  Alderman  Gautier  is  requested  to  purchase  the  same.”  Sep¬ 
tember  9,  1772.  A  committee  was  authorized  “to  purchase  one  other  fire- 
engine  of  David  Hunt.”  The  three  engines  last  named  were  probably 
ftom  L  n  gland,  for  at  the  time  these  machines  were  in  the  list  of  ordinary 
imported  manufactures.  .  J 

It  is  not  impossible  that  some  engines  were  made  in  Massachusetts  about 
the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  In  October  1767,  the  people  of  Bos¬ 
ton,  irritated  by  the  exactions  and  disgusted  with  the  parasites  of  mo¬ 
narchy,  determined  in  a  town  meeting  to  cease  importing  from  the  31st  of 
December  following,  numerous  articles  of  British  manufacture,  amono- 
which  were  enumerated  anchors,  nails,  pewter-ware,  clothing,  hats  car¬ 
nages,  cordage,  furniture,  and  fire-engines.  And  in  March  176S  the  As¬ 
sembly  resolved,  “  that  this  house  will,  by  all  prudent  means,  endeavour 
to  discountenance  the  use  of  foreign  superfluities,  and  to  encourage  the 
manufactures  of  this  province;”  hence  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  en¬ 
gines  either  had  been,  or  then  could  be  made  in  the  province  ;  otherwise 
it  is  not  likely  that  their  importation  would  have  been  denounced  As 
an  article  of  trade  they  were,  from  the  limited  number  required,  insio-nifi- 
cant—they  had  no  connection  with  luxury ;  and  so  far  from  bein^  “  su_ 
pernuities,”  they  were  necessary  to  protect  the  property  of  the  people 
rom  destruction  they  would  therefore  be  among  the  last  things  that  a 
people  would  cease  to  import  while  unable  to  make  them. 

It  was  not  till  several  years  after  the  close  of  the  struggle  for  indepen¬ 
dence  that  fire-engines  were  made  in  this  and  some  other  cities.  They 
have  however,  long  been  made  here  and  in  Philadelphia,  Boston  &c 
femall  engines  were  formerly  used,  but  they  have  gradually  disappeared' 
the  manufacturers  confining  themselves  principally  to  the  largest.  The  use 
of  budgets  has  also  been  discontinued  on  account  of  the  extensive  applica¬ 
tion  of  hose  Village  engines  are  sometimes  constructed  with  single  cy- 
imders  and  double  acting,  but  being  more  liable  to  derangement,  they  are 
not  extensively  used.  Rotary  engines  are  also  made  'in  some  parts  of 
vuai "&lanch.on  principle  of  Bramah  and  Dickenson’s  pumps,  (No. 

•)  As  ordinary  fire-engines  are  merely  forcing  pumps,  arranged  in 
carnages  and  furnished  with  flexible  pipes  ;  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
any  radical  improvement  upon  them  can  be  effected.  The  pump  itself 
is,  perhaps,  not  capable  of  any  material  change  for  the  better;  and  it  is  at 
present  essentially  the  same  as  when  used  by  Ctesibius  and  Heron  in 
’  gypb  twenty  centuries  ago:  hence  fire-engines,  since  hose  pipes  and  air 
chambers  were  introduced,  have  differed  from  each  other  chiefly  in  the 

carriages  and  in  the  arrangement  and  dimensions  of  the  pumps _ as  the 

posmon  of  tha  cylinder,,  modes  of  working  the  pistons,  borl  direction 
of  the  passages  for  the  water,  &c.  In  these  respects  there  is  not  much 

tc  Eur°Pfan.  and  American  engines;  nor  in  the  varieties 

e  latter.  Those  made  in  Philadelphia  rather  resemble  French  and 

wkhom  r?1"68;  ^  pumps  at  the  ends  of  the  carriages,  and 

without  the  sectors  and  chains;  while  New-York  engines  are  precisely 

the  same  as  Newsham’s,  both  in  the  arrangement  of  the  pumps  and  mo de 
of  working  them,  with  the  exception  of  treddles,  w'hich  are  not  used. 


344 


Philadelphia  Fire-Engine. 


[Book  III. 


No.  153  represents  an  external  view  of  a  Philadelphia,  engine  :  the 
pumps  and  air  vessel  are  arranged  as  in  No.  150,  but  the  piston  rods  are 
connected  directly  to  the  bent  lever,  which  is  moved  by  a  double  set  of 
handles  or  staves.  A  number  of  men  stand  upon  each  end  of  the  cistern  and 
work  the  engine  by  the  staves  nearest  to  them,  while  others  on  the  ground 
apply  their  strength  to  the  staves  at  the  extremities  of  the  lever.  The 
staves  turn  upon  studs  at  the  centre  of  the  cross  bars,  and  when  put  in 
operation,  fall  into  clasps  that  retain  them  in  their  places.  Provision 
is  made  to  convey  the  stream  either  from  the  lower  or  from  the  upper 
part  of  the  air  chamber.  Hose  companies  supply  the  engines  with  water. 
The  firemen,  as  in  all  American  cities,  are  volunteers,  and  generally  con¬ 
sist  of  young  tradesmen  and  merchants'  clerks,  &c.  They  are  exempt 
from  militia  and  jury  duty.  Each  member  pays  a  certain  sum  on  his 
admission,  and  a  small  annual  subscription.  A  fine  is  also  imposed  upon 
any  one  appearing  on  duty  without  his  appropriate  dress  (see  figure  in  the 
cut)  as  well  for  being  absent.  A  generous  spirit  of  rivalry  exists  among 
the  different  companies,  which  induces  them  to  keep  their  engines  in  a 
high  state  of  working  order. 


No.  153.  External  Viotv  of  a  Philadelphia  Fire-engine. 

No.  154  exhibits  a  New- York  engine.  The  pump  cylinders  are  ar¬ 
ranged  and  worked  precisely  as  shown  in  the  section  No.  150.  They 
are  six  and  a  half  inches  diameter,  and  the  pistons  have  a  stroke  of  nine 
inches.  Previous  to  the  formation  of  hose  companies,  each  engine  was 
provided  with  a  reel  of  hose;  this,  when  not  in  use,  was  covered  by  a 
case  of  varnished  cloth  or  leather.  Most  of  the  engines  still  have  reels, 
which  are  carried  as  shown  in  the  cut.  The  stream  of  water  is  invariably 
taken  from  the  top  of  the  air  chambers,  which  resemble  the  one  at  No.  150. 
This  practice  is  bad,  because  in  most  cases  that  part  of  the  hose  between 
the  goose-neck  and  the  fire  descends  to  the  ground,  and  hence  the  water 
in  the  pipe  is  unnecessarily  diverted  from  its  course  and  a  corresponding 
diminution  of  effect  is  the  result.  In  all  cases  the  hose  had  better  be  con¬ 
nected  to  the  bottom  of  the  air  chamber,  or  to  its  side  near  the  bottom, 
as  in  Nos.  148,  152,  155.  Very  long  chambers  (as  the  one  in  No.  160) 


345 


Chap.  8.] 


New- York  Fire-Engine. 


retard  the  issue  of  the  liquid  more  than  others  which  discharge  it  from 
e  top,  because  the  water  has  to  descend  in  them  nearly  perpendicu¬ 
larly  to  enter  the  orifice  of  the  pipe,  and  its  direction  is  then  precisely 
i Closed,  for  it  has  to  rise  perpendicularly  in  order  to  escape. 


No.  154.  New-York  City  Fire-engine. 

In  exterior  decoration  American  engines  are  probably  unrivaled  :  the 
firemen  take  pride  in  ornamenting  their  respective  machines,  and  hence 
most  of  them  are  finished  in  the  most  superb  and  expensive  manner.  The 
whole  of  the  iron  work,  except  the  tire  of  the  wheels,  is  frequently  plated 
with  silver;  every  part  formed,  of  brass  is  brought  to  the  highest  polish* 
and  while  all  the  wood  w*ork,  including  the  wheels,  is  elegantly  painted 
and  gilded,  the  backs,  fronts,  and  panels  of  the  case  that  encloses  the 
air  chamber  and  pumps,  are  enriched  with  historical  and  emblematical 
paintings  and  carved  work,  by  the  first  artists. 

.  A  new  organization  of  the  fire  department  of  New-York  has  lono-  been 
in  contemplation,  and  the  project  of  a  law  to  that  effect,  is  at  this  time 
under  the  consideration  of  the  legislature  of  the  state,  and  of  the  corpo¬ 
ration  of  the  city.  r 

1  he  most  valuable  contribution  of  American  mechanicians  to  the  jneans 
°‘  c;* Anguishing  fires  is  the  riveted  hose,  invented  by  Sellers  and  Pennock 
of  I  hiladelphia.  It  is  too  well  known  both  here  and  in  Europe  to  re- 
quire  particular  description.  No  modern  apparatus  is  complete  without  it. 

i  q  ,ha?lCS' Institute  of>  New-York  offered  a  gold  medal  (in  January 

lb40)  for  the  best  plan  of  a  Steam  fire-engine.  The  publication  of  the 
notice  was  very  limited,  and  but  two  or  three  plans  were  sent  in.  Of 
these,  one  by  Mr.  Ericsson,  a  European  engineer  now  in  this  country  re¬ 
ceived  the  prize.  No.  155  represents  a  view  of  the  engine.  No.  156  a 
longitudinal  section  of  the  boiler,  steam  engine,  pump,  air  vessel  and  blow¬ 
ing  apparatus.  No.  157,  plan.  No.  158,  a  transverse  section  of  the  boiler 
through  the  furnace  and  steam  chamber.  No.  159,  the  lever  or  handle 
(Y'  ?r  'ln.®  ^  ie  Awing  apparatus  by  hand.  The  following  is  the  inven¬ 
tor  s  escription,  in  which  the  same  letters  of  reference  denote  the  same 
parts  in  all  the  figures. 


44 


346 


Steam  Fire-Engine. 


[Book  III 


“A  the  double  acting  force  pump,  cast  of  gun  metal,  firmly  secured  to  the 
carriage  frame  by  four  strong  brackets  cast  on  its  sides,  a,  a,  Suction 
valves,  al ,  a',  Suction  passages  leading  to  the  cylinder,  a",  Chamber 
containing  the  suction  valves,  and  to  which  chamber  are  connected  suction 
pipes  a1",  a'" ,  to  which  the  hose  is  attached  by  screws  in  the  usual  man¬ 
ner,  and  closed  by  the  ordinary  screw  cap.  The  delivering  valves  and 
passages  at  the  top  of  the  cylinder  are  similar  to  those  just  mentioned. 


B  the  air  vessel,  of  a  globular  form,  made  of  copper,  b  b  delivery 
pipes,  to  which  the_  pressure  hose  is  attached  i  when  only  one  jet  is  re¬ 
quired,  the  opposite  pipe  may  be  closed  by  a  screw  cap,  as  usual.  The 
piston  or  bucket  of  the  force  pump  to  be  provided  with  double  leather 
packing :  [cupped  leathers]  the  piston  rod  to  be  made  of  copper. 


Steam  Fire-Engine. 


347 


Chap.  8.] 

“  C  the  boiler,  constructed  on  the  principle  of  the  ordinary  locomotive 
boiler,  and  containing  27  tubes  of  1£  inch  diameter.  The  top  of  the  steam- 
chamber  and  the  horizontal  part  of  the  boiler  should  be  covered  with  wood 
prevent  the  radiation  of  neat,  c  the  fire  door,  o'  the  ash  pan. 


o'  a  box  attached  to  end  of  boiler,  inclosing  the  exit  of  the  tubes.  The 
hot  air  from  the  tubes  received  by  this  box  is  passed  off  through  smoke 
pipe  d  ,  which  is  carried  through  D  D,  making  a  half  spiral  turn  round 
the  air  vessel  in  the  form  of  a  serpent,  c*,  iron  brackets  riveted  to  the 
boiler,  and  bolted  to  the  carriage  frame,  c6,  a  wrought  iron  stay,  also 
bolted  to  the  carriage  frame,  for  supporting  the  horizontal  part  of  the  boiler. 


348 


Steam  Fire-Engine. 


[Book  III 


“  E,  a  cylindrical  box  attached  to  the  top  of  the  steam  chamber,  contain¬ 
ing  a  conical  steam  valve  e,  and  also  safety  valve  e' .  e"  screw  with 
handle  connected  to  the  steam  valve,  for  admitting  or  shutting  off  the  steam. 
e"'  induction  pipe,  for  conveying  the  steam  to  ’ 

F.  the  steam  cylinder,  provided  with  steam  passages  and  slide  valve  of 
the  usual  construction,  and  secured  to  the  carriage  frame  in  the  same  man¬ 
ner  as  the  force  pump.  _/E duct-ion  pipe,  for  carrying  off  the  steam  into  the 
atmosphere,  f  Piston,  provided  with  metallic  packing,  on  Barton’s 
plan,  f",  Piston  rod  of  steel,  attached  to  the  piston  rod  of  the  force 
pump  by  means  of 

G.  a  crosshead  of  wrought  iron,  into  which  both  piston  rods  are  inserted 
and  secured  by  keys,  g,  Tappet  rod  attached  to  the  crosshead,  for  mov¬ 
ing  the  slide  valve  of  the  steam  cylinder  by  means  of  nuts  g' ,  g1 ,  which 
may  be  placed  at  any  position  on  the  tappet  rod. 

H.  Spindle  of  wrought  iron,  working  in  two  bearings  attached  to  the 
cover  of  the  steam  cylinder,  the  one  end  thereof  having  fixed  to  it,  h 
a  lever,  moved  or  struck  ultimately  by  the  nuts  gJ,  g' .  h'  a  lever,  fixed  to 
the  middle  part  of  the  spindle  H,  for  moving  the  steam  valve  rod. 

I.  Force  pump  for  supplying  the  boiler,  constructed  with  spindle 
valves  on  the  ordinary  plan  ;  the  suction  pipe  thereof  to  communicate 
with  the  valve  chamber  of  the  water  cylinder,  and  the  delivering  pipe  to 
be  connected  to  the  horizontal  part  of  the  boiler,  i,  Plunger  of  force  pump, 
to  be  made  of  gun  metal  or  copper,  and  attached  to  the  crosshead  G. 

J.  Blowing  apparatus,  consisting  of  a  square  wooden  box,  with  pan¬ 
eled  sides,  in  which  is  made  to  work  a  square  piston  j,  made  of  wood, 
joined  to  the  sides  of  said  box  by  leather,  f,  Circular  holes  or  openings 
through  the  sides,  for  admitting  atmospheric  air  into  the  box ;  these  holes 
being  covered  on  the  inside  by  pieces  of  leather  or  India  rubber  cloth  to 
act  as  valves,  j",  are  similar  holes  through  the  top  of  the  box,  for  passing 
off  the  air  at  each  stroke  of  the  piston,  into 

K.  Receiver  or  regulator,  which  has  a  movable  top  k,  made  of  wood, 
joined  by  leather  to  the  upper  part  of  the  box  ;  a  thin  sheet  of  lead  to  be 
attached  thereto,  for  keeping  up  a  certain  compression  of  air  in  the  regu 
lator.  k',  Box  or  passage  made  of  sheet  iron,  attached  to  the  blowing 
apparatus,  and  having  an  open  communication  with  the  regulator  at  k"  : 
to  this  passage  is  connected  a  conducting  pipe,  as  marked  by  dotted  lines 
in  No.  156,  for  conveying  the  air  from  the  receiver  into  the  ash  pan,  under 
the  furnace  of  the  boiler  at  k!" ;  this  conducting  pipe  passes  along  the  in¬ 
side  of  the  carriage  frame  on  either  side. 

L.  L.  Two  parallel  iron  rods,  to  which  the  piston  of  the  blowing  ap¬ 
paratus  is  attached  :  these  rods  work  through  guide  brasses  l,  l,  and  they 
may  be  attached  to  the  crosshead  G,  by  keys  at  V,  V .  The  holes  at  the 
ends  of  the  crosshead  for  admitting  these  rods  are  sufficiently  large  to  al¬ 
low  a  free  movement  whenever  it  is  desirable  to  work  the  blowing  appa¬ 
ratus  independently  of  the  engine. 

M.  Spindle  of  wrought  iron,  placed  transversely,  and  working  in  two 
bearings  fixed  under  the  carriage  frame :  to  this  spindle  are  fixed  two 
crank  levers  m,  m ,  which  by  means  of  two  connecting  rods  m‘  in' ,  give 
motion  to  the  piston  rods  L,  L,  by  inserting  the  hooks  m",  m",  into  the 
eyes  at  the  ends  of  the  said  piston  rods. 

N.  Crank  lever,  fixed  at  the  end  of  spindle  M,  which  by  means  of 

O.  Crank  pin,  fixed  in  the  carriage  wheel,  and  also 

P.  Connecting  rod,  will  communicate  motion  to  the  blowing  appara¬ 
tus,  whenever  the  carriage  is  in  motion,  and  the  above  parts  duly  con¬ 
nected. 


Fire  Escapes. 


34S 


Chap.  8.] 


P«W  ,1S  fi*eci.ln  lever  N>  P^ced  at  such  distance  from  the  centre  of 
spindle  M,  that  it  will  fit  the  hole  n'  of  the  lever  shown  in  No.  159  whilst 
n  receives  the  end  of  the  spindle  M.  Whenever  the  blowing  apparatus 
to.  j.  worked  by  the  engine  or  by  manual  force,  the  connecting  rod  P 
should  be  detached  by  means  of  the  lock  at^.  The  carriage  frame  should 
be  made  of  oak,  and  plated  with  iron  all  over  the  outside  and  top  ;  the 
top  plate  to  have  small  recesses,  to  meet  the  brackets  of  the  cylinders  as 
shown  in  the  drawing.  The  lock  of  the  carriage,  axles,  and  springs  to  be 
made  as  usual,  only  differing  by  having  the  large  springs  suspended  below 
the  axle.  Ihe  carriage  wheels  to  be  constructed  on  the  suspension  prin¬ 
ciple  ;  spokes  and  rim  to  be  made  of  wrought  iron,  and  very  lio-ht. 

The  principal  object  of  a  steam  fire-engine  being  that  of  not  depending 
on  the  power  or  diligence  of  a  large  number  of  men,  one  or  two  horses 
should  always  be  kept  in  an  adjoining  stable  for  its  transportation.  The 
hre  grate  and  flues  should  be  kept  very  clean,  with  dry  shavings,  wood  and 
coke,  carefully  laid  in  the  furnace  ready  for  ignition  ;  and  a  torch  should 
always  be  at  hand  to  ignite  the  fuel  at  a  moment’s  notice.  To  this  fire- 
engine  establishment  the  word  of  fire  should  be  given,  without  interme¬ 
diate  orders:  the  horses  being  put  to,  the  rod  attached  connecting  the  car¬ 
riage  wheel  to  the  bellows,  and  the  fuel  ignited,  the  engine  may  on  all  or¬ 
dinary  occasions  be  at  its  destination,  and  in  full  operation  in  ten  minutes.” 


Attempts  to  supersede  fire-engines  were  formerly  common.  Zachary 
Greyl  is  said  to  be  the  first  who,  in  modern  times,  devised  a  substitute. 
1  his  consisted  of  a  close  wooden  vessel  or  barrel,  containing  a  considera¬ 
ble  quantity  of  water,  and  in  the  centre  a  small  iron  or  tin  case  full  of  gun¬ 
powder:  from  this  case  a  tube  was  continued  through  the  side  or  head  of 
the  barrel,  and  was  filled  with  a  composition  that  readily  ignited.  When 
a  room  was  on  fire,  one  of  these  machines  was  thrown  or  conveyed  into 
it,  and  the  powder  exploding  dispersed  the  water  in  the  outer  case  in 
every  direction,  and  instantly  extinguished  the  flames  although  ragin 
with  violence  a  moment  before.  In  1723,  Godfrey,  an  English  chernis?, 
copied  this  device,  and  impregnated  the  water  with  an  “  antiphlogistic” 
substance.  He  named  his  machines  “water  bombs.”  In  the  year°] 734, 
the  States  of  Sweden  offered  a  premium  of  twenty  thousand  crowns  for  the 
best  invention  of  stopping  the  progress  of  fires;  upon  which  M.  Fuches,  a 
German  chemist,  introduced  an  apparatus  of  the  same  kind.  Similar  de¬ 
vices  have  been  brought  forward  in  more  recent  days  ;  but  after  making 
a  noise  for  a  time,  they  have  passed  into  oblivion.  (See  London  Maga¬ 
zine  for  1760  and  1761.)  ° 

Among  the  devices  of  modern  times  for  securing  buildings  from  fire,  may 
be  mentioned  the  plan  of  Dr.  Hales,  of  covering  the  floors  with  a  layer 
of  earth ;  and  that  adopted  by  Harley  in  1775,  of  nailing  over  joists,  floors, 
stairs,  partitions,  &c.  sheet  iron  or  tin  plate.  To  increase  the  effect  of 
fire-engines,  the  author  of  this  work  devised  in  1817,  and  put  in  practice 
at  Paterson,  New  Je'rsey,  in  1820,  the  plan  of  fixing  perforated  copper 
pipes  over  or  along  the  ceilings  of  each  floor  of  a  factory  or  other  build¬ 
ings,  and  connecting  them  with  others  on  the  outside,  or  at  a  short  dis¬ 
tance  from  the  walls,  so  that  the  hose  of  a  fire-engine  could  be  rea¬ 
dily  united  by  screws ;  but  the  plan  had  been  previously  developed  by  Sir 

W.  Congreve.  It  has  recently  been  brought  before  the  public  as  a  new 
invention.  r 

Of  the  numerous  Fire  Escapes  that  have  bqen  brought  forward  in  modern 
times,  the  greater  part  are  such  as  were  employed  by  the  ancients  to  scale 
walls  and  to  enter  fortresses,  &c.  in  times  of  war.  It  is  indeed  obvious 


350 


Couvre  Feu. 


[Book  III. 

that  the  same  devices  by  which  persons  entered  buildings,  would  also  an¬ 
swer  the  purpose  of  escaping  from  them :  and  as  the  utmost  ingenuity  of 
the  ancients  was  exercised  in  devising  means  to  accomplish  the  one,  it  was 
exceedingly  natural  that  modern  inventors  should  hit  upon  similar  contri¬ 
vances  to  effect  the  other.  In  the  cuts  to  the  old  German  translation  of 
Vegetius,  to  which  we  have  so  often  referred,  there  are  ladders  of  rope 
and  leather,  in  great  variety,  with  hooks  at  the  ends  which  when  thrown 
by  hand  or  an  engine,  were  designed  to  catch  hold  of  the  corners  and  tops 
of  the  walls  or  windows — folding  ladders  of  wood  and  metal,  some  con¬ 
sisting  of  numerous  pieces  screwed  into  each  other  by  the  person  ascend¬ 
ing,  till  he  reached  the  required  elevation  ;  others  with  rollers  at  their 
upper  ends  to  facilitate  their  elevation  by  rearing  them  against  the  front 
of  the  walls — baskets  or  chests  containing  several  persons  raised  perpen¬ 
dicularly  on  a  movable  frame  by  means  of  a  screw  below,  that  pushed 
out  several  hollow  frames  or  tubes  contained  within  each  other,  like  those 
of  a  telescope,  whose  united  length  reached  to  the  top  of  the  place  at¬ 
tacked — sometimes  the  men  were  elevated  in  a  basket  suspended  at 
the  long  end  of  a  lever  or  swape.  Several  combinations  of  the  lazy  tongs, 
or  jointed  parallel  bars  are  also  figured — one  of  these  moved  on  a  car¬ 
riage  raised  a  large  box  containing  soldiers,  and  is  identical  with  a  fire 
escape  described  in  volume  xxxi  of  the  Transactions  of  the  London  So¬ 
ciety  of  Arts. 

Anciently  the  authors  of  accidental  fires  were  punished  in  proportion 
to  the  degree  of  negligence  that  occasioned  them  ;  and  they  were  com¬ 
pelled  to  repair  to  the  extent  of  their  means,  the  damage  done  to  their 
neighbors.  A  law  of  this  kind  was  instituted  by  Moses,  probably  i« 
imitation  of  a  similar  one  in  force  among  the  Egyptians.  Other  preven¬ 
tive  measures  consisted  in  the  establishment  of  watchmen,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  arrest  thieves  and  incendiaries,  and  to  give  alarm  in  case  of  fire. 
From  the  earliest  days,  those  who  designedly  fired  buildings  were  put  to 
death.  A  very  ancient  custom  which  related  to  the  prevention  of  fires, 
is  still  partially  kept  up  in  Europe,  although  the  design  of  its  institution 
is  almost  forgotten,  viz  :  the  ringing  of  town  bells  about  eight  o’clock  in 
the  evening,  as  a  signal  for  the  inhabitants  to  put  out  their  lights,  rake 
together  the  fire  on  their  hearths,  and  cover  it  with  an  instrument  named 
a  curfeio  ;  a  corruption  of  couvre  feu,  and  hence  the  evening  peal  became 
known  as  “the  curfew  bell.”  It  has  been  supposed  that  the  custom  origi¬ 
nated  with  William  the  Conqueror,  but  it  prevailed  over  Europe  long  be¬ 
fore  his  time,  and  was  a  very  beneficial  one,  not  only  in  constantly  remind¬ 
ing  the  people  to  guard  against  fire,  but  indicating  to  them  the  usual  time 
of  retiring  to  rest ;  for  neither  clocks  nor  watches  were  then  known,  and 
in  the  absence  of  the  sun  they  had  no  device  for  measuring  time.  Alfred 
the  Great,  who  measured  time  by  candles,*  ordered  the  inhabitants  of 
Oxford  to  cover  their  fires  on  the  ringing  of  the  bell  at  carfax  every  night. 
The  instrument  was  made  of  iron  or  copper.  Its  general  form  may  be 
understood  by  supposing  a  common  cauldron  turned  upside  down  and 
divided  perpendicularly  through  the  centre;  one  half  being  furnished  with 
a  handle  riveted  to  it  would  be  a  couvre  feu.  When  used  it  was  placed 
over  the  ashes  with  the  open  side  close  to  the  back  of  the  hearth.  (See 
Diet.  Trevoux:  Hone’s  Every  Day  Book,  vol.  i.  243,  and  Shakespeare’s 
Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  iv,  scene  4.) 

In  the  thirteenth  year  of  Edward  I.  (A.  D.  1285,)  an  act  was  passed 

»  In  Shakespeare’s  play  of  Richard  III.  act  v.  scene  3,  there  is  a  reference  under  the 
name  of  a  watch  to  these  candles.  They  were  marked  in  sections,  each  of  which  was  a  cer¬ 
tain  time  in  burning,  and  thus  measured  the  hours  during  the  night  or  cloudy  weather. 


Chap.  8.J 


Ancient  Laws  vespecting  Fives. 


351 

E#>%:SSS=:=S 

=S#j?33£=S3SKS£t 

vented  and  practised  a  new  damnable  kind  of  •  vice  disnll  !  V  i 
damnifying  of  the  kings  true  subjects  and  the  commonwealth  of  this 
realm,  as  m  secret  burning  of  frames  of  timber,  prepared  and  made  bvt 

Sffi1?  »,  be  Set  UP  and  edified  L  houses  cutdnegoyu  of 

Heads  and  dams  of  pools,  motes,  stews  and  several  waters  -  outfit.  J Z 

pleasure  of  Almtghty  God  and  of  the  kings  majesty,”  &c.  (Statute,  at 
The  crime  of  arson  was  rife  in  old  Rome,  and  it  is  singular  that  the 

5JS  J*p 

Sirr'l  -Mt;  f' 1  hence  arose  the  peculiar  dress  w^m  by  he 
ctims  in  those  horrible,  those  demoniacal  “Acts  of  faith!”  the  Auto  da 

in  ^°fifia  un’  SPam,sh'  and  Portuguese  inquisitions,  (to  which  the  scenes 

he  mile,  f  "!d  0ther  part?  0f  EnS'“d  W  be  bded,)  acts  To  which 
dte  order  of  just.ee  was  completely  reversed-the  sufferers  being  theTnno- 
cents,  and  the  court  and  judges  the  real  criminals.  & 


35Z 


Pressure  Engines. 


[Book  III. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Pressure  engines:  Of  limited  application— Are  modifications  of  gaining  and  losing  buckets  and 
pumps — Two  kinds  of  pressure  engines — Piston  pressure  engine  described  by  Fludd — Pressure  engine 
from  Belidor — Another  by  Westgarth — Motive  pressure  engines — These  exhibit  a  novel  mode  of  employ¬ 
ing  water  as  a  motive  agent — Variety  of  applications  of  a  piston  and  cylinder — Causes  of  the  ancients 
being  ignorant  of  the  steam  engine — Secret  of  making  improvements  in  the  arts — Fulton,  Eli  Whitney 
ana  Arkwright — Pressure  engines  might  have  been  anticipated,  and  valuable  lessons  in  Science  may  be 
derived  from  a  disordered  pump — Archimedes — Heron’s  Fountain — Portable  ones  recommended  in 
FlowerGardens  and  Drawing-rooms,  in  hot  weather — Their  invention  gave  rise  to  a  new  class  of  hydrau¬ 
lic  engines — Pressure  engine  at  Chemnitz — Another  modification  of  Heron’s  fountain — Spiral  pump 
of  Wirtz. 

Pressure  engines,  named  by  tbe  French  Machines  a  colonne  d’eau, 
form  an  interesting  variety  of  hydraulic  devices  belonging  to  the  present 
division  of  the  subject.  They  consist  of  working  cylinders  with  valves 
and  pistons,  and  resemble  forcing  pumps  in  their  construction,  but  differ 
from  them  in  their  operation ;  the  pistons  not  being  moved  by  any  exter¬ 
nal  force  applied  to  them  through  cranks,  levers,  &c.  but  by  the  weight 
or  pressure  of  a  column  of  water  acting  directly  upon  or  against  them. 
Pressure  engines  are  not  very  common,  because  they  are  only  appli¬ 
cable  to  particular  locations — such  as  afford  a  suitable  supply  of  water  for 
the  motive  column ;  but  wherever  refuse,  impure,  salt  or  other  water  can 
be  obtained  from  a  sufficient  elevation,  such  water  may  be  used  to  raise  a 
quantity  of  fresh  by  these  machines. 

In  some  forms  pressure  engines  appear  rather  complicated,  but  when 
analyzed,  the  principle  of  their  action  and  mode  of  operation  will  be  found 
extremely  simple  : — If  two  buckets,  partly  filled  with  water,  be  suspend¬ 
ed  and  balanced  at  the  ends  of  a  scale  beam,  and  a  stream  be  directed  into 
one  of  them,  that  one  will  preponderate,  and  consequently  the  other  with 
its  contents  will  be  raised,  and  to  a  height  equal  to  the  descent  of  the 
former;  but  when  it  is  required  to  raise  water  in  this  manner  to  an  eleva¬ 
tion  that  exceeds  the  distance  through  which  the  descending  vessel  can 
fall ;  then  the  capacity  of  the  latter  is  enlarged,  and  it  is  suspended  nearer 
to  the  fulcrum  or  centre  on  which  the  beam  turns,  as  in  the  gaining  and 
losing  bucket,  page  66  : — It  is  virtually  the  same  principle  that  is  em¬ 
ployed  in  pressure  engines ;  the  difference  is  principally  in  the  manner  of 
performing  the  operation.  Instead  of  vessels  suspended  as  above,  two 
solid  pistons,  moving  in  cylinders,  are  attached  by  rods  or  chains  to  the 
ends  of  a  beam,  or  to  the  ends  of  a  cord  passed  over  a  pulley,  so  that  the 
pressure  of  a  longer  or  heavier  column  of  water  resting  upon  one  piston 
forces  it  down,  and  thereby  raises  the  other  and  with  it  the  lighter  or 
shorter  column  reposing  upon  it. 

By  referring  to  the  16th  illustration  on  page  64,  it  will  be  apparent  that 
if  a  cylinder  extended  from  B  to  the  top  of  the  cistern  Z,  and  a  hollow 
piston  like  the  upper  box  of  an  atmospheric  pump  fitted  to  work  in  it 
were  substituted  for  the  bucket  B,  the  effect  produced  •would  be  much 
the  same  as  with  the  two  buckets,  for  the  same  quantity  of  water  could  be 
raised  through  the  cylinder  into  the  cistern  Z,  if  allowance  were  made  for 


Chap.  9.] 


Piston  Pressure  Engines. 


353 

der  eT,ea„rtPfffriCti??  “  !>le  PassaSe  °f  the  P*'™'*  And  if  another  cylin- 
sure  engine,  alth^hAe  pri^le’  of ILmCe  partof  k  would™  Ce' 

been  essenaaUy  Ranged.  The  cylinders  in  this^xa^p  e  would  perfom 

the  part  of  the  buckets  A  B ;  they  might  be  considered  as  permanent 

ed,  and  very  long  buckets  with  movable  bottoms,  i.  e.  the  pistons  which 

./n,!‘3Ce,ndjnff  and  descending  in  them  received  and  discharged  their  con- 

from',hAnd  “  Wlth  '!’e  buckets  A  and  B,  the  quantity  of  water  expended 

memio„es  of  hVeeo°,rh  deS“n*n?  colu“n  "onld  be  proportionate  to  the  db 
ensions  of  the  other  and  the  elevation  to  which  it  was  raised  Pressor 

ffabWandVherefrei,be  COns1idered  as  a  peculiar  modification  of  the 
ftm  \  1  T/  b-UCket  macWs’  and  as  a  combination  of  these  with 

atmospheric  and  forcing  pumps.  They  admit  of  various  forms  according 

by  hemCaT  V  ^  ***  “V*  ^  tbe  objects  to  be  a-o  "pS 
y  them.  As  liquids  press  equally  m  all  directions,  the  cylinders  may  be 

placed  m  any  position— horizontal,  inclined,  or  vertical.^  Sometimes  a 

pressure  engine  consists  of  a  single  cylinder  with  its  appropriate  pineTand 

valves  hke  a  double  acting  pump,  foe  water  to  be^aised  ente^at  one 

e  of  the  piston,  and  the  motive  column  at  the  other ;  but  more  com- 

on  y  a  distinct  cylinder  and  piston  receives  the  impulse  of  the  motive 

column,  and  in  order  to  transmit  it  to  the  other,  the  two  pistons  are  some 

reVd?ofCtedht0  the  lame  r0d  -as  in  No-  161~at  other  times  to  oppo¬ 
site  ends  of  a  vibrating  beam  as  m  No.  162— so  that  while  one  cylinder 

and  its  apparatus  act  as  a  pump  to  raise  water,  the  other  is  exclusively 

employed  to  work  it.  In  this  respect  pressure  engines  may  be  considered 

rather  as  devices  for  communicating  motion  to  machines  proper  for  raising 

a  er,  t  an  as  the  latter,  and  they  are  sometimes  used  as  propellers  of 

SzxgZS.'ZZZ'*™'  %ht  they  be  ^.4™  £ 

and  transmits  it  to  the  other.  In  one,  a  solid  body  (a  pistol)  is  used  for 
that  purpose— m  the  other,  a  volume  of  air;  but  while  a  slight  variation  is 
thus  caused  in  the  two  machines,  the  essential  features,  as  well  as  the 
moving  pnnciple  of  both  remains  the  same.  Piston  pressure  enfones  are 

giniar  -  k  I66"  lnTent\d  t  ‘\6  1S!h  Century  ^  M  Hoell,  a  Ge™a„  en- 
f  ,ls  more  probable  that  he  improved  them  only,  for  thev  cer 

taifl^  were  known  much  earlier  :  still  it  may  be  that  he  was  ignorant  of 

waKmrt  Uw’  and  -Vas  led  t0  -their  re'invention  by  bis  efforts  to  raise 
water  fiom  the  Hungarian  mines,  m  which  he  erected  several  pressure 

machines  on  the  principle  of  Heron’s  fountain:  the  transition  from  these 

°  er  .  j’as  ®a®y  and  natural,  and  may  have  resulted  from  his  endea- 

rionrof°tharA  \  T  t0  Which  Atbe  former  are  object,  viz  :  the  absorp¬ 
tion  ot  the  air  by  the  water.  About  A.  I).  1739,  an  improved  form  of 

bv^Relid  GngI"?s  ^as  devised«  and  introduced  into  some  mines  in  France 
by  Belidor,  which  he  has  described  in  his  Architecture  Hydraulique  Some 

him  the  author  of  piston 

rod/bemg  loaded  whhweiihr-  WOrked,in  that  manner  :  the  pistons  or 

water  suspended  at  thl  onSS  dien?’ are  raised  by  a  bucket  of 

contents  are  discharged  Tike  the  b.ickit  A e.beam’  ^‘ch  when  it  reaches  the  bottom  its 
b  “Machine  A  colnnnl  h  bJ?cket  A  in  No’  16’  D  ,n  No-  17>  °r  G  in  No.  162. 

M.  Hoell,  premier  Machinistp'd’T  ,Tern',an  :  .Wasser  Saulene.  Machine  ;  inventee  par 

Le.  MinA  Folio  "d  PaS  1779  SSSto'  A"’  e,JMeliere*'  L’Aft 

eu.,  raris  1779,  page  1449.  Quarto  ed.  tom.  xviii,  p  131. 

45 


354  Pressure  Engine  from  Fludd.  [[BooUJJT. 

the  honor  of  first  inventing  them  is  not,  in  fact,  due  to  either  Belidor  or 
Hoell,  as  the  following  figure,  No.  160,  from  a  work  published  a  century 
before  either  of  those  engineers  flourished,  will  show.  It  is  from  Fludd’s 
Natures  simia  seu  techniea  macrocosmi ,  467.  The  character  of  this  author 
as  an  astrologer  and  alchymist,  and  that  of  his  works,  which  abound  with 
absurdities,  have  probably  caused  the  figure  to  be  overlooked  by  modern 
writers  on  hydraulic  and  hydrostatic  apparatus.  Chemistry,  however,  is 
not  the  only  science  that  is  indebted  to  the  shrewd  but  mistaken  seekers 
of  universal  panaceas  and  of  the  philosopher’s  stone. 

The  lower  end  of  the  pipe  B  D  having  a  valve  opening  upwards,  is 
inserted  into  the  water  to  be  raised.  The  pipe  A  receives  the  descend¬ 
ing  or  motive  liquid  column,  which  in  this  case  was  refuse  or  stagnant 

water,  flowing  from  a  source  of 
sufficient  altitude.  This  pipe 
may  be  at  a  considerable  dis¬ 
tance  from  B  D,  and  is  so  repre¬ 
sented  in  the  original  figure.  It 
terminates  below  in  a  pit,  drain, 
or  low  ground,  whence  the  wa¬ 
ter  discharged  from  it  may  es¬ 
cape.  The  end  of  it  should  be 
lower  than  that  of  D,  and  should 
be  sealed  or  covered  by  water 
as  represented,  to  prevent  the 
entrance  of  air.  A  comrriunica- 
tion  is  made  between  both  these 
pipes  by  the  horizontal  one  C. 
This  last  is  connected  to  A  at 
one  of  the  apertures  of  a  three- 
way  cock,  the  upper  and  lower 
part  of  A  being  united  to  the 
other  two.  The  other  end  of  C 
terminates  at  the  bottom  of  a 
working  cylinder,  which  is  closed 
at  the  top,  by  a  short  tube  com¬ 
municating  with  B  D,  immediate¬ 
ly  below  a  valve  placed  in  the 
latter.  In  the  cylinder,  a  piston 
(indicated  by  the  dotted  fees) 
is  fitted.  It  is  described  frs  a 
wooden  plug  covered  with  lea¬ 
ther  and  loaded  with  lead,  so 
as  to  make  it  descend  in  the  cy- 

No.  160.  Pressure  Engine  from  Fludd.  A.  D.  1618.  linder  by  its  Weight. 

To  put  this  machine  in  operation,  the  cylinder  and  pipe  D  are  first  filled 
with  water  through  the  funnel  and  small  cock,  after  which  the  latter  is 
closed.  The  plug  of  the  three-way  cock  is  then  so  arranged,  that  its  two 
orifices  coincide  only  with  the  upper  part  of  A,  and  with  C,  when  the 
pressure  of  the  column  in  A  will  force  up  the  piston,  and  with  it  all  the 
water  previously  in  the  cylinder,  which  is  thus  compelled  to  ascend 
through  the  upper  valve  into  the  discharging  pipe  B.  When  this  has 
taken  place,  the  vessel  Cr,  su  pended  at  one  end  of  the  rod  that  passes 
through  the  shank  of  the  plug,  has  become  filled  with  water,  from  the  small 
jet  issuing  from  A,  and  descending,  turns  the  plug  of  the  cock,  so  as  to 
close  the  communication  of  the  upper  part  of  A  with  C,  and  open  it  be- 


Chap.  9.]  Improved  Pressure  Engine  from  Belidor.  355 

tween  C  and  the  lower  part. of  A,  upon  which  the  piston  descends  in  the 
cylinder  ana  the  foul  water  in  C  escapes  through  the  lower  end  of  A  and 
runs  to  waste.  By  the  time  the  piston  reaches  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder, 
he  latter  is  refilled  with  water  by  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere,  as  in  a 
common  pump  ;  and  the  contents  of  G  have  escaped  through  an  orifice 
in  its  bottom,  which  is  closed  by  a  valve— this  valve  being  opened  by 
a  projecting  pm  upon  which  the  vessel  descended,  as  shown  in  the  figure 
As  soon  as  G  is  emptied,  the  weight  on  the  opposite  end  of  the  rod  prepon¬ 
derates,  ana  turns  the  plug  of  the  cock  into  its  former  position;  and  thus 

1  rcn-  1  tHe  1ma1chin,e  13  continued  without  intermission.  The  operation 
ol  filling  the  cylinder  through  the  funnel,  is  required  only  at  the  first,  like 
the  priming  of  a  new  pump. 

The  origin  of  this  machine  is  uncertain.  It  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  invented  by  h  ludd  himself,  but  is  inserted  among  others,  which  he 
copied  from  older  authors  ;  and  such  as  he  examined  abroad.  As  he  tra- 
veled  in  Germany  and  has  described  some  of  the  hydraulic  machines 
used  in  the  mines  there,  (see  one  figured  on  page  219,)  it  is  probable  that 
he  derived  a  knowledge  of  it  in  that  country.  It  possesses  considerable 
interest  _  it  is  self  acting ,  and  that  by  a  very  simple  device— it  shows  an  old 
application  of  the  three-way  cock— it  exhibits  the  application  of  refuse  or 
putrid  water,  to  raise  fresh,  and  in  a  way  somewhat  similar  to  one  re- 
cent  y  proposed  and  it  is  the  oldest  piston  pressure  engine  known. 

1  he  next  figure  from  Belidor,  shows  a  great  improvement  on  the  last 
so  much  so,  that  in  some  respects  it  may  be  considered  a  new  machine! 

A,  conveys  the  descending 
column  from  its  source  to  the 
three-way  cock  F ;  to  one  of 
the  openings  of  which  it  is 
united.  This  cock  is  con¬ 
nected,  at  another  opening, 
to  the  horizontal  cylinder  C, 
whose  axis  coincides  with 
that  of  a  smaller  one  D.  Both 
cylinders  are  of  the  same 
length ;  and  their  pistons  are 
attached  to  a  common  rod,  as 
represented.  Two  valves  are 
placed  in  the  ascending  pipe 
B — one  below,  the  other 
above  its  junction  with  the 
cylinder  D.  The  horizontal 


No.  161.  Pressure  Engine  from  Belidor.  A.  D.  1739. 


•  tj  „  i  t.  .  Horizontal 

pipe  ±i  connects  B  and  D  with  the  third  opening  of  the  cock.  By  turning 
the  plug  of  this  cock,  a  communication  is  opened  alternately  between  each 
cylinder  and  the  water  in  A.  Thus  when  the  water  rushes  into  C,  it 
drives  the  piston  before  it  to  the  extremity  of  the  cylinder,  and  conse¬ 
quently  the  water  that  was  previously  in  D  is  forced  up  the  ascending 
pipe  B ;  then  the  communication  between  A  and  C  is  cut  off,  (by  turn¬ 
ing  the  cock)  and  that  between  A  and  D  is  opened,  when  the  pistons 
are  moved  back  towards  F  by  the  pressure  of  the  column  against  the 
smaller  piston— the  water  previously  in  C  escaping  through  an  opening 
shown  in  front  of  the  cock  and  runs  to  waste,  while  that  which  enters 
is  necessarily  forced  up  B  at  the  next  stroke  of  the  pistons.  The  cock 
Wa  opened  and  closed  by  levers,  connected  to  the  middle  of  the  piston 
rod,  and  was  thus  worked  by  the  machine'  itself.  By  the  air  chamber, 
the  discharge  from  B  is  rendered  continuous. 


356 


Westgarth's  Pressure  Engine.  [Book  III. 

Suppose  the  water  in  A  has  a  perpendicular  fall  of  thirty-four  or  thirty- 
five  feet,  and  it  were  required  to  raise  a  portion  of  it  to  an  elevation  of 
seventy  feet  above  F ;  it  will  be  apparent  that  if  both  pistons  were  of 
the  same  diameter,  such  an  object  could  not  be  accomplished  by  this  ma¬ 
chine — for  both  cylinders  would  virtually  be  but  one — and  so  would  the 
pistons ;  and  the  pressure  of  the  column  on  both  sides  of  the  latter  would 
be  equal.  A  column  of  water  thirty-five  feet  high  presses  on  the  base  that 
sustains  it  with  a  force  of  151bs.  on  every  superficial  inch ;  and  one  of 
seventy  feet  high,  with  a  force  of  301bs.  on  every  inch — hence  without  re¬ 
garding  the  friction  to  be  overcome,  which  arises  from  the  rubbing  of  the 
pistons ;  from  the  passage  of  the  water  through  the  pipes :  and  from  the  ne¬ 
cessary  apparatus  to  render  the  machine  self-acting — it  is  obvious  in  the  case 
supposed  that  the  area  of  the  piston  in  C  must  Be  more  than  double  that 
in  D,  or  no  water  could  be  discharged  through  B.  Thus  in  all  cases,  the 
relative  proportion  between  the  area  of  the  pistons,  or  diameter  of  the  cy¬ 
linders,  must  be  determined  by  the  difference  between  the  perpendicular 
height  of  the  two  columns.  When  the  descending  one  passes  through  a 
perpendicular  space,  greatly  exceeding  that  of  the  ascending  one,  then  . 
the  cylinder  of  the  latter  may  be  larger  than  that  of  the  former  :  a  smaller 
quantity  of  water  in  this  case  raising  a  larger  one  :  it,  however,  descends 
like  a  small  weight  at  the  long  end  of  a  lever,  through  a  greater  space. 

In  1769  the  London  Society  of  Arts,  awarded  to  Mr.  Westgarth  a  pre¬ 
mium  of  fifty  guineas,  for  his  invention  of  a  pressure  engine.  It  is  des¬ 
cribed  by  the  celebrated  Smeaton,  in  vol.  v,  of  their  Transactions,  as  “one 
of  the  greatest  strokes  of  art  in  the  hydraulic  way,  that  has  appeared  since 
the  invention  of  the  fire  [steam]  engine.”  Several  were  erected  by 
Mr.  W.  in  1765,  to  raise  water  from  lead  mines  in  the  north  of  Eng¬ 
land.  They  were  simple  in  their  construction,  and  somewhat  resembled 
the  engines  of  Newcomen.  They  differed  from  those  of  Belidor  in  the 
position  of  the  cylinder;  the  introduction  of  a  beam;  the  substitution  of 
cylindrical  valves  in  the  place  of  cocks  ;  and  using  the  motive  column  to 
move  the  piston  in  one  direction  only.  The  cylinder  of  Westgarth’s  en¬ 
gine  was  placed  in  a  r>ertic,al  position,  the  piston  rod  of  which  was  sus¬ 
pended  by  a  chain  from  the  arched  end  of  a  “  walking”  or  vibrating  beam  ; 
while  the  other  end  of  the  latter,  projected  over  the  mouth  of  the  mine  or 
pit,  and  was  connected  (by  a  chain)  to  the  rod  of  an  atmospheric  pump 
placed  in  the  pit.  This  rod  was  loaded  as  in  Newcomen’s  engine,  so  as 
to  descend  by  its  weight  and  thereby  raise  the  piston  of  the  pressure  en¬ 
gine  when  the  column  of  water  was  not  acting  on  the  latter.  Thus,  when 
the  motive  column  of  water  was  admitted  into  the  cylinder,  the  piston 
was  depressed,  and  the  end  offthe  beam  also,  to  which  it  was  connected ; 
consequently  the  pump  rod  and  its  sucker  were  raised,  and  with  them 
water  from  the  mine.  Then  as  soon  as  the  piston  reached  the  bottom  of 
the  cylinder,  the  motive  column  was  cut  off,  by  closing  a  valve  ;  and  a 
passage  made  for  the  escape  of  that  within  the  cylinder,  by  opening 
another — upon  which  the  loaded  pump  rod  again  preponderated — the 
valve  to  admit  the  column  on  the  piston  of  the  pressure  engine  was  again 
Qpened,  and  the  operation  repeated  as  before. 

In  another  form  these  machines  have  been  adopted,  in  favorable  loca¬ 
tions,  as  first  movers  of  machinery,  and  when  thus  used,  they  exhibit  a 
very  striking  resemblance  to  high  pressure  steam-engines.  Indeed,  the 
elemental  features  of  steam  and  pressure  engines  are  the  same,  and  the 
modes  of  employing  the  motive  agents  in  both  are  identical — it  is  the  dif¬ 
ferent  properties  of  the  agents  that  induces  a  slight  variation  in  the  ma¬ 
chines — one  being  an  elastic  fluid,  the  other  anon-elastic  liquid.  In  steam- 


357 


Chap.  9.] 


Motive  Pressure  Engine. 


engmes  a  piston  is  alternately  pushed  up  and  down  in  its  cylinder  by 
steam;  and  by  means  of  the  rod  to  which  the  piston  is  securedf motion  l 

neTtoTeT  'V  5^“?  fl^whee1.’  and  through  ***>  to  the  machi- 
J'  }e  pi°P?Hed  :  ^  is  the  same  with  pressure  engines  when  used  to 

Column  of  !XCept  ;hat  InStead  of  the  elastic  vaP°r  of  water,  a 

column  of  that  liquid  drives  the  pistons  to  and  fro,  as  will  be  perceived 
bv  an  examination  of  the  following  figure.  °e  perceived 


No.  162.  Motive  Pressure  Engine. 

E  represents  the  lower  part  of  the  pipe  which  conveys  the  water  down 
from  its  source  into  the  air  chamber  C,  from  the  lower  part  of  which  it 
passes  through  a  short  tube  and  stop  cock  into  the  valve  case,  or  “side 
pipe  D.  This  pipe  is  parallel  with  the  working  cylinder  of  the  engine 

A,  and  rather  longer  :  it  communicates  with  A  through  two  passages  for 
^  admisslon  op  t^ie  water  to  act  upon  both  sides  of  the  piston.  The  ends 
of  D  are  closed  by  stuffing  boxes,  through  which  a  rod  in  the  direction  of 
its  axis  is  made  to  slide,  and  upon  this  rod  are  secured  two  plugs,  shown 
m  the  cut,  that  fill  the  interior  of  the  pipe  like  pistons,  and  as  the  rod  is 
raised  or  lowered,  alternately  open  and  close  the  passages  into  the  cylin¬ 
der.  Suppose  the  position  of  the  various  parts  of  the  engine  as  indicated 
in  the  figure,  and  the  stop-cock  in  the  short  tube  that  connects  the  “  side 
pipe  to  the  air  vessel  be  opened,  the  water  would  then  rush  into  the 
upper  part  of  the  cylinder  A,  as  shown  by  the  arrows,  and  by  its  statical 
pressure  force  down  the  piston ;  while  any  water  previously  below  the 
piston  would  escape  through  the  lower  passage  into  the  side  pipe  (be¬ 
neath  the  plug)  and  run  off  to  waste  through  the  tube  B,  marked  by  dot¬ 
ted  lines,  and  the  circular  orifices  of  which  are  also  figured.  When  the 
piston  has  reached  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder,  the  rod  to  which  the  plugs 
are  attached  is  drawn  down,  so  as  to  close  the  upper  passage  and  open 
the  lower  one,  upon  which  the  water  enters  through  the  latter  and 
drives  up  the  piston  as*  before,  the  previous  contents  of  the  cylinder  being 
orced  through  the  circular  orifice  in  the  upper  part  of  the  side  pipe  into 

B.  In  this_manner  the  operation  is  continued  and  motion  imparted  to  the 
leam,  crank  and  fly-wheel.  The  apparatus  for  moving  the  rod  that  opens 


35S 


Pressure  Engines. 


[Book  III. 


and  closes  the  passages  into  the  cylinder  is  analogous  to  that  of  steam  en¬ 
gines,  being  effected  by  an  eccentric  on  the  crank  shaft.  It  is  omitted 
in  the  cut,  that  the  essential  features  of  the  machine  might  appear  more 
conspicuous. 

It  is  obvious  that  engines  of  this  kind  may  be  employed  to  impart  mo¬ 
tion  to  pumps  or  any  other  machinery.  The  intensity  of  the  force  trans¬ 
mitted  by  them  depends  upon  the  perpendicular  height  of  the  motive 
column  and  the  area  of  the  piston.  The  use  of  the  air  vessel  is,  as  in  the 
hydraulic  ram  and  other  machines,  to  break  the  force  of  the  blow  or  con¬ 
cussion  consequent  on  the  sudden  stoppage  of  the  descending  column  by 
closing  the  passages.  Wherever  the  waste  pipe  B  can  descend  thirty- 
five  or  thirty-six  feet,  the  engine  may  derive  an  additional  power  from  the 
vacuum  thus  kept  up  behind  the  piston,  as  in  low-pressure  steam-engines. 
The  application  of  this  feature  to  pressure  engines  was  included  in  an 
English  patent  granted  to  John  Luddock  in  February  1799.  (Repertory 
of  Arts,  vol.  xi,  page  73.) 

The  invention  of  pressure  engines  brought  to  light  a  new  mode  of  em¬ 
ploying  water  as  a  motive  agent ;  and  also  the  means  of  applying  it  in 
locations  where  it  could  not  otherwise  be  used.  When  water  moves  an 
under  or  overshot  wheel,  the  machinery  to  be  propelled  must  be  placed 
in  the  immediate  vicinity — hence  saw,  grist,  and  fulling  mills,  &c.  are 
erected  where  the  falling  liquid  flows  ;  and  when  steam  is  the  moving 
force,  the  engines  are  located  where  the  fluid  is  generated  ;  but  with  pres¬ 
sure  engines  it  is  different,  for  the  motive  agent  may  be  taken  to  the  ma¬ 
chine  itself.  In  valleys  or  low  lands,  having  no  natural  fall  of  water,  but 
where  that  liquid  can  be  conveyed  in  tubes  from  a  sufficient  elevation,  (no 
matter  how  distant  the  source  may  be,)  such  water,  by  these  machines, 
may  be  made  to  propel  others.  And  by  means  of  them  the  small  lakes 
often  found  on  mountains,  and  water  drawn  from  the  heads  of  falls  and 
rapids,  may  furnish  power  for  numerous  operations  in  neighboring  plains. 
When  cities  are  supplied  from  elevated  sources,  an  additional  revenue 
might  be  derived  from  the  force  with  which  the  liquid  issues  from  the 
tubes  :  the  occupant  of  a  house  into  which  a  lateral  pipe  from  the  mains 
is  conveyed,  might  connect  the  pipe  to  a  pressure  engine,  and  thereby 
impart  motion  to  lathes,  or  printing  presses ;  raise  and  lower  goods  on  dif¬ 
ferent  stories  ;  press  cotton,  paper,  books,  &c.  as  by  a  steam-engine.  But 
unlike  the  machine  just  named,  ajpressure  engine  is  inexpensive,  and  sim¬ 
ple  in  its  construction — it  requires  neither  chimneys,  furnaces,  nor  loads 
of  fuel;  neither  firemen  nor  engineers,  nor  is  there  any  danger  of  explo¬ 
sions.  It  may  be  placed  in  the  corner  of  a  room,  or  be  concealed  under 
a  counter  or  a  table.  It  may  be  set  in  operation  in  a  moment,  by  opening 
a  cock,  and  the  instant  the  work  is  done,  it  may  be  stopped  by  shutting 
the  same,  and  thus  prevent  the  least  waste  of  power — and  when  the  work 
is  accomplished,  the  water  can  be  used  for  all  ordinary  purposes  as  if  just 
drawn  from  the  mains,  for  the  engine  might  be  considered  as  merely  a 
continuation  of  the  lateral  tube. 

Pressure  engines  afford  another  illustration  of  the  variety  of  purposes 
to  which  a  piston  and  cylinder  may  be  applied.  These  were  probably  first 
used  in  piston  bellows  ;  next  in  the  syringe  ;  subsequently  in  pumps  of 
every  variety  ;  and  then  in  pressure  and  steam-engines.  The  moving 
piston  is  the  nucleus  or  elemental  part  that  gives  efficiency  to  them  all;  and 
the  apparatus  that  surround  it  in  some  of  them,  are  but  its  appendages. 
To  what  extent  it  is  destined  to  be  employed  when  steam  becomes  super¬ 
seded  by  other  fluids,  time  only  can  reveal;  but  if  we  may  judge  of  the 
future  by  the  past,  this  simple  device  will  perform  greater  wonders  in  the 


Chap.  9.] 


Discoveries  in  the  Arts . 


359 

world  than  it  has  yet  accomplished.  It  is  by  it  only  that  the  energy  of 
elastic  fluids  can  be  economically  employed. 

Those  ingenious  men  who  first  constructed  a  bellows,  a  syringe,  or  a 
pump  little  thought  that  similar  implements  should  become  self-acting-  and 
even  be  motive  engines  to  drive  others.  What  weary  laborer  at  the 
pump  in  ancient  Greece  or  Rome,  ever  dreamt,  while  indulging  in  those 
reveries  that  the  mind  conjures  up  to  divert  attention  from  toil  or  pain 
at  a  machine  similar  to  the  one  upon  which  his  strength  was  expended,’ 
should  be  devised  to  work  without  human  aid  .—and  that  a  modification 
ol  it,  excited  by  the  vapor  of  a  boiling  cauldron,  should  exert  a  force 
compared  with  which  the  power  of  the  Titans  was  impotence-a  force 
that  should  drive  fleets  of  gallies  through  a  storm— hurl  missiles  like  the 
balistas  propel  chariots  “  without  horses”— polish  a  mirror— forge  a 
hatchet,  a  tripod  or  a  vase — and  spin  thread  and  weave  it  into  veils  fine 
as  those  worn  by  the  vestal  virgins— and  yet  should  never  tire  !  Could 
the  imaginations  of  the  depressed  plebeians  and  slaves  of  antiquity  have 
had  a  glimpse  of  such  a  machine,  and  had  they  been  informed  that  it 
would  in  some  future  time,  which  the  oracles  had  not  revealed,  be  gene¬ 
rally  employed— how  vehemently  would  they  have  importuned  the  gods 
to  send  it  in  their  days  !  And  why  did  they  not  have  it  %  Because  the 
useful  arts  were  neglected  and  their  professors  despised— while  those 
professions  the  most  destructive  of  human  felicity  were  cultivated.  War 
was  accounted  honorable,  and  hence  nations  were  incessantly  engaged  in 
conflicts  with  each  other — a  military  spirit  pervaded  the  minds  of  the 
people,  a.nd  it  rewarded  them  by  soaking  every  land  with  their  blood. 

I  he  histqry  of  machines  composed  of  pistons  and  cylinders  also  illus¬ 
trates  the  process  by  which  some  simple  inventions  have  become  applied 

to  purposes,  foreign  to  those  for  which  they  were  originally  designed _ 

each  application  opening  the  way  for  a  different  one.  In  this  manner  de¬ 
vices  apparently  insignificant  have  eventually  become  of  the  utmost  value, 
and  it  is  probable  that  there  is  no  mechanical  combination  or  device,  how¬ 
ever  useless  it  may  now  appear,  but  which  will  be  thus  brought  into  play. 

.  ese  machines  also  teach  us  how  new  discoveries  are  made  in  the  arts, 
viz  :  by  observing  common  results,  and  applying  the  principles  or  processes 
by  which  they  are  induced,  to  other  objects  or  designs.  Every  mechani¬ 
cal  movement  and  manufacture — an  unsuccessful  experiment — defects  or 
derangements  of  ordinary  machines,  &c.  are  all  practical  demonstrations 
that  indicate  the  means  to  produce  analogous  effects,  or  to  avoid  them. 
Fulton  employed  steam-engines  to  turn  paddle  wheels — Eli  Whitney 
adopted  circular  saws  as  cotton  gins ;  and  both  became  benefactors  of 
their  country — a  poor  barber  in  England,  after  exercising  his  ingenuity 
on  the  perpetual  motion,  applied  some  of  his  devices  to  cotton  spinning, 
and  not  only  became  one  of  the  most  opulent  of  manufacturers,  but  secured’ 
a  place  in  the  biography  of  eminently  useful  men. 

Nearly  all  modern  improvements  and  inventions  have  been  brought 
about  in  a  somewhat  similar  manner,  and  there  are  few  but  what  mmht 
have  been  anticipated  by  attention  to  every-day  facts.  Suppose  pressure 
engines  had  not  yet  been  known :  they  might  be  developed  by  reflecting 
on  a  very  common  circumstance  connected  with  ordinary  pumps.  When 
one  of  these  no  longer  retains  water  in  the  cylinder  and  trunk,  it  is  neces- 
sary  to  prime  it,  by  pouring  in  a  quantity  sufficient  to  fill  the  space  in 
which  the  sucker  moves:  this  water  resting  upon  the  latter  presses  it  down, 
and  consequently  raises  the  lever  or  pump  handle,  which  again  descends  as 
soon  as  the  water  escapes  below  ;  thus  illustrating  the  principle  bv  which 
piessure  engines  act  the  lever  being  moved  by  the  water  instead  of  the 


360 


Heron's  Fountain. 


[Book  III. 

water  by  it.  How  many  ages  have  elapsed,  and  how  many  millions  of 
people  have  witnessed  this  operation,  without  a  useful  idea  having  been 
derived  from  it  1  And  without  any  one  thinking  that  valuable  lessons  in 
science  might  be  learnt  from  a  disordered  pump,  or  from  the  irregular 
movements  of  a  pump  handle  1  Those  observing  minds,  however,  that 
are  constantly  on  the  alert  for  facts — like  bees  incessantly  on  the  wing  for 
honey — would  not  now  suffer  even  such  an  occurrence  to  pass  unnoticed; 
nor  would  they  hesitate  to  consider  those  unpleasant  knocks  which 
hundreds  of  people  (and  the  writer  among  them)  have  occasionally  expe¬ 
rienced  from  the  unexpected  descent  of  a  heavy  pump  handle  on  their 
persons,  and  in  some  instances  more  unpleasant  ones  from  its  sudden  as-7* 
cent — as  admonitions  to  turn  the  experiment  to  advantage.  The  simple 
rise  of  water  which  his  body  displaced  in  a  bathing  tub,  was  seized  in  a 
twinkling  by  the  mathematician  of  Syracuse  to  solve  a  new  and  difficult 
problem  ;  yet  the  same  thing  had  been  previously  witnessed  for  thousands 
of  years,  but  no  one  ever  thought  of  applying  the  result  to  any  such 
purpose. 

It  perhaps  may  be  a  question  whether  the  machines  already  described 
in  this  chapter  were  known  to  the  engineers  of  antiquity,  but  there  is  no 
room  to  doubt  their  acquaintance  with  another  variety  of  pressure  engines, 
since  we  have  obtained  a  knowledge  of  them  from  the  Spiritalia  of  Heron, 
whose  name  they  still  bear.  It  is  obvious  that  a  liquid  may  be  forced  out 
of  a  vessel  by  pressing  into  the  latter  any  other  substance,  no  matter  what 
the  nature  of  it  may  be,  whether  solid  or  fluid,  liquid  or  aeriform:  thus, 
the  solid  plunger  or  piston  of  a  pump  does  not  more  effectually  expel  the 
contents  of  the  cylinder  in  which  it  moves,  than  the  elastic  fluid  in  a  soda 
fountain  drives  out  the  aerated  water ;  hence,  if  air  be  urged  by  the  pres¬ 
sure  of  a  liquid  column,  or  by  any  other  force,  to  occupy  the  interior  of  a 
vessel  containing  water,  the  liquid  may  be  raised  through  a  tube  to  an 
elevation  equal  to  the  force  that  moves  it ;  the  air  in  this  case  performing 
the  part  of  pistons  in  the  pressure  engines  already  described  ;  and  its  ef¬ 
fects  are  greater  than  can  be  produced  by  solid  pistons,  for  the  friction  of 
these  consumes  a  considerable  portion  of  the  motive  force,  so  that  a  co¬ 
lumn  of  water  raised  by  them  can  never  equal  the  one  that  raises  it ; 
whereas  air,  from  its  extreme  mobility,  receives  and  transmits  the  momen¬ 
tum  of  the  motive  column  undiminjshed  to  the  other. 

The  fountain  of  Heron  is  the  oldest  pressure  engine  known,  and  in  it  a 
volume  of  air  is  used  as  a  substitute  for  a  piston.  It  is  not  certain  that  it 
was  invented  by  him,  for  it  may  have  been  an  old  device  in  his  time, 
and  one  which  he  thought  worthy  of  preservation,  or  of  being  made  more 
extensively  known,  and  therefore  inserted  an  account,  of  it  in  his  book. 
See  No.  163.  The  two  vessels  A  B,  of  any  shape,  are  made  air  tight. 
The  top  of  the  upper  one  is  formed  into  a  dish  or  basin ;  in  the  centre  of 
which  the  jet  pipe  is  inserted,  its  lower  end  extending  to  near  the  bottom 
of  A  :  a  pipe  C,  whose  upper  orifice  is  soldered  to  the  basin  extends 
down  to  near  the  bottom  of  the  lower  vessel,  either  passing  through  the 
top  of  B,  as  in  the  figure,  or  inserted  at  the  side.  Another  pipe  D  is  con¬ 
nected  to  the  top  of  B,  and  continued  to  the  upper  part  of  A.  This  pipe 
conducts  the  air  from  B  to  A.  Now  suppose  the  vessel  A  filled  with 
water,  through  an  aperture  made  for  the  purpose,  and  which  is  then 
closed ;  the  object  is  to  make  this  water  ascend  through  the  jet,  and  it  is 
accomplished  thus : — water  is  poured  into  the  basin,  and  of  course  it  runs 
down  the  pipe  C  into  B  ;  and  as  it  rises  in  the  latter,  the  air  within  is  ne¬ 
cessarily  compressed,  and  having  no  way  to  escape  but  up  the  pipe  D,  it 
ascends  into  the  upper  part  of  A,  where  being  pressed  on  the  surface  of 


Chap.  9.] 


Heron's  Fountain. 


361 


if 


D 


B 


e  water,  the  latter  is  compelled  to  ascend  through  the  jet  pipe,  as  shown 
n  the  cut.  1  he  water  thus  forced  out,  falls  back  into  the  basin,  and  run¬ 
ning  down  C  into  B  continues  the  play  of  the  machine,  until  all  the  water 
in  A  is  expended.  The  elevation  to  which  water  in  A  can 
be  thus  raised  through  a  tube,  will  be  equal  to  the  perpen¬ 
dicular  distance  between  the  two  orifices  of  C.  Toper- 
sons  who  are  ignorant  of  the  construction  of  these  foun¬ 
tains,  the  water  in  the  basin  appears  to  descend,  and  to 
rise  again  through  the  jet.  Such  is  not  the  fact;  were  it  so, 
this  machine  would  be  a  perpetual  motion,  or  something 
very  like  one.  Some  persons  beguiled  by  the  apparent 
possibility  of  inducing  it  to  ascend,  have  attempted  the  so¬ 
lution  of  that  problem  by  a  similar  apparatus.  AVe  may 
as  well  confess  that  in  our  youth  we  were  of  the  number, 
ihe  younger  Pliny  seems  to  have  fallen  into  the  same 
mistake  respecting  a  fountain  belonging  to  his  country  seat. 

Portable  fountains  of  this  kind  might  be  adopted  as  ap- 
propnate  appendages  to  flower  gardens,  and  even  drawing 
rooms.  The  pipes  might  be  concealed  within,  or  modeled 
into  a  handsome  column,  whose  pedestal  formed  the  lower 
vessel,  while  the  upper  end  assumed  the  figure  of  a  vase. 
Such  an  addition  to  the  furniture  of  an  apartment  would 
be  a  useful  acquisition  at  those  seasons  when  the  atmos¬ 
phere,  glowing  like  the  air  of  an  oven,  scorches  our  bodies 
duung  the  day,  and  in  the  evening  we  gasp  in  vain  for  the 
cooling  breeze  :  at  such  times  a  minute  stream  of  water 
spouting  and  sparkling  in  a  room  would  soon  allay  the 
heat  and  invigorate  our  drooping  spirits— imparting  the 
refreshing  coolness  of  autumn  amid  the  burning  heats  of 
summer;  and  if  the  liquid  were  perfumed  with  attar  of  roses 
or  oil  of  lavender,  we  might  realize  the  most  innocent  and 
.  delicious  of  oriental  luxuries.  The  play  of  such  a  fountain 
might  be  continued  for  two  or  three  hours  at  a  time,  for  the  size  of  the 
stream  need  hardly  exceed  that  of  a  thread,  and  by  a  slight  modification 
the  jet  could  be  renewed  as  often  as  the  upper  vessel  was  emptied  bv 
simply  inverting  the  machine  :  or,  the  whole  might  be  arranged  without 
except  the  ajutage  and  the  vase  in  which  the  jet  played.  (See  remarks 
on  fountains  in  the  fifth  book.)  v 

This  fountain  has  been  named  a  toy ,  but  it  is  by  such  toys  that  impor¬ 
tant  discoveries  have  been  made  in  every  age.  It  is  clearly  no  rude  or 
imperfect  device  :  not  a  first  thought ;  on  the  contrary,  it  bears  the  evi¬ 
dence  of  a  matured  machine,  and  of  being  the  result  of  a  familiar  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  the  principles  upon  which  its  action  depends.  Unlike  older 
hydraulic  machines,  it  requires  no  distinct  vessel  within  Avhich  to  raise  a 
a  liquid ;  nor  does  it  resemble  pumps,  since  neither  cylinders,  suckers 
valves  or  levers  are  required,  nor  any  external  force  to  keep  it  in  motion’ 
its  invention  may  be  considered  as  having  opened  a  new  era  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  machines  for  raising  water,  for  it  is  susceptible  of  an  almost  endless 
variety  of  modifications,  and  of  being  applied  to  a  great  number  of  pur¬ 
poses.  I  o  understand  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  the 
relative  position  of  the  two  columns  is  immaterial  :  they  may  be  a  mile 

^fr0rVaCh  0t!ier’  ,°r  they  be  nea%  together.  The  one  that 
raises  the  other  may  be  above,  below,  or, on  a  level  with  the  latter;  both 

may  be  conveyed  m  pipes  along  or  under 'the  surface  of  the  ground,  and 
in  any  direction  :  the  only  condition  required  is,  that  the  perpendicular 

46 


IP 


No.  163.  Heron’s 
Fountain. 


362 


Pressure  Engine  at  Chemnitz. 


[Book  III 


distance  between  the  upper  and  lower  orifices  of  the  pipe  in  which  the 
motive  column  flows,  shall  be  equal  to  the  force  required  to  raise  the  other 
to  the  proposed  elevation. 

A  pressure  engine  on  the  principle  of  Heron’s  fountain,  erected  by  M. 
Hoell  in  1755,  to  raise  water  from  one  of  the  mines  in  Hungary,  has  long 
been  celebrated.  In  the  vicinity  of  one  of  the  shafts  at  Chemnitz,  there  is 
a  hill  upon  which  is  a  spring  of  water,  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  above 
the  mouth  of  the  shaft.  This  spring  furnishes  more  water  than  that  which 
rises  at  the  bottom  of  the  mine,  which  is  one  hundred  and  four  feet  below 
the  mouth  of  the  shaft.  The  water  in  the  mine  is  raised  by  means  of  that 
on  the  hill  by  an  apparatus  similar  to  the  one  figured  in  the  annexed  cut. 

A  represents  a  strong  copper  vessel  eight  feet  and  a  half  high,  five  feet 
diameter,  and  two  inches  thick.  A  large  cock  marked  3  is  inserted  near 

the  bottom,  and  a  smaller  one  2  near  the  top. 
From  this  vessel  a  pipe  D,  two  inches  in  dia¬ 
meter,  reaches  down  and  is  connected  to 
the  top  of  the  vessel  B  at  the  bottom  of  the 
shaft.  This  vessel  is  smaller  than  the  upper 
one,  being  six  feet  and  a  half  high,  four  feet 
diameter,  and  two  inches  thick,  and  of  the 
same  material  as  the  other.  A  pipe  E,  four 
inches  diameter,  rises  from  near  the  bottom 
of  B  to  the  surface  of  the  ground,  where  it 
discharges  the  water.  The  pipe  C  conveys 
the  water  from  the  spring  on  the  hill ;  it  is 
also  four  inches  diameter,  and  descends  to 
near  the  bottom  of  A.  It  is  furnished  with  a 
cock  1.  Water  is  admitted  into  B  through  a 
cock  4,  or  a  valve  opening  inwards,  which 
closes  when  B  is  filled.  The  vessel  A  is  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  empty,  or  rather  filled  with  air, 
and  its  two  cocks  shut.  The  cock  1  is  then 
opened,  when  the  water  rushing  into  A  con¬ 
denses  the  air  within  it  and  the  pipe  D, 
and  this  air  pressing  on  the  water  in  B, 
forces.it  up  the  pipe  E.  As  soon  as  it  ceases 
to  flow'  through  E,  the  cock  1  is  shut  and  2 
and  3  are  opened,  when  the  water  in  A  is 
discharged  at  3.  The  cock  or  valve  at  the 
bottom  of  B  is  opened,  and  the  water  entering 
drives  the  air  up  D  into  A  where  it  escapes 
at  2.  The  operation  is  then  repeated  as  before. 

If,  when  water  ceases  to  run  at  E,  the  cock  2  be  opened,  both  water 
and  air  rush  out  of  it  together,  and  with  such  violence  that  the  liquid  is, 
by  the  generation  of  cold  consequent  on  the  sudden  expansion  of  the  con¬ 
densed  air,  converted  into  hail  or  pellets  of  ice.  This  fact  is  generally 
shown  to  strangers,  who  are  usually  invited  to  hold  their  hats  in  front  of  the 
cock  so  as  to  receive  the  blast ;  when  the  hail  issues  with  such  violence, 
as  frequently  to  pierce  the  hats,  like  pistol  bullets.  This  mode  of  pro¬ 
ducing  ice  was  known  to  the  marquis  of  Worcester,  who  refers  to  it  in  the 
eighteenth  proposition  of  hisCentury  of  Inventions,  relating  to  an  “  artifi¬ 
cial  fountain,  holding  great  quantity  of  water,  and  of  force  sufficient  to 
make  snow,  ice,  and  thunder.”  Some  additions  to  the  machine  at  Chem¬ 
nitz,  by  which  it  might  be  rendered  self-acting,  were  proposed  in  1796. 
They  consisted  of  small  vessels  suspended  from  levers  that  were  secured 


363 


Chap.  9.] 


Wirtz' s  Pump. 


to  the  shanks  of  the  cocks,  which  they  opened  and  shut  in  the  same  man¬ 
ner  as  shown  in  No.  160.  A  similar  contrivance  may  be  seen  in  several 
old  authors  it  is  in  the  Spiritalia:  Decaus,  Fludd,  Moxon  and  Switzer 
have  all  given  figures  of  it.  The  quantity  of  water  raised  from  the  shaft 
compared  with  that  expended  from  the  spring  was  as  42  to  100. 

By  arranging  a  series  of  vessels  above  each  other  and  connecting  them 
by  pipes  as  in  No.  163,  water  may  be  raised  to  almost  any  height,  in  lo¬ 
cations  that  have  the  advantage  of  a  small  fall.  The  distance  between 
the  vessels  not  exceeding  the  perpendicular  descent  of  the  motive  column, 
which  last  is  made  to  transmit  its  force  to  each  vessel  in  succession — forc¬ 
es  the  contents  of  one  into  the  next  above,  and  so  on.  Such  a  machine 
is  interesting  as  showing  the  extent  to  which  the  principle  of  Heron’s 
fountain  may  be  applied,  but  for  practical  purposes  it  is  of  little  value.  It 
is  too  complex  (if  made  self-acting)  and  too  expensive  for  common  use  ; 
and  it  is  far  inferior  to  the  water  ram.  It  was  described  by  Dr.  Darwin, 
in  his  Pkytologia,  to  which  modern  writers  generally  refer,  but  it  is  an 
old  affair.  It  is  figured  by  Moxon  in  his  “Mechanick  Powers,”  Lon.  1696, 
and  is  mentioned  by  older  authors.  It  is  substantially  the  same  as  the 
double  fountain  of  Heron,  as  found  in  the  Spiritalia  and  the  works  of  most 
writers  on  hydraulics. 

By  far  the  most  novel  and  interesting  modification  of  Heron’s  fountain 
was  devised  in  the  year  1746  by  H.  A.  Wirtz,  a  Swiss  pewterer  or  tin¬ 
plate  worker  of  Zurich.  It  is  sometimes  named  a  spiral  pump,  and  was 
made  to  raise  water  for  a  dye  house  in  the  vicinity  of  that  city.  What  the 
circumstances  were  that  led  Wirtz  to  its  invention  we  are  not  informed — 
whether  it  was  suggested  by  some  incident,  or  was  the  result  of  reasoning 
alone.  It  is  represented  in  the  illustrations  Nos.  165  and  166,  the  first 
being  a  section  and  the  latter  an  external  view. 


No,  165.  Section  of  Wirtz’*  Pump. 


No.  166.  View  of  Wirtz’a  Pump. 


Wirtz’s  machine  consists  either  of  a  helical  or  a  spiral  pipe.  As  the 
former  it  is  coiled  round  in  one  plane  as  A  B  C  D  E  F  in  No.  165.  As 
a  spiral  it  is  arranged  round  the  circumference  of  a  cone  or  cylinder,  and 
then  resembles  the  worm  of  a  still.  The  interior  end  at  G  is  united  by  a 
water  tight  joint  to  the  ascending  pipe  H.  See  No.  166.  The  open  end 


364 


Wirtz’s  Pump.  [Book  III. 

of  the  coil  is  enlarged  so  as  to  form  a  scoop.  When  the  machine,  im¬ 
mersed  in  water  as  represented,  is  turned  in  the  direction  of  the  arrow, 
the  water  in  the  scoop,  as  the  latter  emerges,  passes  along  the  pipe  driv¬ 
ing  the  air  before  it  into  G  H,  where  it  escapes.  At  the  next  revolution 
both  air  and  water  enter  the  scoop  ;  the  water  is  driven  along  the  tube  as 
before,  but  is  separated  from  the  first  portion  by  a  column  of  air  of  nearly 
equal  length.  By  continuing  the  motion  of  the  machine  another  portion 
of  water  and  another  of  air  will  be  introduced.  The  body  of  water  in  each 
coil  will  have  both  its  ends  horizontal,  and  the  included  air  will  be  of 
about  its  natural  density  ;  but  as  the  diameters  of  the  coils  diminish  to¬ 
wards  the  centre,  the  column  of  water  which  occupied  a  semicircle  in  the 
outer  coil,  will  occupy  more  and  more  of  the  inner  ones  as  they  approach 
the  centre  G,  till  there  will  be  a  certain  coil,  of  which  it  will  occupy  a 
complete  turn.  Hence  it  will  occupy  more  than  the  entire  space  within 
this  coil,  and  consequently  the  water  will  run  back  over  the  top  of  the 
succeeding  coil,  into  the  right  hand  side  of  the  next  one  and  push  the 
water  within  it  backwards  and  raise  the  other  end.  As  soon  as  the  water 
rises  in  the  pipe  G  IT,  the  escape  of  air  is  prevented  when  the  scoop 
takes  in  its  next  quantity  of  water.  Here,  then,  are  two  columns  of  water 
acting  against  each  other  by  hydrostatic  pressure,  and  the  intervening  co¬ 
lumn  of  air.  They  must  compress  the  air  between  them,  and  the  water 
and  air  columns  will  now  be  unequal.  This  will  have  a  general  tendency 
to  keep  the  whole  water  back  and  cause  it  to  be  higher  on  the  left  or  ris¬ 
ing  side  of  each  coil,  than  on  the  other.  The  excess  of  height  will  be  just 
such  as  produces  the  compression  of  the  air  between  that  and  the  preced¬ 
ing  column  of  water.  This  will  go  on  increasing  as  the  water  mounts  in 
H.  Now  at  whatever  height  the  water  in  H  may  be,  it  is  evident  that 
the  air  in  the  small  column  next  to  it  will  always  be  compressed  with  the 
weight  of  the  water  in  H — an  equal  force  must  therefore  be  exerted  by 
the  water  in  the  coils  to  support  the  column  in  H.  This  force  is  the  sum 
of  all  the  differences  between  the  elevation  of  the  inner  ends  of  the  water 
in  each  coil  above  the  outer  ends ;  and  the  height  to  which  the  water  will 
rise  in  H  will  be  just  equal  to  this  sum.  Dr.  Gregory  observes  that  the 
principles  on  which  the  theory  of  this  machine  depends  are  confessedly 
intricate  ;  but  when  judiciously  constructed,  it  is  very  powerful  and  effec¬ 
tive  in  its  operation.  It  has  not  been  ascertained  whether  the  helical  or 
spiral  form  is  best.  Some  of  these  machines  were  erected  in  Florence  in 
1778.  In  1784,  one  was  made  at  Archangelsky,  that  raised  a  hogshead  of 
water  in  a  minute  to  an  elevation  of  seventy-four  feet,  and  through  a  pipe 
seven  hundred  and  sixty  feet  long.  See  Gregory’s  Mechanics,  vol.  ii. 

It  perhaps  may  facilitate  an  understanding  of  this  curious  machine,  by 
remarking  that  the  pressure  exerted  by  the  column  of  water  in  one  side  of 
each  coil  is  proportioned  to  its  length,  and  that  this  pressure  is-  transmit¬ 
ted,  through  the  column  of  air  between  them,  to  that  of  the  next :  the  com¬ 
bined  force  of  both  is  then  made  to  act,  by  the  revolution  of  the  tubes, 
upon  the  third  column,  and  so  on,  till  the  accumulated  force  of  them  all 
is  communicated  to  the  water  in  H ;  and  hence  the  elevation  to  which 
water  can  be  thus  raised,  can  never  exceed  the  sum  of  the  altitudes  of  the 
liquid  columns  in  the  coils. 


END  OF  THE  THIRD  BOOK. 


BOOK  IY. 


MACHINES  FOR  RAISING  WATER,  (CHIEFLY  OF  MODERN  ORIGIN1 
INCLUDING  EARLY  APPLICATIONS  OF  STEAM  FOR  J 

THAT  PURPOSE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


°r?;f  the  ,0Wer  ^als-Some  animals  aware  that  force  is  increased  by  the  space  through 
ich  a  body  moves  Birds  drop  shell  fish  from  great  elevations  to  break  the  shells-Death  of  .Eschylus 
Combats  between  the  males  of  sheep  and  goats— Military  ram  of  the  ancients— Water  rams— Waves 
-Momentum  acqu.red  by  running  water-Examples-Whitehurst’s  machine-Hydraulic  ram  of  Mont¬ 
golfier—*1  Canne  hydraulique”  and  its  modifications. 

Of  the  machines  appropriated  to  the  fourth  division  of  this  work,  (see 
page  S,)  centrifugal  pumps  and  a  few  others  have  already  been  described. 
1  here  remain  to  be  noticed,  the  water  ram,  canne  hydraulique,  and  de¬ 
vices  for  raising  water  by  means  of  steam  and  other  elastic  fluids. 

j  j16  Vari°US  °Perations  °f  the  lower  animals  were  investigated,  a  thou¬ 
sand  devices  that  are  practised  by  man  would  be  met  with,  and  probably 
a  thousand  more  of  which  we  yet  know  nothing.  Even  the  means  by  which 
they  defend  themselves  and  secure  their  food  or  their  prey,  are  calculated 
to  impart  useful  information.  Some  live  by  stratagem,  laying  concealed 
till  their  unsuspecting  victims  approach  within  reach — others  di°-  pitfalls 
to  entrap  them  ;  and  others  again  fabricate  nets  to  entangle  them,  and 
coat  the  threads  with  a  glutinous  substance  resembling  the  birdlime  of  the 
fowler.  .  Some  species  distill  poison  and  slay  their  victims  by  infusing  it 
into  their  blood;  while  others,  relying  on  their  muscular  energy,  suffocate 
their  prey  in  their  embraces  and  crush  both  body  and  bones  into  a  pulpy 
mass.  1  he  tortoise  draws  himself  into  his  shell  as  into  a  fortress  and  bids 
uefiance  to  his  foes;  and  the  porcupine  erects  around  his  body  an  array  of 
bayonets  from  which  his  enemies  retire  with  dread.  The  strength  of  the 
ox  the  buffalo  and  rhinoceros  is  in  their  necks,  and  which  they  apply 
with  resistless  force  to  gore  .and  toss  their  enemies.  The  elephant  by  his 
weight  treads  his  foes  to  death ;  and  the  horse  by  a  kick  inflicts  a  wound 
that  is  often  as  fatal  as  the  bullet  of  a  rifle  ;  the  space  through  which  his 
foot  passes,  adding  force  to  the  blow. 

1  here  are  numerous  proofs  of  some  of  the  lower  animals  being  aware 
that  the  momentum  of  a  moving  body  is  increased  by  the  space  through 
which  it  falls.  Of  several  species  of  birds  which  feed  on  shell  fish,  some, 
when  enable  to  crush  the  shells  with  their  bills,  carry  them  up  in  the 
air,  and  let  them  drop  that  they  may  be  broken  by  the  fall.  (The  Athe¬ 
nian  poet  iEschylus,  it  is  said,  was  killed  by  a  tortoise  that  an  eagle  drop¬ 
ped  upon  Ins  bald  head,  which  the  bird,  it  ie^  supposed,  mistook  for  a  stone.) 


366 


Momentum  of  Running  Water. 


[Book  IV 


When  the  males  of  sheep  or  goats  prepare  to  butt,  they  always  recede 
backwards  to  some  distance  ;  and  then  rushing  impetuously  forward,  (ac¬ 
cumulating  force  as  they  go,)  bring  their  foreheads  in  contact  with  a  shock 
that  sometimes  proves  fatal  to  both.  The  ancients,  perhaps,  from  witness 
ing  the  battles  of  these  animals,  constructed  military  engines  to  act  on  the 
same  principle.  A  ponderous  beam  was  suspended  at  the  middle  by  chains, 
and  one  end  impelled,  by  the  united  efforts  of  a  number  of  men  at  the  op¬ 
posite  end,  against  walls  which  it  demolished  with  slow  but  sure  effect. 
The  battering  end  was  generally,  and  with  the  Greeks  and  Romans  uni¬ 
formly,  protected  by  an  iron  or  bronze  cap  in  the  form  of  a  ram’s  head  ; 
and  the  entire  instrument  was  named  after  that  animal.  It  was  the  most 
destructive  of  all  their  war  machinery — no  building,  however  solid,  could 
long  withstand  its  attacks.  Plutarch,  in  his  life  of  Anthony,  mentions  one 
eighty  feet  in  length. 

The  action  of  the  ram  is  familiar  to  most  people,  but  it  may  not  be 
known  to  all  that  similar  results  might  be  produced  by  a  liquid  as  by  a  solid 
— that  a  long  column  of  water  moving  with  great  velocity  might  be  made 
equally  destructive  as  a  beam  of  wood  or  iron — yet  so  it  is.  Waves  of  the 
sea  act  as  water-rams  against  rocks  or  other  barriers  that  impede  their 
progress,  and  when  their  force  is  increased  by  storms  of  wind,  the  most 
solid  structures  give  way  before  them.  The  old  lighthouse  on  the  Eddy- 
stone  rocks  was  thus  battered  down  during  a  storm  in  1703,  when  the 
engineer,  Mr.  Winstanley,  and  all  his  people,  perished. 

The  increased  force  that  water  acquires  when  its  motion  is  accelerated, 
might  be  shown  by  a  thousand  examples  :  a  bank  or  trough  that  easily 
retains  it  when  at  rest,  or  when  slightly  moved,  is  often  insufficient  when 
its  velocity  is  greatly  increased.  When  the  deep  lock  of  a  canal  is  opened 
to  transfer  a  boat  or  a  ship  to  a  lower  level,  the  water  is  permitted  to  de¬ 
scend  by  slow  degrees :  were  the  gates  opened  at  once,  the  rushing  mass 
would  sweep  the  gates  below  before  it,  or  the  greater  portion  would  be 
carried  in  the  surge  quite  over  them- — and  perhaps  the  vessel  also.  A 
sluggish  stream  drops  almost  perpendicularly  over  a  precipice,  but  the  mo¬ 
mentum  of  a  rapid  one  shoots  it  over,  and  leaves,  as  at  Niagara,  a  wide 
space  between.  It  is  the  same  with  a  stream  issuing  from  a  horizontal 
tube — if  the  liquid  pass  slowly  through,  it  falls  inertly  at  the  orifice,  but 
if  its  velocity  be  considerable,  the  jet  is  carried  to  a  distance  ere  it  touches 
the  ground.  The  level  of  a  great  part  of  Holland  is  below  the  surface  of 
the  sea,  and  the  dykes  are  in  some  parts  thirty  feet  high  :  whenever  a 
leak  occurs,  the  greatest  efforts  are  made  to  repair  it  immediately,  and  for 
the  obvious  reason  that  the  aperture  keeps  enlarging  and  the  liquid  mass 
behind  is  put  in  motion  towards  it;  thus  the  pressure  is  increased  and, 
if  the  leak  be  not  stopped,  keeps  increasing  till  it  bears  with  irresistable 
force  all  obstructions  away.  A  fatal  example  is  recorded  in  the  ancient 
history  of  Holland  : — an  ignorant  burgher,  hear  Dort,  to  be  revenged  on 
a  neighbour,  dug  a  hole  through  the  dyke  opposite  the  house  of  the  latter, 
intending  to  close  it  after  his  neighbor’s  property  had  been  destroyed ; 
but  the  water  rushed  through  with  an  accelerating  force,  till  all  resistance 
was  vain,  and  the  whole  country  became  deluged.  The  ancients  were 
well  aware  of  this  accumulation  of  force  in  running  waters.  Allusions 
to  it  are  very  common  among  the  oldest  writers,  and  various  maxims  of 
life  were  drawn  from  it.  The  beginning  of  strife,  says  Solomon,  “  is  as 
when  one  letteth  out  water” — the  “  breach  of  waters” — “  breaking  forth 
of  waters” — “rushing  of  mighty  waters,”  &c.  are  frequently  mentioned,  to 
indicate  the  irresistable  influence  of  desolating  evils  when  once  admitted. 

That  the  force  which  a  running  stream  thus  acquires  may  be  made  to 


367 


Chap.  1.]  Hydraulic  Ram. 

drive  a  portion  of  the  liquid  far  above  the  source  whence  it  flows,  is  obvi¬ 
ous  from  several  operations  in  nature.  During  a  storm  of  wind,  long 
swelling  waves  in  the  open  sea  alternately  rise  and  fall,  without  the  crests 
or  tops  of  any  being  elevated  much  above  those  of  the  rest ;  but  when 
they  meet  from  opposite  directions,  or  when  their  progress  is  suddenly 
arrested  by  the  bow  of  a  ship,  by  rocks,  or  other  obstacles,  part  of  the 
water  is  driven  to  great  elevations.  There  is  a  fine  example  of  this  at  the 
Eddystone  rocks— the  heavy  swells  from  the  Bay  of  Biscay  and  from  the 
Atlantic,  roll  in  and  break  with  inconceivable  fury  upon  them,  so  that  vo¬ 
lumes  of  water  are  thrown  up  with  terrific  violence,  and  the  celebrated 
light-house  sometimes  appears  from  this  cause  like  the  pipe  of  a  fountain 
enclosed  in  a  stupendous  jet  d'eau.  The  light  room  in  the  old  light-house 
was  sixty  feet  above  the  sea,  and  it  was  often  buried  in  the  waves,  so  im¬ 
mense  were  the  volumes  of  water  thrown  over  it. 

The  hydraulic  ram  raises  water  on  precisely  the  same  principle  :  a 
quantity  of  the  liquid  is  set  in  motion  through  an  inclined  tube,  and  its  es¬ 
cape  from  the  lower  orifice  is  made  suddenly  to  cease,  when  the  momen¬ 
tum  of  the  moving  mass  drives  up,  like  the  waves,  a  portion  of  its  own 
volume  to  an  elevation  much  higher  than  that  from  which  it  descended. 
This  may  be  illustrated  by  an  experiment  familiar  to  most  people.  Sup¬ 
pose  the  lower  orifice  of  a  tube  (whose  upper  one  is  connected  to  a  reser¬ 
voir  of  water)  be  closed  with  the  finger,  and  a  very  minute  stream  be  al¬ 
lowed  to  escape  from  it  in  an  upward  direction — the  tiny  jet  would  rise 
nearly  to  the  surface  of  the  reservoir ;  it  could  not,  of  course,  ascend 
higher — but  if  the  finger  were  then  moved  to  one  side  so  as  to  allow  a 
free  escape  till  the  whole  contents  of  the  tube  were  rapidly  moving  to  the 
exit,  and  the  orifice  then  at  once  contracted  or  closed  as  before, &the  jet 
would  dart  far  above  the  reservoir;  for  in  addition  to  the  hydrostatic  pres¬ 
sure  which  drove  it  up  in  the  first  instance,  there  would  be  a  new  force 
acting  upon  it,  derived  from  the  motion  of  the  water.  As  in  the  case  of 
a  hammer  of  a  few  pounds  weight,  when  it  rests  on  the  anvil  it  exerts  a 
pressure  on  the  latter  with  a  force  due  to  its  weight  only,  but  when  put 
in  motion  by  the  hand  of  the  smith,  it  descends  with  a  force  that  is  equiva¬ 
lent  to  the  pressure  of  perhaps  a  ton. 

Every  person  accustomed  to  draw  water  from  pipes  that  are  supplied 
from  very  elevated  sources,  must  have  observed,  when  the  cocks  or  dis¬ 
charging  orifices  are  suddenly  closed,  a  jar  or  tremor  communicated  to  the 
pipes,  and  a  snapping  sound  like  that  from  smart  blows  of  a  hammer.  These 
effects  are  produced  by  blows  which  the  ends  of  the  pipes  receive  from 
the  water;  the  liquid  particles  in  contact  with  the  plug  of  a  cock,  when  it 
is  turned  to  stop  the  discharge,  being  forcibly  driven  up  against  it  by  those 
constituting  the  moving  mass  behind.  The  philosophical  instrument  named 
a  water  hammer  illustrates  this  fact.  The  effect  is  much  the  same  as  if  a 
solid  rod  moved  with  the  same  velocity  as  the  water  through  the  tube 
until  its  progress  was  stopped  in  the  same  manner,  except  that  its  mo¬ 
mentum  would  be  concentrated  on  that  point  of  the  pipe  against  which  it 
struck,  whereas  with  the  liquid  rod  the  momentum  would  be  communi¬ 
cated  equally  to,  and  might  be  transmitted  from  any  part  of,  the  lower  end 
of  the  tube;  hence  it  often  occurs  that  the  ends  of  such  pipes,  when  made 
of  lead,  are  swelled  greatly  beyond  their  original  dimensions.  We  have 
seen  some  f  of  an  inch  bore,  become  enlarged  to  1  \  inches  before  they  were 
ruptured.  At  a  hospital  in  Bristol,  England,  a  plumber  was  employed 
to  convey  water  through  a  leaden  pipe  from  a  cistern  in  one  of  the  upper 
stories  to  the  kitchen  below,  and  it  happened  that  the  lower  end  of  the 
tube  was  burst  nearly  every  time  the  cock  was  used.  After  several  at- 


368 


Whitehurst' s  Water-Ram. 


[Book  IV. 

tempts  to  remedy  the  evil,  it  was  determined  to  solder  one  end  of  a  smaller 
pipe  immediately  behind  the  cock,  and  to  carry  the  other  end  to  as  high 
a  level  as  the  water  in  the  cistern;  and  now  it  was  found  that  on  shutting 
the  cock  the  pipe  did  not  burst  as  before,  but  a  jet  of  considerable  height 
was  forced  from  the  upper  end  of  this  new  pipe  :  it  therefore  became  ne¬ 
cessary  to  increase  its  height  to  prevent  water  escaping  from  it — upon 
which  it  was  continued  to  the  top  of  the  hospital,  being  twice  the  height 
of  the  supplying  cistern,  but  where  to  the  great  surprise  of  those  who 
constructed  the  work,  some  water  still  issued  :  a  cistern  was  therefore 
placed  to  receive  this  water,  which  was  found  very  convenient,  since  it 
was  thus  raised  to  the  highest  floors  of  the  building  without  any  extra 
labor.  Here  circumstances  led  the  workmen  to  the  construction  of  a  water- 
ram  without  knowing  that  such  a  machine  had  been  previously  devised. 

The  first  person  who  is  known  to  have  raised  water  by  a  ram,  designed 
for  the  purpose  was,  Mr.  Whitehurst,  a  watchmaker  of  Derby,  in  England. 
He  erected  a  machine  similar  to  the  one  represented  by  the  next  figure, 
in  1772.  A  description  of  it  was  forwarded  by  him  to  the  Royal  Society, 
and  published  in  vol.  lv,  of  their  Transactions. 


A,  represents  the  spring  or  reservoir,  the  surface  of  the  water  in  which 
was  of  about  the  same  level  as  the  bottom  of  the  cistern  B.  The  main 
pipe  from  A  to  the  cock  at  the  end  of  C,  was  nearly  six  hundred  feet  in 
length,  and  one  and  a  half  inches  bore.  The  cock  was  sixteen  feet  below 
A,  and  furnished  water  for  the  kitchen  offices,  &c.  When  it  was  opened 
the  liquid  column  in  A  C  was  put  in  motion,  and  acquired  a  velocity  due 
to  a  fall  of  sixteen  feet;  and  as  soon  as  the  cock  was  shut,  the  momentum 
of  this  long  column  opened  the  valve,  upon  which  part  of  the  water  rushed 
into  the  air-vessel  and  up  the  vertical  pipe  into  B.  This  effect  took  place 
every  time  the  cock  was  used,  and  as  water  was  drawn  from  it  at  short 
intervals  for  household  purposes,  “  from  morning  till  night — all  the  days 
in  the  year,”  an  abundance  was  raised  into  B,  without  any  exertion  or 
expense. 

Such  was  the  first  water-ram.  As  an  original  device,  it  is  highly  honor¬ 
able  to  the  sagacity  and  ingenuity  of  its  author;  and  the  introduction  of  an 
air  vessel,  without  which  all  apparatus  of  the  kind  could  never  be  made 
durable,  strengthens  his  claims  upon  our  regard.  In  this  machine  he  has 
shown  that  the  mere  act  of  drawing  water  from  long  tubes  for  ordinary 
purposes,  may  serve  to  raise  a  portion  of  their  contents  to  a  higher  level ; 
an  object  that  does  not  appear  to  have  been  previously  attempted,  or 
even  thought  of.  The  device  also  exhibits  another  mode,  besides  that 
by  pressure  engines,  of  deriving  motive  force  from  liquids  thus  drawn, 
and  consequently  opens  another  way  by  which  the  immense  power  ex¬ 
pended  in  raising  water  for  the  supply  of  cities,  may  again  be  given 


Chap.  1.] 


Montgolfier' s  Ram. 


369 

out  with  the  liquid  from  the  lateral  pipes.  Notwithstanding  the  advan- 
ages  derived  from  such  an  apparatus,  under  circumstances  similar  to 
those  indicated  by  the  figure,  it  does  not  appear  to  have  elicited  the  at¬ 
tention  of  engineers,  nor  does  Whitehurst  himself  seem  to  have  been  aware 
ot  us  adaptation  as  a  substitute  for  forcing  pumps,  in  locations  where  the 
water  drawn  from  the  cock  was  not  required,  or  could  not  be  used.  Had 
6  Pur®ued  the  subJect,  it  is  probable  the  idea  of  opening  and  closing  the 
cock  (by  means  of  the  water  that  escaped)  with  some  such  apparatus  as 
figured  m  No  160,  would  have  occurred  to  him,  and  then  lTm‘chi„“ 
being  made  self-acting,  would  have  been  applicable  in  a  thousand  loca- 
Uons.  hut  these  additions  were  not  made,  and  the  consequence  was,  that 
the  invention  was  neglected,  and  but  for  the  one  next  to  be  described  it 
would  most  likely  have  passed  into  oblivion,  like  the  steam  machines  of 
lanca,  Kircher,  and  Decaus,  till  called  forth  by  the  application  of  the 
same  principle  in  more  recent  devices. 

Whenever  we  peruse  accounts  of  the  labors  of  ingenious  men,  in  search 
ot  new  discoveries  in  science  or  the  arts,  sympathy  leads  us  to  rejoice  at 
.heir  success  and  to  grieve  at  their  failure  :  like  the  readers  of  a  well 
written  novel  who  enter  into  the  views,  feelings  and  hopes  of  the  hero  • 
realize  his  disappointments,  partake  of  his  pleasures,  and  become  interested 
in  his  late ;  hence  something  like  regret  comes  over  us,  when  an  indus¬ 
trious  experimenter,  led  by  his  researches  to  the  verge  of  an  important 
discovery,  is,  by  some  circumstance  diverted  (perhaps  temporarily)  from 
it;_  and  a  more  fortunate  or  more  sagacious  rival  steps  in  and  bears  off  the 
prize  from  his  grasp — a  prize,  which  a  few  steps  more  would  have  nut 
him  in  possession  of.  Thus  Whitehurst  with  the  water-ram,  like  Papin 
with  the  steam-engine,  discontinued  his  researches  at  the  most  interesting 
point  at  the  very  turning  of  the  tide  that  would  have  carried  him  to  the 
goaf ;  and  hence  the  fruit  of  both  their  labors  has  contributed  but  to  en¬ 
hance  the  glory  of  their  successors. 

The  Belier  hydraulique  of  Montgolfier  was  invented  in  1796.  (Its  au¬ 
thor  was  a  French  paper  maker,  and  the  same  gentleman  who,  in  conjunc¬ 
tion  with  his  brother,  invented  balloons  in  1782.)  Although  it  is  on  the 
principle  of  Whitehurst’s  machine,  its  invention  is  believed  to  have  been 
entirely  independent  of  the  latter.  But  if  it  were  even  admitted  that  - 
Montgolfier  was  acquainted  with  what  Whitehurst  had  done,  still  he  has 
y  his  improvements,  made  the  ram  entirely  his  own.  He  found  it  a 
comparatively  useless  device,  and  he  rendered  it  one  of  the  most  efficient 
it  was  neglected  or  forgotten,  and  he  not  only  revived  it,  but  gave  it  a 
permanent  place  among  hydraulic  machines,  and  actually  made  it  the 
most  interesting  of  them  all.  It  was,  previous  to  his  time,  but  an  embryo- 
when,  like  another  Prometheus,  he  not  only  wrought  it  into  shape  and 
eauty,  but  imparted  to  it,  as  it  were,  a  principle  of  life,  that  rendered  its 
movements  self-acting  ;  for  it  requires  neither  the  attendance  of  man,  nor 
any  thing  else,  to  keep  it  in  play,  but  the  momentum  of  the  water  ’it  is 
employed  to  elevate.  Like  the  organization  of  animal  life,  and  the  me- 
c  amsm  by  which  the  blood  circulates,  the  pulsations  of  this  admirable 
machine  incessantly  continue  day  and  night,  for  months  and  years:  while 
nothing  but  a  deficiency  of  the  liquid,  or  defects  in  the  apparatus  can  in- 

nf  W  L  V*’  comPared  to  Whitehurst’s,  what  the  steam-engine 

of  Watt  is  to  that  of  Savary  or  Newcomen.  g 

ontgolfier  positively  denied  having  borrowed  the  idea  from  any  one— 
he  claimed  the  invention  as  wholly  his  own^and  there  is  no  reason  what- 
°  <iue®^10?  ver&city.  The  same  discoveries  have  often  been,  and 
8  aie,  ma  e  in  t  e  same  and  in  distant  countries,  independently  of  each 

47 


370 


Montgolfier's 


[Book  IV 


other.  It  is  a  common  occurrence,  and  from  the  constitution  of  the  hu¬ 
man  mind  will  always  be  one.  A  patent  was  taken  out  in  England  for 
self-acting  rams  in  1797  by  Mr.  Boulton,  the  partner  of  Watt,  and  as  no 
reference  was  made  in  the  specification  to  Montgolfier,  many  persons  ima¬ 
gined  them  to  be  of  English  origin,  a  circumstance  that  elicited  some  re¬ 
marks  from  their  author.  “  Cette  invention  (says  Montgolfier)  n’est  point 
d’origine  Anglaise,  elle  appartient  toute  entiere  a  la  France;  je  declare 
que  j’en  suis  le  seul  inventeur,  et  que  l’idee  ne  m’en  a  ete  fournie  par 
personne ;  il  est  vrai  qu’un  de  mes  amis  a  fait  passer,  avec  mon  agrement, 
a  MM.  Watt  et  Boulton,  copie  de  plusieurs  dessins  que  j’avais  faits  de 
cette  machine,  avec  un  me  moire  detaille  sur  ses  applications.  Ce  sont  res 
memcs  dessins  qui  ont  ete  fidelement  copies  dans  la  patente  prise  par  M. 
Boulton  a  Londres,  en  date  du  13  JDecembre  1797 ;  ce  qui  est  une  verite 
dont  il  est  bien  eloigne  de  discon venir,  ainsi  que  le  respectable  M.  Watt.” 
We  have  inserted  this  extract  from  Hachette,  because  we  really  supposed 
on  reading  the  specification  of  Boulton’s  patent  in  the  Repertory  of  Arts, 
(for  1798,  vol.  ix,)  that  the  various  modifications  of  the  ram  there  des¬ 
cribed  were  the  invention  of  that  gentleman.  The  patent  was  granted  to 
“  Matthew  Boulton,  for  his  invention  of  improved  apparatus  and  methods 
for  raising  water  and  other  fluids.” 


No.  168.  Montgolfier’*  Ram.  No.  169.  The  same. 

No.  168  represents  a  simple  form  of  Montgolfier’s  ram.  The  motive 
column  descends  from  a  spring  or  brook  A  through  the  pipe  B,  near  the 
end  of  which  an  air  chamber  D[,  and  rising  main  F,  are  attached  to  it  as 
shown  in  the  cut.  At  the  extreme  end  of  B,  the  orifice  is  opened  and 
closed  by  a  valve  E,  instead  of  the  cock  in  No.  167.  This  valve  opens 
downwards  and  may  either  be  a  spherical  one  as  in  No.  168,  or  a  common 
spindle  one  as  in  No.  169.  It  is  the  play  of  this  valve  that  renders  the 
machine  self-acting.  To  accomplish  this,  the  valve  is  made  of,  or  loaded 
with,  such  a  weight  as  just  to  open  when  the  water  in  B  is  at  rest ;  i.  e.  it 
must  be  so  heavy  as  to  overcome  the  pressure  against  its  under  side  when 
closed,  as  represented  at  No.  169.  Now  suppose  this  valve  open  as  in 
No.  168,  the  water  flowing  through  B  soon  acquires  an  additional  force 
that  carries  up  the  valve  against  its  seat ;  then,  as  in  shutting  the  cock  of 
Whitehurst’s  machine,  a  portion  of  the  water  will  enter  and  rise  in  F,  the 
valve  of  the  air  chamber  preventing  its  return.  When  this  has  taken  place 
the  water  in  B  has  been  brought  to  rest,  and  as  in  that  state  its  pressure 
is  insufficient  to  sustain  the  weight  of  the  valve,  E  opens;  (descends)  the 
water  in  B  is  again  put  in  motion,  and  again  it  closes  E  as  before,  when 
another  portion  is  driven  into  the  air  vessel  and  pipe  F  ;  and  thus  the 


Water-Ram. 


Chap.  l.J  Water-Ram.  37j 

operation  is  continued,  as  long  as  the  spring  affords  a  sufficient  supply  and 
the  apparatus  remains  in  order.  -  ^ J 

The  surface  of  the  water  in  the  spring  or  source  should  always  be  kept 
at  the  same  elevation,  so  that  its  pressure  against  the  valve  E  may  always 
be  uniform-otherwise  the  weight  of  E  would  have  to  be  altered  as  the 
sui  face  of  the  spring  rose  and  fell. 

This  beautiful  machine  may  be  adapted  to  numerous  locations  in  every 
country.  M  hen  the  perpendicular  fall  from  the  spring  to  the  valve  E  is 
mt  a  few  feet  and  the  water  is  required  to  be  raised  to  a  considerable 
height  through  F,  then,  the  length  of  the  ram  or  pipe  B,  must  be  in¬ 
creased,  and  to  such  an  extent  that  the  water  in  it  is  not  forced  back  into 
the  spring  when  E  closes,  which  will  always  be  the  case  if  B  is  not  of 
sufficient  length.  Mr.  Millington,  who  erected  several  in  England,  justly 
observes  that  a  very  insignificant  pressing  column  is  capable  of  raisino- a 
very  high  ascending  one,  so  that  a  sufficient  fall  of  water  maybe  obtained 
m  almost  every  running  brook,  by  damming  the  upper  end  to  produce  the 
-eservoir  and  carrying  the  pipe  down  the  natural  channel  of  the  stream 
until  a  sufficient  fall  is  obtained.  In  this  way  a  ram  has  been  made  to  raise 
one  hundred  hogsheads  of  water  in  twenty-four  hours  to  a  perpendicular 

i  gr  °[™eJ™dred,T*  thirtJ-four  feet>  by  a  fall  of  only  four  feet  and 
a  hall.  M.  hischer  of  Schaffhausen,  constructed  a  water-ram  in  the  form 
of  a  beautiful  antique  altar,  nearly  in  the  style  of  that  of  Esculapius  as 
represented  m  various  engravings.  A  basin  about  six  inches  in  depth,  and 
Irom  eighteen  to  twenty  inches  in  diameter,  received  the  water  that  formed 
the  motive  column.  I  his  water  flowed  through  pipes  three  inches  in  di¬ 
ameter  that  descended  in  a  spiral  form  into  the  base  of  the  altar ;  on  the 
valve  opening  a  third  of  the  water  escaped,  and  the  rest  was  forced  up  to 
a  castle  several  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Rhine. 

A  long  tube  laid  along  the  edge  of  a  rapid  river,  as  the  Niagara  above 
the  falls,  or  the  Mississippi,  might  thus  be  used  instead  of  pumps,  water 
vv  heels,  steam-engines  and  horses,  to  raise  the  water  over  the  highest 
banks  and  supply  inland  towns,  however  elevated  their  location  might  be; 
and  there  is  scarcely  a  farmer  in  the  land  but  who  might,  in  the  absence 
of  other  sources,  furnish  his  dwelling  and  barns  with  water  in  the  same 
way,  from  a  brook,  creek,  rivulet  or  pond. 

If'  a  ram  of  large  dimensions,  and  made  like  No.  168,  be  used  to  raise 
water  to  a  great  elevation,  it  would  be  subject  to  an  inconvenience  that 
would  soon  destroy  the  beneficial  effect  of  the  air  chamber.  When  speak¬ 
ing  of  the  air  vessels  of  fire-engines,  in  the  third  book,  we  observed  that  if 
air  be  subjected  to  great  pressure  in  contact  with  water,  it  in  time  be¬ 
comes  incorporated  with  or  absorbed  by  the  latter.  As  might  be  supposed, 
the  same  thing  occurs  in  water-rams ;  as  these  when  used  are  inces¬ 
santly  at  work  both  day  and  night.  To  remedy  this,  Montgolfier  ingehi- 
ously  adapted  a  very  small  valve  (opening  inwards)  to  the  pipe  beneath  the 
air  chamber,  and  which  was  opened  and  shut  by  the  ordinary  action  of  the 
machine.  Thus,  when  the  flow  of  the  water  through  B  is  suddenly  stop¬ 
ped  by  the  valve  E,  a  partial  vacuum  is  produced  immediately  below  the 
air  chamber  by  the  recoil  of  the  wate^,  at  which  instant  the  small  valve 
opens  and  a  portion  of  air  enters  and  sppplies  that  which  the  water  ab¬ 
sorbs.  feometimes  this  snifting  valve,  as  it  has  been  named,  is  adapted  to 
another  chamber  immediately  below'  that  which  forms  the  reservoir  of  air, 

as  at  B  in  No.  169.  In  small  rams  a  sufficient  supply  is  found  to  enter  at 
the  valve  E.  t  v  J 

Although  air  chambers  or  vessels  are  not,  strictly  speaking,  constituent 
e  ements  of  water-rams,  they  are  indispensable  to  the  permanent  operation 


372 


Came  Hydraulique 


[Book  IV. 


of  these  machines.  Without  them,  the  pipes  would  soon  be  ruptured  by  the 
violent  concussion  consequent  on  the  sudden  stoppage  of  the  efflux  of  the 
motive  column.  They  perform  a  similar  part  to  that  of  the  bags  of  wool,  &c. 
which  the  ancients,  when  besieged,  interposed  between  their  walls  and  the 
battering  rams  of  the  besiegers,  in  order  to  break  the  force  of  the  blows. 

The  ram  has  also  been  used  in  a  few  cases  to  raise  water  by  atmos¬ 
pheric  pressure  from  a  lower  level,  so  as  to  discharge  it  at  the  same  level 
with  the  motive  column  or  even  higher.  See  Siphon  Ram,  in  next  book. 

The  device  by  which  Montgolfier  made  the  ram  self-acting,  is  one  of 
the  neatest  imaginable.  It  is  unique  :  there  never  was  any  thing  like  it 
in  practical  hydraulics,  or  in  the  whole  range  of  the  arts  ;  and  its  simpli¬ 
city  is  equal  to  its  novelty,  and  useful  effects.  Perhaps  it  may  be  said  that 
he  only  added  a  valve  to  Whitehurst’s  machine  :  be  it  so — but  that  sim¬ 
ple  valve  instantly  changed,  as  by  magic,  the  whole  character  of  the  ap¬ 
paratus — like  the  mere  change  of  the  cap,  which  transformed  the  Leech 
Hakim  into  Saladin.®  And  the  emotions  of  Cceur  de  Lion,  upon  finding 
his  great  adversary  had  been  his  physician  in  disguise,  were  not  more  ex¬ 
quisite  than  those,  which  an  admirer  of  this  department  of  philosophy  ex¬ 
periences,  when  he  contemplates  for  the  first  time  the  metamorphosis  of 
the  English  machine  by  the  French  Savan.  The  name  of  Montgolfier 
will  justly  be  associated  with  this  admirable  machine  in  future  ages. 
When  all  political  and  ecclesiastical  crusaders  'are  forgotten,  and  the  me¬ 
mories  of  all  who  have  hewed  a  passage  to  notoriety  merely  by  the  sword, 
will  be  detested — the  name  of  its  inventor  will  be  embalmed  in  the  recol¬ 
lections  of  an  admiring  posterity. 

The  water  cane,  or  canne  hydraulique,  raises  water  in  a  different  man¬ 
ner  from  any  apparatus  yet  described.  A  modification  of  it  in  miniature 
has  long  been  employed  in  the  lecture  room,  but  it  is  seldom  met  with  in 
descriptions  of  hydraulic  machines.  It  is  represented  at  No.  170  ;  and 

consists  of  a  vertical  tube,  in  out¬ 
ward  appearance  like  a  walking 
cane,  having  a  valve  opening  up¬ 
wards  at  the  bottom,  and  placed 
in  the  liquid  to  be  raised.  Sup¬ 
pose  the  lower  end  twelve  or  fif¬ 
teen  inches  below  the  surface,  the 
water  of  course  would  enter 
through  the  valve  and  stand  at 
the  same  height  within  as  with¬ 
out  :  now  if  the  tube  were  raised 
quickly,  but  not  entirely  out  of 
the  water,  the  valve  would  close 
and  the  liquid  within  would  be 
carried  up  with  it ;  and  if,  when 
the  tube  was  at  the  highest  point 
of  the  stroke,  its  motion  was  sud¬ 
denly  reversed  (by  jerking  it  back) 
the  liquid  column  within  would 
still  continue  to  ascend  until  the 
momentum  imparted  to  it  at  the 
first  was  expended  ;  hence  a  va¬ 
cuity  would  be  left  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  instrument  into  which 
a  fresh  portion  of  water  would  enter,  and  by  repeating  the  operation  the 

*  Walter  Scott’s  Tales  of  the  Crusaders. 


No.  170  No.  17L 


No.  172. 


Chap.  l.J 


And  its  Modifications. 


373 

tube  would  become  filled,  and  a  jet  of  water  would  then  be  thrown  from 
the  upper  orifice  at  every  stroke.  This  effect  obviously  depends  upon  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  instrument  is  worked,  i.  e.  a  sufficient  velocity 
must  be  given  to  the  water  by  the  upward  stroke  to  prevent  it  descend¬ 
ing  till  the  tube  again  reaches  the  lowest  point,  and  consequently  receives 
another  supply  of  water.  The  instrument  should  be  straight  and  the  bore 
smooth  and  uniform  that  the  liquid  may  glide  through  with  the  least  pos- 
si  ile  obstruction.  As  its  length  must  be  equal  to  the  elevation  to  which 
the  water  is  to  be  raised,  it  is  necessarily  of  limited  application,  and  espe¬ 
cially  so  since  the  whole  (both  water  and  apparatus)  has  to  be  lifted  at 
every  stroke— not  merely  the  liquid  that  is  discharged,  but  the  whole 
contents  of  the  machine. 

By  making  the  upper  part  of  the  tube  slide  within  another  that  is  fixed 
a  short  part  only  of  the  apparatus  might  then  be  moved,  and  by  connect¬ 
ing  an  air  chamber  as  in  No.  171,  a  continual  stream  from  the  discharging 
orifice  might  be  produced.  A  stuffing  box  should  be  adapted  to  the  end 
of  the  fixed  tube.  Hachette  suggested  the  application  of  a  spring  pole 
(like  those  used  m  old  lathes)  to  communicate  the  quick  reciprocating  mo¬ 
tion  which  these  machines  require. 

No.  172  represents  another  form  of  the  instrument.  Two  spiral  tubes 
coiled  round  in  opposite  directions  are  secured  to  and  moved  by  a  verti¬ 
cal  shaft.  i  heir  upper  ends  are  united  and  terminate  in  one  discharging 
orifice;  the  lower  ones  are  enlarged,  and  each  has  a  valve  or  clack 
opening  inwards  to  retain  the  water  that  enters.  By  means  of  the  handle 
A,  which  is  mortised  to  the  shaft,  an  alternating  circular  motion  is  im¬ 
parted  to  the  whole  and  the  water  thereby  raised  through  these  coiled 
tubes  on  precisely  the  same  principle  ns  through  the  perpendicular  ones 
just  desenhed.  Thus,  when  the  handle  is  moved  either  to  the  right  hand 
or  to  the  left,  one  valve  closes,  and  the  water  within  receives  an  impulse 
that  continues  its  motion  along  the  tube  after  the  movement  of  the  latter 
is  reversed  ;  and  by  the  time  its  momentum  is  expended  a  fresh  portion 
of  water  has  entered  that  prevents  its  return.  In  this  manner  all  the  coils 
become  filled,  and  then  every  additional  supply  that  enters  below  drives 
before  it  an  equal  portion  from  the  orifice  above.  This  machine,  there- 
ore  differs  from  Nos.  170  and  171  only,  in  being  adapted  to  a  horizon¬ 
tal  instead  of  a  perpendicular  movement.  Each  tube  in  the  figure  forms 
a  distinct  machine,  and  should  be  considered  without  reference  to  the  other 
1  heir  discharging  onfiees  are  united  to  show  how  a  constant  jet  may  be 
produced.  By  making  the  upper  part  turn  in  a  stuffing  box  in  the  bottom 
ot  a  hxed  tube,  as  in  No.  171,  water  might  then  be  raised  higher  than  the 
movable  part  of  the  apparatus. 

That  property  by  which  all  bodies  tend  to  continue  either  in  a  state  of 
rest  or  motion,  viz :  inertia ,  increases  the  effect  of  these  machines,  for  when 
the  momentum  imparted  to  the  liquid  in  the  tubes  is  exhausted,  inertia 
alone  prevents  *  from  instantaneously  flowing  back,  and  hence  there  is 
time  tor  an  additional  portion  of  water  to  enter  at  the  valve.  The  action 
cl  the  eanne  hydraulique  is  similar  to  that  by  which  persons  throw  water 
to  a  distance  from  a  bucket,  or  a  wash-basin.  The  momentum  given  to 
these  vessels  and  their  contents  carries  the  latter  to  a  distance,  while  the 
ormer  are  held  back  or  retained  in  the  hands.  Coals  are  thus  thrown  from 
a  scuttle,  earth  from  a  shovel,  and  it  is  the  same  when  a  traveler  on  a 
ga  oping  horse  or  when  drawn  furiously  in  an  open  carriage,  continues 

lls.Jout,n^7  .a  ter  t^ie  suddenly  stops — his  adhesion  to  his  seat, 

evdt  being  sufficient  to  resist  the  motal  inertia  of  his  body. 


374 


Machines  for  Raising  Water  by  Fire. 


[Book  \V 


* 

CHAPTER  II. 


Machines  for  raising  water  by  fire:  Air  machines — Ancient  weather-glasses — Dilatation,  of  air  by  heat 
and  condensation  by  cold — Ancient  Egyptian  air-machines — Statue  of  Metunon — Statues  of  Serapis  anti 
the  Bird  of  Meinnon — Decaus’  and  Kircher’s  machinery  to  account  for  the  sounds  of  the-  Theban  Idol — 
Remarks  on  the  Statue  of  Memnon — Machine  for  raising  water  by  the  sun's  heat,  from  Heron — Similar 
machines  in  the  sixteenth  century — Air-machines  by  Porta  and  Decaus — Distilling  by  the  sun’s  heat—  Mu¬ 
sical  air  machines  by  Drebble  and  Decaus — Air  machines  acted  on  by  ordinary  fire — Modifications  of  them, 
employed  in  ancient  altars — Bronze  altars — Tricks  performed  by  the  heathen  priests  with  fire — Others 
by  heated  air  and  vapor — Bellows  employed  in  ancient  altars — Tricks  performed  at  altars  mentioned  by 
Heron — Altar  that  feeds  itself  with  flame,  from  Horon — Ingenuity  displayed  by  ancient  priests — Secrets 
of  the  temples — The  Spiritalia — Sketch  of  its  contents — Curious  Lustral  Vase, 


A  separate  book  might  with  propriety  have  been  devoted  to  machines 
which  raise  water  through  tubes  by  means  of  the  weight,  pressure,  mo¬ 
mentum,  or  other  natural  properties  of  liquids,  without  the  necessary  in¬ 
tervention  of  wheels,  cranks,  levers,  &c.  With  such,  those  now  to  be 
described  might  also  have  been  classed,  since  they  too  require  neither 
external  machinery  nor  force.  They  differ  however  from  pressure- 
engines  and  water-rams,  and  every  other  device  yet  noticed,  in  bringing 
into  action  a  new  element,  viz.  heat  or  fire.  It  is  by  this  that  the  force 
upon  which  their  movements  depend  is  generated,  viz.  in  the  expansion 
of  elastic  fluids.  There  are  two  kinds  of  these  machines  which  difler  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  fluid  medium  upon  which  the  fire  is  made  to  act.  In  some 
this  is  common  air,  in  others  steam  or  vapor  of  water,  and  sometimes  both, 
steam  and  air  have  been  employed.  The  present  chapter  is  appropriated 
to  air  machines.  These  might  be  divided  into  two  classes,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  heat  employed  ;  in  some-  this  is  derived  from  the  sun 
in  others,  from  ordinary  fire.  Those  in  each  class  might  also  be  arrang¬ 
ed  according  to  that  property  of  the  air  upon  which  their  action  depends, 
viz.  1.  the  force  developed  by  its  expansion ;  2.  the  vacuum  formed  by  its 
condensation  ;  3.  those  in  which  both  are  combined'.  The  first  might  be 
compared  to  forcing  pumps,  the, second  to  sucking  or  atmospheric  ones,, 
and  the  third  to  those  which  both  suck  and  force  up  the  water. 

It  was  observed  in  the  second  book  (page  176)  that  all  gases  or  airs 
are  expanded  by  heat  and  contracted  by  cold.  A  proof  of  this  is  afforded 
by  the  usual  mode  of  employing  cupping-glasses  ;  a  minute  piece  of  cot¬ 
ton  or  sponge  dipped  in  alcohol  is  inflamed  and  placed  in  a  glass;  upon 
which  the  air  becomes  dilated  or  increased  in  hulk,  so  that  a  great  part 
is  driven  out  to  make  room  for  the  rest ;  the  mouth  of  the  instrument  is 
then  applied  to  the  place  from  which  blood  is  to.  be  withdrawn;  the  flame  of 
the  cotton  is  thereby  extinguished'  and  as  the  remaining  air  becomes  cool 
it  cannot  resume  its  previous  state  of  density,  and  consequently  a  vacuity 
or  void  is  left  in  the  glass.  Plumbers  sometimes  make  small  square  boxes 
of  sheet  lead ;  and  on  soldering  in  the  covers  the  temperature  of  the 
contained  air  is  so  greatly  increased,  that  before  the  soldering  is  completed 
a  large  portion  is  expelled,  and  when  the  boxes  become  cool  every  side 
is  found  slightly  collapsed.  This  result  is  the  required  proof  of  the  ves- 


Chap.  2.] 


Dilatability  of  Air  by  Heat. 


375 

sels  being  tl^t*  .  ^.ow  11  *s  clear  that  if  a  communication  was  opened  bv 
a  tube  between  the  interior  of  one  of  these  boxes  and  a  vessel  of  water 
placed  a  few  feet  below,  that  the  liquid  would  be  forced  into  it  (bv  the 
atmosphere)  until  the  contained  air  occupied  no  greater  space  than  it  did 
before  any  part  was  driven  out  by  the  heat.  This  mode  of  raising  liquids 
may  be  il  ustrated  at  the  tea-table  :  Let  a  saucer  be  half  filled  wii,h  cold 
water  hold  an  inverted  cup  just  over  it  and  apply  for  a  moment  a  small 
s  p  of  lighted  paper  to  the  interior  of  the  cup,  drop  the  paper  on  the 
water  and  cover  it  with  the  cup,  when  the  liquid  contents  of  the  saucer 
Tr* be  lnStantly  ^orced  UP  lnt0  the  inverted  vessel, 
f  an  inverted  glass  siphon  be  partly  filled  with  water  and  the  orifice 
of  one  eg  be  then  closed  and  that  leg  be  held  to  the  fire,  the  air  expand¬ 
ing  will  drive  out  the  liquid  and  cause  it  to  ascend  in  the  other  leg. 
Several  philosophical  instruments  illustrate  the  same  thing.  Previous  to 
the  discovery  of  atmospheric  pressure  and  the  invention  of  the  barometer 
the  expansion  of  air  by  heat  was  the  principle  upon  which  the  ancient 
weather  glasses  were  constructed.  They  were  made  in  great  variety. 

he  simplest  consisted  of  a  glass  tube  having  a  bulb  blown  on  the  closed 
end.  It  was  held  over  a  fire  to  dilate  the  air,  and  the  open  end  was 
then  plunged  into  a  vessel  cf  water.  Its  construction  was  the  same  as  the 
modern  barometer.  Variations  in  the  temperature  and  density  of  the 
atmosphere  caused  the  water  to  rise  and  fall  in  the  tube,  as  the  contained 
air  was  dilated  and  contracted,  and  thus  changes  in  the  weather  were 
indicated.  From  these  instruments  the  barometer  received  its  former  name 
of  the  weather  glass.”3- 

The  degree  of  elevation  to  which  water  can  be  thus  raised  depends 
upon  the  temperature  to  which  the  contained  air  is  subjected  ;  its  dilatation 
or  increase  of  bulk  being,  according  to  some  authors,  in  common  with 


*  The  following  extract  from  a  book  published  ten  years  before  the  discovery  of  at¬ 
mospheric  pressure,  may  interest  some  readers.  Although  the  instruments  to  which  it 
refers  are  no  longer  in  use,  they  ought,  not  to  be  entirely  forgotten. 

“A  weather-glasse  is  a  structure  of  at  the  least  two  glasses  [a  tube  and  the  vessel 
containing  the  water]  sometunes  of  three,  foure,  or  more  as  occasion  serveth,  inclosing 

nf ter’  f"?  .S  P°rCI0U  of  a>'er  proporcionable ;  by  whose  condensacion 
or  ran  faction  the  included  water  is  subject  unto  a  continual  mocion,  either  upward  or 
downward  ;  by  which  mocion  of  the  water  is  commonly  foreshown,  the  state,  change. 

r°f  weather 1 1  sPeak  no  more  than  what  my  own  experience  hath 
made  me  bold  to  affirm  ;  you  may  (the  time  of  the  year,  and  the  following  observacions 
nnderstaiidingly  considered)  bee  able  certainly  to  foretell  the  alteracion  or  uncertainty 
of  Pie  weather  a  good  many  hours  before  it  come  to  pass. 

I liere  are  divers  severall  fashions  of  weather-glasses,  but  principally  two.  1.  The 
circular  g;asse.  2.  The  perpendicular  glasse.  The  perpendiculars  are  either  single 
double  or  treble.  The  single  perpendiculars  are  of  two  sorts,  either  fixt  or  moveable: 
1  • u.  i jarG  j  ?ontrar>r  ;  either  such  whose  included  water  doth  move  upward 

wdh  cold,  and  downward  wUh  heat,  or  else  upward  with  heat  and  downward  with  cold, 
in  the  double  and  treble  perpendiculars,  as  the  water  ascendeth  in  one,  it  descendeth  as 
much  or  more  ra  the  other.  In  the  moveable  perpendiculars,  the  glasse  being  artificially 
hanged,  it  moveth  up  and  down  with  the  water.”  °  Y 

1  he  author  then  describes  the  various  kinds  mentioned  and  tells  his  reader  “  if  you  doe 
well  observe  the  form  of  the  figures  you  cannot  go  amisse.”  He  also  gives  directions  for 
making  coloured  water  for  the  tubes,  such  as  “  may  be  both  an  ornament  to  the  work  and 

Sk  T  ,T/e‘!ise  «“  Art  A.  D.  1033  or  4.  See  locouni  ofthi, 

dook  pa=e  A  modification  of  an  air-glass  may  be  found  in  the  Forcible  Movements 

ot  Uecaus,  f  plate  vui,)  which  he  names  an  Engine  that  shall  move  of  itself.  Lord  Bacon, 
m  whose  time  these  air  glasses  were  common,  presented  what  appears  to  have  been  an 
improved  one  and  of  his  own  invention,  to  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who  it  is  said,  was  so  capti- 
vated  xvith  it  that  he  presented  the  donor  with  Twickenham  Park  and  its  garden,  as  a 
p  a  0  ,s  s  uc  *es-  Tiie  instrument  was  named  ‘  A  secret  curiosity  of  nature,  ichercby  to 
>,noic  ic  season  of  every hour  of  the  year ,  by  a  Philosophical  Glass,  placed  ( with  a  small prupor* 
twn  of  water)  m  a  chamber.  An  account  of  Lord  Bacon’s  Works,  London,  1672. 


376 


Air  Machines. 


[Book  IV. 

other  permanently  elastic  fluids,  in  a  geometrical  progression  to  equal  in¬ 
crements  of  heat.  A  volume  of  air  at  ordinary  temperatures  is  increased 
over  one  third,  if  raised  to  212°  Fahrenheit.  At  the  fusing  point  of  lead 
(about  600°)  it  is  more  than  doubled,  and  at  the  heat  ol  1100°,  it  would 
be  tripled.  Let  a  small  glass  tube  be  attached  to  the  neck  of  a  Florence 
flask,  and  heat  both  in  boiling  water ;  if  the  end  of  the  tube  be  then  placed 
in  mercury,  the  latter  will  as  the  air  becomes  cooled  rise  in  the  tube,  to  the 
height  of  ten  inches — equal  to  about  eleven  feet  of  water.  If  they  were 
heated  to  600°  it  would  rise  to  fifteen  inches  ;  and  if  to  1100°  to  twenty- 
one  or  two  inches.  W e  have  connected  a  tube  to  the  mouth  of  a  common 
quart  bottle,  and  after  heating  the  latter  over  a  fire,  placed  the  end  of 
the  tube  in  mercury,  and  on  removing  the  whole  to  the  open  air,  then  at 
50°,  the  mercury  in  a  few  minutes  rose  to  sixteen  inches;  hence  rather 
more  than  one  half  of  the  air  had  been  expelled  by  the  heat.  These 
effects  take  place  when  the  enclosed  air  is  Ary ;  but  if  it  be  moist,  or  if  a 
drop  or  two  of  water  be  in  the  vessel,  the  results  are  greater,  because  the 
vapor  of  the  liquid  would  alone  fill  or  nearly  fill  the  vessel  and  would 
drive  out  a  corresponding  quantity  of  air. 

This  mode  of  creating  a  vacuum  and  raising  water  by  the  dilatation  and 
condensation  of  air  is  now  seldom  used,  because  superior  results,  as  just 
intimated,  are  obtained  from  steam  and  with  less  expense.  Air  machines 
are  however  interesting  in  several  respects.  They  are  among  the  earliest 
examples  of  elastic  fluids  being  employed  as  a  moving  power,  induced  by 
alternate  changes  of  temperature.  They  constitute  the  first  link  in  that 
chain  of  devices  that  has  now  terminated  in  the  steam  engine,  but  which 
will  probably  be  prolonged  through  future  ages  by  the  addition  of  even 
more  efficient  mechanism.  In  this  view  of  the  subject,  air  machines  will 
connect  the  researches  and  inventions  of  antiquity,  in  the  development  and 
applications  of  the  most  valuable  because  most  pliable  of  all  motive  forces, 
with  every  improvement  future  engineers  may  make  to  the  end  of  time. 

The  oldest  air-machines  known  were  made  in  Egypt,  and  the  oldest 
account  extant  of  such  devices  is  also  derived  from  that  country,  viz.  from 
the  Spiritalia.  It  is  also  worthy  of  remark  that  they  are  associated  by 
Heron  with  other  devices  of  the  priesthood,  for  exciting  wonder  and  per¬ 
forming  prodigies  before  the  people ;  thus  affording  a  collateral  proof  that 
occupants  of  the  ancient  temples  at  Thebes,  Memphis  and  Heliopolis 
were  intimately  acquainted  with  the  principles  of  natural  philosophy ; 
and  fully  capable  of  teaching  those  who  flocked  to  them  for  information, 
from  Greece  and  neighboring  countries.  There  is  a  circumstance  too 
that  indicates  a  more  thorough  and  practical  acquaintance  with  the  me¬ 
chanical  properties  of  elastic  fluids,  and  the  means  of  exciting  those  pro¬ 
perties  than  might  at  first  be  supposed,  viz.  in  the  substitution  of  the 
sun’s  heat  for  that  of  ordinary  fires.  This  seems  to  have  been  adopted  in 
cases  where  the  miracle  to  be  wrought  could  not  be  accomplished  by  the 
latter  without  danger  of  detection,  or  when  it  could  not  be  so  secretly 
effected,  or  could  not  be  performed  with  such  imposing  effect.  Of 
this,  the  vocal  statue  on  the  plain  of  Thebes  is  an  example.  This  gi¬ 
gantic  idol  saluted  the  rising  sun  and  continued  to  utter  sounds  as  long  as 
the  solar  beams  were  shed  over  it,  and  while  surrounded  bv  the  myriads 
that  worshipped  at  its  shi’ine.  Now  these  sounds  were  produced,  accor¬ 
ding  to  Heron,  by  the  dilatation  of  air,  or  by  vapor  evolved  by  the  sun’s 
heat  from  water  contained  in  close  vessels,  that  were  concealed  in  or  con¬ 
nected  to  the  base  of  the  statue,  and  exposed  to  the  solar  rays.  The 
expanded  fluid,  it  is  supposed,  was  conveyed  through  tubes  whose  orifices 
were  fashioned  to  produce  the  required  sounds. 


377 


Chap  2.]  Statue  of  Memnon. 

Cainbyses  desirous  of  ascertaining  the  concealed  mechanism,  it  is  said 
broke  the  statue  from  the  head  to  the  middle.  According  to  some  writers 
he  discovered  nothing;  while  others  mention  an  opinion  prevalent  among 
the  Egyptians  that  the  image  previously  uttered  the  seven  mysterious 
vowels,  but  never  afterwards.  Strabo  has  recorded  a  tradition  that  the  in¬ 
jury  was  caused  by  an  earthquake.  He  visited  Egypt  in  the  first  century 
and  remarks,  that  early  one  morning  as  he  and  Gallus  the  prefect,  with  many 
other  friends,  and  a  large  number  of  soldiers  were  standing  by  the  statue, 
they  heard  a  certain  sound,  but  could  not  determine  whether  it  came  from 
tne  trunk  or  the  base ;  there  was  however  a  prevailing  belief  that  it  pro¬ 
ceeded  from  the  latter  or  its  vicinity.  The  sounds  finally  ceased  in  the 
fourth  century,  when  Christianity  became  established  in  the  country, 
^ome  authors  have  supposed  two  different  devices  were  employed  ;  one 
previous  to,  and  the  other  subsequent  to  the  mutilation  of  the  statue  ’;  and 
that  one  or  both  consisted  of  springs,  &c.  on  the  principle  of  some  of  the 
speaking  heads  of  the  middle  ages.  Heron,  however,  who  must  have 
been  familiar  with  the  image  and  the  sounds  uttered  by  it,  attributed  the 
latter  to  air  or  vapor,  evolved  and  expanded  by  solar  heat ;  so  that,  how¬ 
ever  we  may  speculate  on  the  subject,  in  his  opinion  the  Pharaonic  priest¬ 
hood  were  well  acquainted  with  the  dilatation  and  contraction  of  airs  by 
heat  and  cold,  and  with  various  modes  of  employing  them.  Moreover, 
the  movements  of  the  famous  statue  of  Serapis  and  also  those  of  the  Bird 
of  Memnon  (an  image  which  we  have  previously  mentioned)  were  also 
produced  by  air  or  vapor  dilated  by  the  sun’s  heat;  and  we  shall  present¬ 
ly  see  that  tricks  on  the  same  principle  were  frequently  performed  at  an¬ 
cient  altars. 

Modern  expositions  of  the  mechanism  or  supposed  mechanism  of  the 
Theban  Idol  are  derived  from  the  Spiritalia.  That  of  Decaus  consists 
of  a  close  vessel,  of  the  form  of  a  pedestal,  having  a  partition  across  it  by 
which  two  air-tight  compartments  are  formed.  One  of  these  is  half  filled 
with  water  and  exposed  to  the  solar  rays — the  other  contains  air  and  to 
its  upper  part  are  connected  two  organ  pipes  or  reeds  that  communicate 
with  the  statue.  A  communication  is  formed  between  the  two  compart¬ 
ments  by  a  siphon,  the  legs  of  which  are  inserted  at  the  top  and  descend 
nearly  to  the  bottom  of  each  compartment.  Thus  when  the  sun  warmed 
the  vessel  containing  water,  the  air  and  vapor  within,  became  expanded 
and  pressing  on  the  surface  of  the  liquid  forced  part  of  the  latter  through 
the  siphon  into  the  other  compartment,  by  which  a  corresponding  portion 
of  atr  was  forced  through  the  organ  pipes.  A  figure  and  detaifs  of  this 
apparatus  form  the  23rd  plate  of  Decaus’  Forcible  Movements.  Pausa- 
nias  and  some  other  ancient  authors  compared  the  sounds  to  those  produ¬ 
ced  by  the  vibration  of  harp  strings ;  and  Juvenal,  who  was  exiled  to 
Egypt  by  Domitian,  seems  to  have  been  of  the  same  opinion. 

-  -  -  when  the  radiant  beam  of  morning  rings 
On  shatter’d  Memnon’s  still  harmonious  strings. — xv.  Sat. 

Hence  Ivircher  in  his  explanation,  instead  of  conveying  the  rarefied  air, 
or  vapor  through  a  wind  instrument,  made  it  act  against  the  vanes  of  a 
wheel,  as  in  Branca’s  steam  machine,  and  as  the  wheel  was  thus  blown 
round,  a  number  of  pins  attached  to  its  periphery  struck  a  series  of  wires 
so  arranged  as  to  receive  the  blows.  A  figure  of  this  device  is  inserted 
m  his  CEdipus  JEgyptiacus.  Rome,  1652,  Tom.  iii,  page  326. 

Whatever  the  device  was,  it  seems  to  have  been  as  admirable  in  its 
execution  and  the  disposition  of  the  mechanism,  as  in  its  conception.  We 
are  not  ceitain  that  it  was  ever  fully  understood  except  by  the  priests  of 

48 


378 


Air  Machine — From  Heron. 


[Book  IV 

(he  adjoining  temple.  The  Romans  do  not  appear  to  have  had  sufficient 
curiosity  to  give  it  a  critical  examination.  What  a  contrast  it  forms  with 
some  modern  wonders  !  These  have  puzzled  people  only  while  exami¬ 
nation  was  prohibited — while  access  to  them  was  denied,  as  the  chess¬ 
player  of  Kempelen  ;  but  the  colossal  android  of  Thebes  defied  the  scruti¬ 
ny  of  the  world  through  unknown  periods  of  time.  In  it,  the  old  priests 
of  Egypt  have  sent  down  a  surprising  specimen  of  their  skill.  We  know 
from  the  Bible  that  they  had  a  profound  knowledge  of  Natural  Magic  ; 
i.  e.  of  the  applications  of  science  to  purposes  of  deception,  and  this  statue 
confirms  the  scriptural  account : — it  shows  us  what  an  amount  of  labor 
and  ingenuity  was  expended  in  the  fabrication  of  idols,  and  to  what  a 
prodigious  extent  the  ancient  systems  of  delusion  were  carried — how  the 
very  magnitude  and  even  sublimity  of  the  impostures  were  calculated  to 
bear  down  the  intellect  and  establish  an  unshaken  belief  in  the  communion 
of  the  priests  with  the  gods. 

If  a  close  metallic  vessel  containing  water  be  exposed  to  the  sun,  the 
air  in  the  upper  part  will  become  dilated  by  the  heat  and  may  be  employ¬ 
ed  to  raise  the  water :  for  if  a  tube  be  inserted  at  the  top,  and  the  lower 
end  reach  nearly  to  the  bottom,  the  elasticity  of  the  air  will  be  expended  in 
forcing  the  liquid  up  the  tube  and  to  an  elevation  according  to  the  increase 
of  its  temperature.  A  device  of  this  kind  is  described  by  Heron  which 
is  represented  in  the  annexed  cut. 

On  the  lid  of  a  box  or  cis¬ 
tern  containing  water  is  placed 
a  globe,  also  partly  filled  with 
the  same  fluid.  A  pipe  rises 
from  the  cistern  to  about  the 
centre  of  the  globe.  Another 
pipe  through  which  the  water 
is  to  be  raised  proceeds  from 
near  the  bottom  of  the  globe 
and  terminates  over  a  vase  or 
cup,  which  communicates  with 
the  cistern  as  represented. 
When  the  sun  beams  fall  on 
the  globe,  the  air  within  is  ra¬ 
refied  and  by  its  expansion 
forces  the  water  through  the 
No.  173.  Raising  Water  by  the  Sun.  Frqm  Heron.  pipe  into  the  vase,  through 

which  it  descends  again  into 
the  cistern.  When  the  sun  beams  are  withdrawn  and  the  surface  of 
the  globe  becomes  cool,  a  partial  vacuum  is  formed  in  the  globe,  and  the 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere  then  drives  a  fresh  portion  into  it  from  the 
cistern  below  ;  when  it  is  again  ready  to  be  acted  on  by  the  sun  as  before. 
In  addition  to  the  air,  at  first  contained  in  the  globe,  a  quantity  of  vapor 
or  low  steam  would  be  evolved  by  the  heat  and  contribute  greatly  to  the 
result.  The  cistern  represents  an  open  reservoir  which  may  be  at  a  dis¬ 
tance  from  the  globe,  and  the  vase  merely  exhibits  the  place  of  discharge 
— having  no  necessary  connection  with  the  reservoir.  The  apparatus  as 
a  model,  is  figured  just  as  philosophical  instruments  still  are.  Thus  in 
modern  books,  a  pump  (for  example)  is  often  shown  as  discharging  water 
into  the  reservoir  from  which  it  raises  it.  We  make  these  remarks  be¬ 
cause  some  persons  are  too  apt  to  consider  these  ancient  figures  as  literal 
representations  of  working  machines,  whereas,  they  were  designed  merely 
to  illustrate  the  principles  upon  which  the  movements  depended ;  and  as 


379 


Chap.  2.]  Porta's  Natural  Magic. 

specimens  from  which  others  for  practical  purposes  might  be  deduced. 
It  is  quite  a  common  remark  in  old  authors,  after  describing  a  device,  to 
observe  that  various  machines  for  other  purposes  may  be  derived  from  it, 
and  excuse  themselves  for  not  pointing  out  particular  modes  of  doing  this, 
because  they  considered  them  too  obvious  to  require  it. 

Whether  such  modes  of  raising  water  were  practised  in  Europe  previ¬ 
ous  to  the  sixteenth  century,  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining;  but  in  the 
middle  of  that  and  the  beginning  of  the  following  one  they  are  frequently 
to  be  met  with  in  old  authors. 

Baptist  Porta,  in  his  Natural  Magic,  after  describing  a  method  of  rais¬ 
ing  water  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  a  tower,  by  means  of  a  vacuum 
formed  by  water  flowing  from  a  close  vessel ; — next  proposes  a  mode  of 
accomplishing  the  same  object  “  by  heat  alone”  A  close  vessel  of  brass 
was  to  be  placed  upon  the  tower,  having  a  pipe  connected  to  its  upper 
part  and  extending  down  to  the  water  to  be  raised  ;  the  orifice  being  a 
short  distance  below  the  surface.  The  vessel  was  then  “  to  be  made 
hot  by  the  sun,  or  fire'  to  rarefy  the  contained  air  and  expel  a  portion  of  it 
through  the  pipe.  As  the  vessel  grows  cold,  he  observes,  the  remaining 
air  is  condensed,  and  because  it  cannot  then  fill  the  vacuity,  “  the  water  is 
called  in  and  ascends  thither.”3  (Book  xix.  chap.  3.)  He  does  not  men¬ 
tion  the  height  of  the  tower  because  the  philosophers  of  that  age  had  no 
idea  tha.t  the  elevation  to  which  water  would  ascend  into  a  vacuum  had 
any  limits — and  hence  in  another  part  of  the  same  work  Porta  uses  the 
following  language — “  A  vacuum  is  so  abhorred  by  nature  that  the  world 
would  sooner  be  pulled  asunder  than  any  vacuity  can  be  admitted.” 
(Book  xviii.  chap.  1.)  There  is  another  passage  in  the  5th  chapter  of  the 
19th  Book,  from  which  it  seems  that  he  employed  the  elastice  force  of 
air  or  steam,  or  a  mixture  of  both  as  in  No.  174 — and  generated  either  by 
the  beat  of  the  sun,  or  by  that  of  lamps  or  candles,  as  shown  at  No.  189. 

After  describing  a  fountain  of  compression,  which  he  exhibited  to  some 
of  the  great  Lords  of  Venice,  and  the  operation  of  which  he  says  caused 
great  surprise  as  there  was  no  visible  cause  for  the  water  flying  so  high — 
he  continues,  “  I  also  made  another  place  near  this  fountain  that  let  in  light, 
and  when  the  air  was  extenuated,  so  long  as  any  light  lasted  the  fountain 
threw  out  water,  which  was  a  thing  of  much  admiration,  and  yet  but  little 
labor.”  This  passage  is  probably  imperfectly  translated. 

No.  174,  on  the  next  page,  forms  the  9th  plate  attached  to  the  “  Forcible 
Movements”  of  Decaus.  (Translated  by  Leak,  London,  1659.)  It  exhi¬ 
bits  an  extension  of  Heron’s  machine  already  noticed,  (No.  173.)  Decaus 
says  “  this  engine  hath  a  great  effect  in  hot  places  as  in  Spain  and  Italy.’ 

Four  air  tight  copper  vessels,  a  foot  square  and  8  or  9  inches  deep,  are 
so  arranged  that  the  sun  may  shine  strongly  upon  them.  A  pipe,  having 
a  valve  o,  opening  upwards,  communicates  with  the  lower  part  of  each,  to 
supply  them  with  water  from  the  spring  below.  Another  pipe  passes 
over  the  upper  surfaces,  having  branches  which  descend  nearly  to  the  bot¬ 
tom  of  each  vessel.  A  valve  is  also  placed  in  this  pipe,  from  the  upper 
end  of  which  the  jet  of  the  fountain  issues.  At  the  commencement,  each 
vessel  is  about  one  third  filled  with  water,  through  openings  on  the  top, 
which  are  then  plugged  up.  “  Then  the  sun  shining  upon  the  said  en¬ 
gine  shall  make  an  expression  by  rarefying  the  enclosed  air  and  force  the 


a  Natural  .Magick  in  twenty  boohs  by  John  Baptist  Porta,  wherein  are  set  forth  all  the  riches 
and  delights  of  the  Natural  Sciences.”— London,  1658. 

It  contains,  beside  a  multitude  of  absurdities,  many  ingenious  devices.  The  trombe, 
camera  obscura,  air  gun,  repeating  guns,  air  tubes,  ear  trumpets,  &c.  &c.  are  described. 
The  work  was  first  published  in  1560. 


3S0 


Air  Machines — From  Decaus. 


[Book  IV 


water  to  How  out  as  in  the  figure.  And  after  the  heat  of  the  day  is  pass¬ 
ed  and  the  night  shall  come,  the  vessels  shall  draw  the  water  of  the 
cistern  [spring]  by  the  pipe  and  sucker  [lower  valve]  and  shall  fill  the 

vessels  as  before.  .  And  you  must  observe  that  the  two 

suckers  [valves]  must  be  made  very  light  and  likewise  very  just,  so  as 
the  water  may  not  descend  by  them  after  it  is  raised." 


An  improvement  upon  the  preceding  machine  is  next  given  by  Decaus. 
The  form  of  the  vessels  is  altered,  and  double  convex  lenses  or  “  burning 
glasses"  are  so  arranged  on  their  covers  as  to  collect  “  the  raies  of 
the  sun  within  the  said  vessels,  the  which  will  cause  a  great  heat 
to  the  water,  and  by  that  means  make  it  spring  forth  with  great  abun¬ 
dance,  and  also  higher  if  it  be  required.”  (See  the  figure  below.)  It  is, 
we  think,  in  the  range  of  probability  that  the  heat  of  the  solar  rays  may 
yet  be  applied  in  some  situations  to  raise  water  with  effect 


No.  175.  Air  Engine,  from  Decaus. 

Whether  this  application  of  lenses  “  to  encrease  the  force  of  the  sun" 
in  air  engines,  was  a  device  of  Decaus,  we  know  not.  The  idea  however 


Distilling  by  the  Sun's  Heat. 


381 


Chap.  2.] 

would  naturally  occur  to  any  engineer  of  the  time,  engaged  on  the  im 
provement  of  such  machines,  because  distilling  by  the  sun  both  with  len¬ 
ses  and  without  them  was  a  common  practice  with  chemists  in  that  age 
and  some  centuries  before.  Baptist  Porta  described  the  process  in  the 
tenth  book  of  his  Natural  Magic,  and  observes  that  “  the  waters  extract¬ 
ed  by  the  sun  are  the  best.”  See  also  Maison  Rustique,  Paris,  1574, 
page  211.  Kircher’s  Mundus  Subterrancus,  Tom.  ii,  392.  Other  au¬ 
thors  also  describe  the  application  both  of  convex  and  concave  lenses  to 
concentrate  the  solar  rays  on  distilling  vessels  ;  a  practice  probably  as  old 
as  the  time  of  Archimedes,  or  even  older.  We  give  an  extract  from  an 
English  translation  of  one  of  Gesner’s  works,  who  died  in  1545. 

“  F urther,  although  that  the  Chimisticke  authours  doe  teach  and  shew 
diverse  fashions  of  distilling  by  ascension,  yet  may  all  these  waies  be 

brought  into  three  orders. .  The  first  manner  is,  when  we 

distill  anie  liquide  substance  or  flowers  in  the  sunne  by  force  of  his  heate. 


manner,  that  the  beames 
of  the  hote  sunne  falling  into  the  hollow  glasse,  maie  so  beate  backe 
and  extende  to  the  glasse  bodie  with  the  proper  matter  (as  to  the  object 
standing  righte  against)  -  -  -  -  as  more  livelie  appeareth  by  this  figure 
here  described.”11 

Air  dilated  and  vapor  evolved  by  the  sun’s  heat  were  also  used  to  pro¬ 
duce  music  in  the  middle  ages,  a  device  which  often  caused  that  celestial 
melody  which,  like  the  harp  of  Dunstan,  acquired  for  its  authors  a  repu¬ 
tation,  sometimes  of  superior  sanctity,  and  at  others  of  dealing  with  the 
wicked  one.  The  musical  machine  of  the  famous  Drebble,  according  to 
Bishop  Wilkins,  was  of  this  kind:  i.  e.  a  modification  of  the  supposed  one 
in  the  Statue  of  Memnon.  Drebble’s  machine,  says  the  Bishop,  “  would 
of  itself  render  a  soft  and  pleasant  harmony  when  exposed  to  the  sun’s 
nays,  but  being  removed  into  the  shade  would  presently  become  silent. 
The  reason  of  it  was  this;  the  warmth  of  the  sun  working  upon  some 

11  The  pracHce  of  the  new  und  old  phisicke,  wherein  is  contained  the  most  excellent  secrets 
oj  phisiclce  and  philosophic,  devided  mtofoure  Books— in  the  which  arc  the  best  approved  reme¬ 
dies  Jor  the  diseases,  as  well  inward  as  outward,  of  al  the  parts  of  mans  body:  treatin' r  very 
amplie  of  al  distillations  of  waters,  of  oyles,  balmcs,  quintessences,  icith  the  extraction  of  arti- 
Jicial  suites,  the  vse  and  preparation  of  antimony,  and  potable  gold,  gathered  out  of  the  best 
aiul  most  approved  authours,  by  that  excellent  Doctor  Gesnerus.  Also  the  pictures  and  maner 
to  make  the  vessels,  furnaces  and  other  instruments  thereunto  belonging.  Newly  corrected 
and  published  in  Englishe,  by  George  Baker,  one  of  the  Queenes  Majesties  cliufc  Chirurgians 
in  ordinary.  London,  Black  Letter,  1599. 


382 


"Brazen  Altars. 


[Book  IV 

moisture  within  it,  and  rarefying  the  inward  air  unto  so  great  an  extension 
that  it  must  needs  seek  for  vent  or  issue,  did  thereby  give  several  motions 
unto  the  instrument.”  (Math.  Magic,  Book  ii,  chap.  1.) 

Decaus,  besides  his  explanation  of  the  vocal  statue  of  Egypt,  has  given 
a  description  of  a  musical  summer ,  a  device  apparently  similar  to  Dreb- 
ble’s  ;  and  in  the  twenty-second  plate  of  his  work  he  has  figured  another 
which  Switzer  has  copied  into  his  system  of  hydrostatics. 

The  heat  of  the  sun  is  too  uncertain  to  be  relied  upon  in  those  pro¬ 
jects  that  require  immediate  and  certain  results.  During  the  evening, 
night,  and  early  dawn,  nothing  could  be  effected ;  and  even  in  mid-day, 
clouds  and  showers  often  intercept  or  divert  the  rays  :  moreover  a  ma¬ 
chine  when  placed  so  as  to  be  heated  directly  by  the  sun,  soon  experien¬ 
ces  a  diminution  of  its  influence  by  the  motion  of  the  earth.  Those  rays 
which  fall  directly  upon  it  becoming,  in  consequence  of  this  motion, 
oblique.  These  and  other  unfavorable  circumstances  are  common  to  most 
countries  where  the  solar  heat  is  sufficiently  intense,  while  in  others  it  is 
too  feeble  to  be  used  with  effect ;  hence,  in  the  temperate  zones,  within 
which  the  arts  have  at  all  times  been  chiefly  cultivated,  the  application  of 
ordinary  fire  has  superseded,  for  nearly  all  practical  purposes,  that  derived 
from  the  sun.  In  some  parts  of  the  earth  saline  waters  are  concentrated, 
and  salt  produced  by  the  heat  of  the  glowing  orb  of  day,  but  for  every 
thing  like  the  devices  belonging  to  our  subject  it  is  now  seldom  employed, 
if  at  all. 

The  oldest  applications  of  fire  to  raise  liquids  are,  singularly  enough, 
also  to  be  found  among  the  philosophical  tricks  of  ancient  priests,  and 
among  the  prodigies  which  they  performed  at  the  altar  itself.  The  selec¬ 
tion  of  altars  for  such  displays  was  natural,  because  it  was  at  them  the  will 
of  the  gods  was  more  particularly  expected  to  be  made  known.  It  must 
not  be  supposed  that  ancient  altars  were  all  simple  structures  of  wood, 
stone,  brick,  or  marble  ;  on  the  contrary,  many  of  them  were  elaborately 
designed,  and  constructed  entirely  of  metal.  Every  one  knows  that 
bronze  or  brazen  altars  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  the  descriptions  of  some  prove  them  to  have  been  splendid  specimens 
of  workmanship  and  design.  The  altar  for  “  burnt  offerings,”  being  up¬ 
wards  of  eight  feet  square  and  five  deep,  was  covered  with  plates  of 
brass.  The  grate,  fire  place,  vessels,  &c.  were  also  of  the  same  material. 
One  of  the  numerous  brazen  altars  built  by  Solomon  was  an  extraordinary 
affair,  being  twenty  cubits,  or  thirty-three  feet  square,  and  sixteen  feet  high. 
The  large  number  of  victims  consumed  on  it  and  the  necessary  fires  ac¬ 
count  for  these  dimensions. 

As  some  of  the  most  effectual  frauds  were  consummated  at  and  by 
means  of  altars,  the  civil  governors  of  the  heathen,  and  some  of  the  worst 
princes  of  the  Jews,  made  use  of  them  for  the  performance  of  state  tricks, 
to  intimidate  the  people  and  subdue  them  to  their  will.  In  such  matters 
a  collusion  between  the  priests  and  statesmen  of  antiquity  is  .  very  obvi¬ 
ous.  (By  a  similar  combination  of  church  and  state  it  is  that  the  people 
of  Europe  are  still  oppressed.)  When  Themistocles  could  not  otherwise 
carry  out  his  measures,  he  did  not  fail  to  make  the  oracles  interfere.  There 
are  some  interesting  particulars  in  2d  of  Kings,  chap.  xvi.  respecting  a 
brazen  altar  which  Ahaz  examined  at  Damascus,  and  an  exact  copy  of 
which  he  had  made  and  erected  in  Jerusalem.  It  evidently  was  of  a  no¬ 
vel  construction  and  was  probably  designed  for  working  pretended  mira¬ 
cles  for  state  purposes,  for  it  was  among  those  destroyed  by  his  son  He- 
zekiah.  Montfaucon  in  the  supplement  to  his  antiquities  describes  some 
singular  altars,  and  among  others,  one  on  which  an  eagle  was  made  sud* 


Chap.  2.]  Tricks  performed  at  Altars  by  means  of  Fire.  383 

denly  to  rise  as  in  the  act  of  flying  away.  This  he  observes  was  effected 
by  machinery  moved  by  a  person  appointed  for  the  purpose. 

1  here  are  numerous  intimations  in  history  of  frauds  practiced  at  altars 
by  fire,  and  by  water  and  other  liquids.  We  shall  notice  a  few  here  and 
ot  ers  in  the  next  chapter.  A  very  ancient  tradition  taught  that  those 
were  the  greatest  gods  that  answered  their  worshippers  by  fire  This 
was  a  prevailing  belief  among  the  ancient  heathen,  and  hence  the  ingenuity 
of  the  priests  was  particularly  exercised  in  devising  means  to  produce  a 
spontaneous  or  “  divine  fire,”  to  consu-me  the  sacrifices.  Servius,  a  Roman 
writer,  affirms  that  in  ancient  times  fire  was  never  kindled  on  the  altar* 
but  was  drawn  down  from  heaven  by  prayers.  Solinus  another  Roman 
author,  .who  wrote  m  the  first  century,  speaks  of  one  in  Sicily  upon  which 
the  fuel  though  ever  so  green,  would  kindle  of  itself  if  the  sacrifice  was 
acceptable  to  the  gods.  Pausamus  relates  an  example  of  which  he  was 
a  witness.  Some  of  the  devices  are  known.  When  the  victim  was  laid  on 
the  altar  and  the  fuel  ready  to  be  kindled,  a  libation  of  wine  or  oil  was 
poured  upon  it;  streams  of  the  liquid  trickled  through  fissures  or  secret 
channels  into  a  pan  of  coals  concealed  below,  and  instantly  the  sacrifice 
was  enveloped  in  flames,  and  the  desired  proof  of  its  acceptance  given 
At  other  times  naptha,  a  mineral  oil  that  takes  fire  on  being  exposed  to  the 
air,  was  adroitly  dropt  on  the  fuel  by  the  priests  as  they  officiated.  This 
is  the  substance  by  which  Medea  is  supposed  to  have  destroyed  Creusa 
by  impregnating  with  it  the  enchanted  gown  which  she  presented  to  her’ 
When  Cieusa  had  put  it  on  and  was  approaching  the  altar,  it  burst  into 
flames  and  she  expired  in  excruciating  torments.  The  Druids  had  the 
ait  of  kindling  without  fire  a  sulphurous  substance  by  which  they  struck 
terror  into  their  enemies  There  are  presumptive  proofs  that  both  they 
and  the  priests  of  Delphos  had  gunpowder,  with  which  they  imitated 
thunder  and  lightning;  and  this  accords  with  a  remark  of  Pliny  in  the 
second  book  of  his  Natural  History,  (chap.  53.)  “  It  appeareth  upon  re¬ 

cord  m  chronicles  that  by  certain  sacrifices  and  prayers,  lightninL  may 
either  be  compelled  or  easily  intreated  to  fall  upon  the  earth.”  And  he 
observes  that  there  was  an  old  tradition  in  Etruria,  that  lightning-  was 
procured  “by  exorcisms  and  conjurations.”  The  ancient  priests  of  Ethio¬ 
pia  worshiped  the  sun,  and  at  the  close  of  harvest  they  separated  a 
portion  of  the  fruits  from  the  rest  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  Deity :  if  the  offer 
ing  was  acceptable  it  instantly  took  fire.  The  Vestal  iEmylia  rekindled 
t  le  sacred  fire  on  the  altar  Gf  Vesta,  by  putting  her  veil  over  it,  that  is,  by 
some  device  which  the  act  of  adjusting  her  veil  concealed  :  in  fact  enough 
is  known  to  convince  us  that  old  temples  were  perfect  laboratories.  (See 
an  expose  of  the  pretended  descent  of  celestial  fire  on  Good  Fridays,  into 
the  holy  ^sepulchre  of  Jerusalem  (which  is,  we  believe,  still  kept  up)  in 
Motraye  s  Travels,  vol.  i,  page  79.)  f  ^ 

But  it  was  not  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  flames  only  that  fire  was 
employed  as  an  agent  of  deception.  Equally  surprising  effects,  and  as 
secietly  produced,  were  derived  from  the  heat  which  the  fuel  and  burn¬ 
ing  sacrifice  gave  out.  It  will  readily  be  imagined  that  this  heat  must 
lave  .een  intense  when  a  bullock,  a  sheep,  or  a  goat,  was  consumed  ;  and 
s  me  times  several  animals  were  offered  at  once  upon  the  same  altar.  In 
urnt-offermgs,  every  part  was  to  be  reduced  to  ashes,  and  hence  particu- 

otherwUetk re(^uired ‘  *Jat ' t^e  fuel  should  be  dry  as  well  as  in  abundance; 

vise  the  mass  of  flesh  and  juices  might  extinguish  the  fire— a  circum¬ 
stance  that  was  deemed  very  inauspicious.  It  was  also  customary  to  pour 
me  anc  oi  upon  tie  sacrifice,  and  spices  and  perfumes  to  correct  the 
’  or.  Ihese,  of  course,  increased  the  heat,  and  in  addition  to  which,  it 


384  Ancient  Altar  from  Heron's  Spiritalia.  [Book  IV. 

appears  from  one  of  the  Hamilton  Vases,  that  large  bellows  were  some 
times  used  to  promote  the  combustion  by  a  blast. 

A  modern  mechanician  will  at  once  perceive  that  the  radiation  of  heat 
from  such  fires  into  the  interior  of  altars  offered  an  effective  and  unsuspi¬ 
cious  source  of  fraud — one  from  which  a  distinct  series  of  prodigies  might 
be  derived.  Let  us  see  how  they  could  be  realized.  Suppose  a  bronze 
altar  made  air-tight,  with  a  cylindrical  or  other  opening  through  its  centre, 
in  which  to  place  the  fire  and  to  afford  a  draft,  (as  in  those  wooden  boilers 
in  which  water  is  heated  by  a  fire  in  the  centre  ;  the  liquid  being  in  con¬ 
tact  with  the  heated  sides  of  the  furnace,  and  the  ashes  from  the  grate 
falling  through  the  draft  opening,  which  is  continued  through  the  bottom 
of  the  boilers)  or  the  passage  for  the  draft  might  be  made  at  right  angles 
to  the  furnace  or  fire-place,  and  terminate  at  one  side  of  the  altar ;  the  up¬ 
per  part  of  the  furnace  would  then  be  level  with  the  top  of  the  altar  upon 
which  the  victim  was  laid.  Suppose  the  air-tight  cavity  round  the  fur¬ 
nace  filled  to  a  certain  height  with  wine,  oil,  or  other  inflammable  liquid, 
a  vapor  would  then  be  evolved  by  the  heat,  and  mixing  with  the  contain¬ 
ed  air  would  press  upon  the  surface  of  the  liquid,  which,  by  concealed 
tubes  might  be  conveyed  to  the  fire  and  thus  sustain  it  without  any  addi¬ 
tional  fuel.  The  vapor  might  also  be  made  to  produce  sounds  as  in  Dreb- 
ble’s  machine — images  of  birds  might  by  it  be  made  to  sing — dragons 
and  serpents  to  hiss.  The  current,  like  the  blast  of  a  bellows,  might  be 
made  to  excite  the  flames  ;  and  by  appropriate  mechanism  impart  motion 
to  various  automata — cause  the  doors  of  the  temples  mysteriously  to  fly 
open  and  to  close,  &c.  &c.  Now  it  so  happens  that  these  very  things 
were  done  and  by  means  of  air  and  vapor. 

The  annexed  figure,  from  Problem  XI,  of  the  Spiritalia,  will  serve 
as  a  specimen  of  the  ingenuity  of  the  ancients  in  these  respects.  It  is 
merely  one  of  a  number  that  Heron  has  given.  The  altar  was  of  metal, 
hollow  and  air-tight,  and  placed  on  a  hollow  base  or  pedestal  (also  air¬ 
tight)  which  contained  a  quantity  of  oil  or  wine.  Upon  the  base  stood 

two  statues,  each  holding  a  vase  in 
one  hand  as  represented.  Pipes,  as 
shown  by  the  dotted  lines,  communi¬ 
cated  through  the  statues  with  the 
liquid.  As  the  air  within  the  altar  be¬ 
came  dilated  by  the  heat,  it  necessarily 
forced  the  liquid  up  the  pipes  and 
drove  it  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  va¬ 
ses  in  which  the  pipes  terminated.  It 
is  not  easy  to  see  why  the  bottom  of 
the  altar  did  not  open  directly  into  the 
base  or  reservoir  of  wine,  instead  of 
the  pipe  that  connects  them,  since  it 
would  have  promoted  the  evolution 
of  vapor;  but  the  figure  represents 
only  one  of  the  numerous  modifica¬ 
tions  employed.  It  is  obvious  from  this  and  some  other  devices  described 
by  Heron,  (as  No.  173)  that  vapor  from  the  contained  liquids  contributed 
chiefly  to  the  result,  although  he  has  not  in  all  cases  mentioned  it.  Indeed 
it  is  not  certain  that  he  did  not  confound  steam  with  air,  as  the  philoso¬ 
phers  of  the  sixteenth  century  did,  of  which  some  examples  are  given 
in  the  next  two  chapters.  Had  air  alone  been  used  in  the  above  altar, 
the  effect  could  only  have  have  been  momentary  ;  for  part  of  it  would 
be  soon  absorbed  by  the  liquid  and  carried  out  with  it,  and  there  appears 


No.  177.  Liquids  raised  by  heat  in  ancient  al¬ 
tars — from  the  Spiritalia. 


Chap.  2.] 


Ingenuity  of  Ancient  Priests. 


3S5 


™  Tpel!1ed' 

air  was  made^o"' perfom  ^mpol^a  p^^enrL'X'i.o?  *“ 

pSX°g" Z  ufo^o^tlZ^wi  m  7nlff°rf- 

knowledge  of  old  priests  we  chrml  H  ji  P  6  :  the  philosophical 

the  art  S£&  *“  .4  ^ 

the  application  oflt"  ^rou«e  ”fStedf-,m0  ""»•* 

so  that  had  their  energies  been  devoted  to  the  development  of?P'f  t™  ’ 

st":  ££*  W0UU  Prob‘b^  *>~n  indebted™0, h“eforX 

What  wonders  would  an  insight  into  the  nlrl  f-rrarai  r 
To  have  had  an  opportunity  of  Inspecting  ,he  u-P M  h&Ve  revealed  ! 
to  have  been  present  at  the  consultations^!  the  prilnT— wfm  “d  "'f 

^dTe^Xrwotog8^^.”^  4  dhects  of  this  device 

S£3S5S&“iSiS&*S 

?=^/'2feiSKteSaS^ 

Bacchus  and  was  represented  by  the  priests  as  having  been  chanc'”jg'im„°[ 

&  * :"t  Trii&;t  ^  f 

tzt  feT’fy  ■>¥»* « ^  se:™s;;oe"e«:fr£ 

meaas 

?  »»*  4«.  hadttetfluttl  re^A^Sy  of" 

EThis  ,itde  brk’ ,L  * 

stimulated  if \?VT  S  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century  Tt 

tal  research  which  thTn  comm  and  experTmen- 

present  time  It  seems  h  ?  §  C°nt,?U/d  unimP-red  to  the 

Philosophers,  chem,s“  and  oLsl  “  “"“p  aI  d<*r?!e  °f 
their  writings  by  its  problems  alid  figures.8  "porm 

Sr:S.»£  ,**  works,  whilefmany^v'rirers 
debted  to  it  than  any  other.  ’  B  seems  t0  have  been  less  in- 


49 


386  Contents  of  Heron’s  Spiritalia.  [Book  IV. 

The  Spiritalia  formed  but  a  small  part  of  the  writings  of  Heron  :  had 
all  of  them  reached  our  times,  we  should  have  possessed  an  almost  per¬ 
fect  system  of  ancient  mechanical  philosophy.  He  wrote  books  on 
clepsydra,  automata,  dioptrics,  war  machinery,  engines  for  raising 
weights;  and  an  introduction  to  mechanics,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
the  most  complete  work  on  the  subject  which  the  ancients  possessed. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  the  Spiritalia  seems  more  like  the  manual  of  an  ancient 
magician  than  any  thing  else — a  collection  of  deceptions  with  the  pro¬ 
cesses  by  which  they  were  matured.  In  it  Heron,  instead  of  appearing 
in  the  character  of  a  philosopher,  rather  assumed  (perhaps  for  amusement 
or  to  expose  the  frauds  of  the  Egyptian  hierarchy)  that  of  a  minister 
of  Isis,  initiating  an  acolyte  into  the  mysteries  of  his  profession.  And 
numerous  as  are  the  devices  described,  they  doubtless  formed  but  a  small 
part  of  those  which  constituted  the  active  and  efficient  capital  of  the 
Egyptian  priesthood.  With  the  exception  of  an  hydraulic  and  another 
organ,  a  syringe,  fire  engine,  fountain  of  compression,  three  lamps  and 
two  eolipiles,  (and  most  of  which  were  also  used  for  unworthy  purposes) 
the  whole  may  be  considered  as  a  text  book  for  conjurers.  Of  the  seventy- 
six  problems  contained  in  the  book,  twelve  relate  to  the  working  of 
prodigies  at  the  altars,  by  air  dilated  by  the  heat  of  the  sacred  fires,  &c. 
as  already  noticed;  upwards  of  forty  relate  to  sacrificial  vases,  Tantalus’ 
cups,  magic  pitchers,  &c.  In  some  of  these  were  concealed  cavities,  in 
which  the  liquid  was  retained  or  discharged,  by  closing  with  the  thumb 
a  minute  opening  in  the  handle.  Water  was  poured  into  some  and  they 
gave  out  wine,  and  vice  versa.  In  these  we  have  a  solution  of  the  trick 
by  which  water  was  changed  into  wine  in  the  temple  of  Bacchus,  on  the 
7th  of  January  at  the  annual  feast  of  the  god,  as  mentioned  by  Pliny.  In 
others  were  disguised  partitions  forming  various  compartments  in  which 
different  liquids  were  retained,  and  all  discharged  at  one  orifice  (by  a 
species  of  three  or  four-way  cock)  so  that  those  in  the  secret  could  draw 
wine,  oil,  or  water,  at  pleasure ;  besides  many  other  merry  conceits ,  as  the 
old  authors  name  them.  There  is  we  think  among  them  abundant  evi¬ 
dence  that  our  solution  of  Tutia’s  miracle  of  carrying  water  in  a  sieve 
was  the  true  one.  It  is  probable  that  in  some  of  these  vases,  specimens  of 
the  old  divining  cups  may  be  found. 

The  ingenious  reader  will  not  repine  at  our  inserting  a  specimen 
of  a  lustral  vase.  We  have  selected  this  because  it  shows  that  me¬ 
chanical  as  well  as  hydrodynamical  devices  were  adopted  as  occasions 
required.  It  shows  also  that  the  mode  of  increasing  or  diminishing  the 
pressure  of  a  valve  to  its  seat,  by  a  loaded  lever,  as  in  the  safety  valve  of 
a  steam  engine,  was  known — a  circumstance  that  may  be  deemed  quite  in¬ 
significant  by  some  persons ;  but  attention  to  such  little  things  often 
enables  us  to  arrive  at  correct  estimates  of  an  ancient  device,  and  of  the 
ingenuity  and  fertility  of  conception  of  ancient  devisers. 

Most  readers  are  aware  that  holy  water  was  derived  from  that  of  the 
heathen.  When  a  worshiper  was  about  to  enter  the  temple,  he  sprink¬ 
led  himself  from  a  vase  of  it  placed  near  the  entrance.  On  some  particu¬ 
lar  occasions  the  people  were  sprinkled  by  priests.  (See  an  example  at 
page  196.)  Those  who  celebrated  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  were  parti¬ 
cularly  required  to  wash  their  hands  in  holy  water.  In  the  middle  ages 
the  liquid  was  a  source  of  considerable  profit  to  monks,  and  it  was  even 
a  custom  for  clerks  and  scholars  to  hawk  it  for  sale.  From  Heron’s  de¬ 
scription  of  the  following  figure,  (No.  178,)  we  learn  that  heathen  priests 
also  made  it  a  source  of  revenue  ;  the  vessels  containing  lustral  water  not 
being  always  open  for  public  use,  free  of  charge,  but  closed,  and  like  a 


Chap.  2.] 


Ancient  Lustra l  Vase. 


No.  na 


Ancient  Vase  of  Lustral 
Water. 


387 

child’s  money  box  provided  with  a  slit  at  the  top,  through  which  a  certair 
sum  was  to  be  put  before  the  donor  could  receive  any  of  the  nurlXf 
contents,  in  the  vase  before  us  Jive  drachma,  or "Ibl sevCtvTvf 
ents,  were  required,  and  it  will  be  perceived  from  the  construction  of  the 
apparatus  that  no  less  sum  could  procure  a  drop,  although  al  much  mne 

might  be  put  in  as  the  donor  thought  proper.3 
The  device  is  a  very  neat  specimen  of  religious 
ingenuity,  and  the  more  so  since  it  required  no 
attending  minister  to  keep  it  in  play.  We 
Ju<%e  °f  other  apparatus  belonging  to  the 
old  temples  by  the  talent  displayed  in  this.  A 
portion  of  the  vase  is  removed  in  the  figure  to 
show  the  interior.  Near  one  side  is  seen  a 
cylindrical  vessel  at  A.  It  is  this  only  that 
contained  water.  A  small  tube  attached  to  the 
bottom  is  continued  through  the  side  of  the  vase 
at  o,  where  the  liquid  was  discharged.  The  in¬ 
ner  orifice  of  the  tube  was  formed  into  the  seat 
of  a  valve,  the  plug  of  which  was  fixed  on  the 
lower  end  of  the  perpendicular  rod,  whose  up¬ 
per  end  was  connected  by  a  bolt  to  the  hon- 
zontal  lever  or  vibrating  beam  R.  One  end  of 

„  R  1S  spread  out  into  a  flat  dish  and  so  arranged 
as  to  receive  on  its  surface  every  thing  dropped  through  the  slit.  The 
lever  turns  on  a  pm  or  fulcrum  very  much  like  a  pump  handle,  as  re- 
presented.  The  operation  will  now  be  understood.  As  the  weight  of 
the  rod  kept  the  valve  closed  while  nothing  rested  upon  the  broad  fnd  of 
the  lever,  so  no  liquid  could  escape;  but  if  a  number  of  coins  of  sufficient 

dr0PPe,d  thfough  the  slit  upon  the  end  of  R,  the  valve 
ould  then  be  opened  and  a  portion  of  liquid  escape  at  o ; — the  quar.titv 

bo^of  the  tT^  h°7ever  be  very  sma11-  n°t  only  from  the  contracted 
bore  of  the  tube  but  from  the  fact  that  the  valve  would  be  open  only  a 

moment;  for  as  the  lever  became  inclined  from  its  horizontal  position  the 

p  eces  of  money  would  slide  off  into  the  mass  accumulated  at  H,  and  the 

efflux  would  as  quickly  be  stopped  :  the  apparatus  would  then  be  ready 

to  supply  the  next  customer  on  the  same  terms.  This  certainly  was  as 

simple  and  ingenious  a  mode  of  dealing  out  liquids  as  it  was  a  profitable 

ne,  and  after  all  was  not  half  so  demoralizing  as  the  retailing  of  ardent 
spirits  in  modern  times.  ° 

One  would  suppose  the  publication  of  such  a  work  as  Heron’s  Spiri- 
fs  soZSV  ?V\befn  asdistastefulto  the  occupants  of  ancient  temples, 
VatiXn  °f  L  her  ®  wntlnSs  were  t0  Leo  X  and  his  associates  of  the 

8^2,“!”'““  '!ain<llle  .qua 


388 


On  Steam. 


[Book  IV. 


CHAPTE  R  III. 


On  steam:  Miserable  condition  of  the  great  portion  of  the  human  race  in  past  times — Brighter  prospects 
for  posterity — Inorganic  motive  forces — Wonders  of  steam — Its  beneficial  influence  on  man  ’sfuture  destiny 
— Will  supersede  nearly  all  human  drudgery — Progress  of  the  arts — Cause  why  steam  was  not  formerly 
employed — Pots  boiling  over  and  primitive  experiments  by  females — Steam  an  agent  in  working  prodi¬ 
gies — Priests  familiar  with  steam — Sacrifices  boiled — Seething  bones — Earthquakes — Anthemius  and 
Zeno— Hot  baths  at  Rome — Ball  supported  on  a  jet  of  steam,  from  the  Spiritalia — Heron’s  whirling 
eolipile — Steam  engines  on  the  same  principle — Eolipiles  described  by  Vitruvius — Their  various  uses — 
Heraldic  device — Eolipiles  from  Rivius — Cupelo  furnace  and  eolipile,  from  Erckers — Similar  applica¬ 
tions  of  steam  revived  and  patented — Eolipiles  of  the  human  form — Ancient  tenures — Jack  of  Hilton — 
Puster,  a  steam  deity  of  the  ancient  Germans — Ingenuity  of  the  priests  in  constructing  and  working  it — 
Supposed  allusions  to  eolipilic  idols  in  the  bible — Employed  in  ancient  wars  to  project  streams  of  liquid 
fire— Draft  of  chimneys  improved,  perfumes  dispersed,  and  music  produced  by  eolipiles — Eolipiles  the 
germ  of  modern  steam  engines. 


If  we  contemplate  the  past  history  of  man,  we  shall  find  that,  with  a 
few  insignificant  exceptions,  the  entire  race  has  been,  as  it  were,  doomed 
to  support  an  existence  surcharged  with  misery.  From  the  earliest  pe¬ 
riods  of  recorded  time,  we  behold  the  great  mass  slaves  to  an  organized 
despotism  which  a  few  crafty  spirits  entailed  upon  the  species — a  despo¬ 
tism  both  mental  and  physical — to  subdue  the  body  and  enthrall  the  mind 
— political  and  ecclesiastical  despotism.  To  the  neglect  of  mental  cultiva¬ 
tion  alone,  these  evils  are  to  be  attributed  ;  for  in  every  age  men  have  had 
the  same  elements  of  prosperity  and  of  happiness.  The  earth  and  its 
treasures  have  always  been  at  their  disposal,  and  the  natural  capacities  of 
the  human  intellect,  have  probably  always  been  the  same.  It  is  the  im¬ 
provement  of  these  capacities  by  culture,  and  their  degeneracy  by  neglect, 
that  make  all  the  differences  in  men’s  condition.  The  horrible  sufferings 
of  the  myriads  of  human  beings  who  have  passed  through  a  life  of  un¬ 
ceasing  and  unrequited  toil,  were  owing  to  their  ignorance,  and  hence  the 
tyrants  of  the  earth  have  always  labored,  and  still  labor,  to  keep  those 
uninformed  that  are  subject  to  their  sway.  Ignorance  was  the  grand  en¬ 
gine  by  which  the  most  atrocious  systems  of  tyranny,  superstition  and 
magic  were  established  in  ancient  times  ;  and  whose  influences  are  not 
yet  done  away. 

But  within  the  last  two  centuries  a  new  era  has  opened  with  brighter 
prospects  for  the  human  family  at  large,  than  has  ever  yet  dawned  upon 
it.  An  era  that  has  been  ushered  in  by  the  discovery,  or  rather  applica¬ 
tion,  of  a  new  motive  agent,  viz.  steam.  The  wonderful  effects  which 
this  fluid  has  been  made  to  produce,  are  so  creditable  to  the  human  intel¬ 
lect,  and  so  fraught  with  consequences  of  the  highest  import  to  our 
race  in  all  times  to  come,  as  to  excite  even  in  the  most  torpid  minds 
emotions  of  stirring  interest.  Steam  is  changing  every  thing,  and  every 
thing  for  the  better.  It  has  opened  new  sources  of  social  and  indi¬ 
vidual  happiness  :  nor  is  its  influence  confined  to  the  physical  condi¬ 
tion  of  man,  for  by  its  connection  with  the  manufacture  of  paper  and  with 
the  printing  press,  it  has  done  more  to  rouse  and  exercise  the  moral  and 


Chap.  3.] 


Future  Destiny  of  Man. 


389 

intellectual  energies  of  our  nature  than  any  thing  else;  and  has  imparted 
a  vigorous  impulse  to  them,  as  well  as  to  the  useful  arts.  As  all  the  ad¬ 
vantages  derived  in  modern  times  from  steam  originated  in  attempts  to 
raise  water  by  it,  we  need  offer  no  apology  for  indulging  in  some  preli¬ 
minary  remarks.  b  ^ 

.  ^kat  a  proof  is  steam  of  the  stores  of  motive  forces  that  are  to  be  found 
in  the  inorganic  world  !  Forces  that  can  render  us  incalculable  service 
it  we  would  but  open  our  eyes  to  detect,  and  exercise  our  energies  to 
employ  them.  Who  could  have  supposed  two  centuries  ago,  that  the  sim¬ 
ple  vapor  of  water  would  ever  be  used  as  a  substitute  for  human  exertions, 
and  should  relieve  man  from  a  great  portion  of  the  physical  toil  under 
which  he  has  groaned  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  1  That  it  would 
arm  him  with  a  power  which  is  irresistible,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most 
pliant— one  that  can  uproot  a  mountain,  and  yet  be  controlled  by  a  child  ' 
Who  could  have  then  imagined  that  a  vessel  of  boiling  water  should  im¬ 
part  motion  to  machinery  in  every  department  of  the  arts,  and  be 
.  equally  adapted  to  all— should  spin  and  weave  threads  fine  as  those  of  the 
gossamer ;  and  forge  tons  of  iron  into  single  bars  with  almost  equal  rapi¬ 
dity  and  ease— raise  water  from  mines,  in  streams  equal  to  rivers  ;  and 
extract  mountains  of  mineral  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth — should 
propel  carriages,  such  as  no  horses  could  move,  with  the  velocity  of  wind  • 
and  urge  ships  of  every  class  through  the  ocean,  in  spite  both  of  winds 
and  waves— should  be  the  means  of  circulating  knowledge  at  the  price  of 
waste  paper,  and  of  awakening  and  stimulating  the  mental  capacities 
°t  men  .  In  a  word,  that  a  little  aqueous  vapor  should  revolutionize  the 

whole  social  and  political  condition  of  man :  and  that  after  having  done 

a  1  thls>  “*at  it  should  probably  give  place  to  other  agents,  still  more 
P~  and  beneficial,  which  science  and  observation  should  discover. 

What  a  proof  is  steam  of  the  high  destiny  that  awaits  our  species! 
Ihe  most  fervid  imagination  cannot  realize  the  importance  of  those  disco¬ 
veries  in  science  and  the  arts,  of  which  it  is  merely  the  forerunner  ;  the 
hrSt  m  that  new  catalogue  of  motive  agents  that  are  ordained  to  change 
the  condition  of  men,  and  to  regenerate  the  earth ;  for  all  that  is  yet  done 
is  but  as  the  twilight  that  ushers  in  the  orb  of  day.  Hitherto  man  has 
been,  comparatively,  asleep,  or  in  a  state  resembling  it — insensible  of  the 
ric  i  inheritance  which  the  Creator  has  placed  at  his  disposal  in  the  elas¬ 
tic  fluids,  and  of  their  adaptation  to  impart  motion  to  every  species  of  me¬ 
chanism.  How  few  persons  are  aware  that  the  grand  invention  of 
imparting  motion  to  a  piston  by  steam  and  other  elastic  fluids,  is  the  pivot 
on  which  the  chief  affairs  of  the  world  is  destined  hereafter  to  turn? 
And  the  time  is  not  distant  when,  by  means  of  it,  the  latent  energy  of  the 
gases,  or  other  properties  of  inert  matter,  will  supersede,  in  a  great  de¬ 
gree,  the  drudgery  of  man— will  perform  nearly  all  the  labor  which  the 
bones  and  sinews  of  our  species  have  hitherto  been  doomed  to  accomplish. 

I  here  are  persons,  however,  whose  minds  biased  by  the  eternal  bondage 
m  which  the  mass  of  our  race  has  always  been  held,  who  will  startle 
at  the  idea  of  the  whole  becoming  an  intelligent  and  highly  intellectual 
body.  I  hey  cannot  conceive  how  the  affairs  of  life  are  to  be  continued 
the  execution  of  innumerable  works  which  the  constitution  of  society 
requires  should  be  performed,  if  these  helots  become  free.  But  can  they, 
can  any  one  seriously  believe  that  the  all-wise  and  benevolent  Creator 
could  possibly  have  intended  that  the  highest  class  of  beings  which  he 
as  p  acec  on  this  planet— the  only  one  capable  of  appreciating  his 
works  and  realizing  correct  ideas  of  his  attributes — that'  the  great  por¬ 
tion  of  these,  should  pass  through  life  in  ^incessantly  toiling  for  mere 


390 


Benefits  to  be  derived  from  Steam.  [Book  IV. 

food ; — and  undergoing  privations  and  sufferings  to  obtain  it,  from  which 
the  lowest  animals  are  exempt  1  Assuredly  not.  -Had  such  been  his 
design,  he  would  not  have  created  them  with  faculties  expressly  adapted 
for  nobler  pursuits. 

It  is  the  glory  of  modern  science,  that  it  calls  into  legitimate  use 
both  the  physical  and  mental  powers  of  man.  It  rewards  him  with  nu¬ 
merous  forces  derived  from  inanimate  nature,  and  instructs  him  in  the 
application  of  them,  to  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  purposes  of  life  ;  and  even¬ 
tually  it  will  require  from  him  no  greater  amount  of  physical  toil,  than 
what  conduces  to  the  full  development  of  all  the  energies  of  his  com¬ 
pound  nature.  It  is  destined  to  awaken  that  mass  of  intellect  which  has 
hitherto  lain  dormant,  and  been  all  but  buried  in  the  laboring  classes  ; 
and  to  bring  it  into  active  exercise  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole.  And  for 
aught  we  know,  the  “  neiv  earth”  spoken  of  in  the  scriptures,  may  refer 
to  that  state  of  society,  when  science  has  thus  relieved  man  from  all  inju 
rious  labor — when  he  will  walk  erect  upon  the  earth  and  subdue  it, 
rather  by  his  intellect  than  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow — when  the  curse  of 
ignorance  will  be  removed,  and  with  it  the  tremendous  punishment  that 
has  ever  attended  it.  Then  men  will  no  longer  enter  in  shoals  into  a  new 
state  of  existence  in  another  world,  as  utterly  ignorant  of  the  wonders  of 
creative  wisdom  in  this,  as  if  they  had  never  been  in  it,  and  had  not  pos¬ 
sessed  faculties  expressly  adapted  to  study  and  enjoy  them. 

There  is  no  truth  in  the  observation  of  some  people,  that  all  discoveries 
of  importance  are  already  made  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  era  of  scientific 
research  and  the  application  of  science  to  the  arts  may  be  considered  as 
but  commenced.  The  works  of  creation  will  forever  furnish  materials  for 
the  exercise  of  the  most  refined  intellects,  and  will  reward  their  labors 
with  a  perpetual  succession  of  new  discoveries.  The  progress  which  has 
been  made  in  investigating  the  laws  that  govern  the  aqueous,  atmospheri¬ 
cal,  mineral  and  vegetable  parts  of  creation,  is  but  a  prelude  to  what  is 
yet  to  be  done — it  is  but  the  clearing  of  the  threshold  preparatory  to  the 
portals  of  the  temple  of  science  being  thrown  open  to  the  world  at  large. 
There  is  no  profession  however  matured,  no  art  however  advanced,  that 
is  not  capable  of  further  improvement ;  or  that,  so  far  as  we  can  tell,  will 
not  always  be  capable  of  it.  If  an  art  be  carried  to  the  utmost  perfection 
it  is  capable  of  in  one  age,  discoveries  in  others  will  in  time  be  made,  by 
means  of  which  it  will  be  still  further  advanced  ;  for  every  improvement 
in  one  has  an  effect,  more  or  less  direct,  on  every  other. 

The  benefits  already  derived  from  steam,  then,  are  but  as  a  drop  to 
the  ocean  when  compared  with  those  that  posterity  will  realize ;  for  if 
such  great  things  have  been  accomplished  by  it  in  one  century,  what  may 
not  be  expected  in  another  1  and  another  'i  It  has  been  calculated  that 
two  hundred  men,  with  machinery  moved  by  steam,  now  manufacture  as 
much  cotton  as  would  require  twenty  millions  of  persons  without  ma¬ 
chines;  that  is,  one  man  by  the  application  of  inorganic  motive  agents  can 
now  produce  the  same  amount  of  work  that  formerly  required  one  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  men.  The  annual  product  of  machinery  in  Great  Britain, 
a  mere  spot  on  the  earth,  would  require  the  physical  energies  of  one  half 
the  inhabitants  of  the  globe,  or  four  hundred  millions  of  men  :  and  the 
various  applications  of  steam  in  different  parts  of  the  world  now  produce 
an  amount  of  useful  labor,  which  if  performed  by  manual  strength  would 
require  the  incessant  exertions  of  every  human  being.  Hence  this  great 
amount  of  labor  is  so  much  gained,  since  it  is  the  result  of  inorganized 
forces,  and  consequently  contributes  so  much  to  the  sum  of  human  happi¬ 
ness.  Now  if  such  results  have  been  brought  about  so  quickly  and  by 


Chap.  3.] 


Primitive  Experiments  with  Steam. 


391 


steam  alone,  what  may  not  be  expected  from  it,  and  other  aeriform  fluids, 
in  ages  to  come,  when  the  progressive  improvement  of  every  art  and 
every  science  shall  have  brought  to  light  not  only  other  agents  of  the  kind, 
but  more  efficient  means  of  employing  them  1  There  is  no  end  to  the 
beneficial  applications  of  the  gases  as  motive  agents,  and  no  limits  to  the 
power  to  be  derived  from  them.  As  long  as  rain  falls  or  rivers  flow — 
while  trees  (for  fuel)  grow,  or  mineral  coal  is  found,  man  can  thus  wield 
a  power  that  renders  him  almost  omnipotent. 

The  question  may  be  asked,  why  was  not  the  elastic  force  of  steam 
earlier  used  as  a  source  of  motive  power  ?  Because,  as  we  observed  be¬ 
fore,  men  neglected  to  employ  those  powers  of  reflection  and  invention 
which  God  had  given  them.  It  certainly  formed  no  part  of  the  Creator’s 
plan  of  governing  the  world  that  they  should  have  so  long  remained  ig¬ 
norant  of  its  application.  He  has  placed  man  at  the  head  of  creation  and 
furnished  him  with  powers  appropriate  to  his  position.  Every  object  in 
nature  he  can  use  for  good  or  for  evil.  They  are  the  materials  from 
which  he  may,  as  an  expert  machinist,  fabricate  at  will  all  that  his  wants 
require  :  he  may  prostitute  them  to  the  miseries  of  himself  and  his  fel¬ 
lows  ;  or  he  may  neglect  them  to  the  injury  of  all.  It  is  the  order  of 
nature  that  her  latent  resources  shall  be  discovered  and  applied  by  diligent 
research.  Hence  some  of  the  finest  specimens  of  the  Creator’s  wisdom 
can  only  be  appreciated  after  careful  study,  a  fact  which  is  itself  a  proof 
of  his  wisdom  and  beneficence,  since  their  realization  is  thus  held  out 
as  an  inducement  to  investigate  them. 

Steam  has  of  course  been  noticed  ever  since  the  heating  of  water  and 
boiling  of  victuals  were  practiced.  The  daily  occurrence  implied  by  the 
expression  “  the  pot  boils  over”  was  as  common  in  antediluvian  as  in  mo¬ 
dern  times  ;  and  hot  water  thus  raised  was  one  of  the  earliest  observed 
facts  connected  with  the  evolution  of  vapor.  From  allusions  in  the  most 
ancient  writings,  we  may  gather  that  the  phenomena  exhibited  by  steam 
were  closely  observed  of  old.  Thus  Job  in  describing  Leviathan  alludes 
to  the  puffs  or  volumes  that  issue  from  under  the  covers  of  boiling  vessels. 
“  By  his  neesings  a  light  doth  shine,  and  his  eyes  are  like  the  eyelids  of 
the  morning ;  out  of  his  nostrils  goeth  smoke  [steam]  as  out  of  a  seething 
pot  or  cauldron.”  In  the  early  use  of  the  vessels  last  named,  and  before 
experience  had  rendered  the  management  of  them  easy  and  safe,  females 
would  naturally  endeavour  to  prevent  the  savory  contents  of  their  pots 
from  flying  off  in  vapor  ;  hence  attempts  to  confine  it  by  covers ;  and 
when  these  did  not  fit  sufficiently  close,  a  cloth  or  some  similar  substance 
interposed  between  it  and  the  edge  of  the  vessel,  would  readily  occur ; 
and  a  stone  or  other  weight  placed  upon  the  top  to  keep  all  tight  would 
also  be  very  natural.  Then  as  the  fluid  began  again  to  escape,  further 
efforts  would  be  made  to  retain  it  by  additional  weights.  In  this  manner, 
doubtless  many  a  contest  was  kept  up  between  a  pot  and  its  owner,  till 
one  gained  the  victory  ;  and  we  need  not  the  testimony  of  historians  to 
determine  which  this  was.  In  those  times  it  was  not  generally  known 
that  a  boiling  cauldron  contained  a  spirit,  impatient  of  control — that  the 
vessel  was  the  generator  of  an  irresistible  power,  and  the  cover  a  safety- 
valve  ;  and  that  the  preservation  of  the  contents  and  the  security  of 
the  operator  depended  upon  letting  the  cover  alone,  or  not  overloading 
it : — hence  it  no  doubt  often  happened  that  the  confined  vapor  threw  out 
the  contents  with  violence,  and  then  it  was  that  primitive  cooks  began  to 
perceive  that  there  was  death  as  well  as  life  in  a  boiling  pot.  In  this 
manner,  we  suppose  females  were  the  first  experimenters  on  steam,  and 
the  earliest  witnesses  of  steam  boiler  explosions. 


392 


Ancient  Tricks  'performed  by  Steam. 


[Book  IV 


The  domestic  exhibitions  of  the  force  of  steam  must  have  excited  the 
attention  of  mechanicians  in  every  age,  nor  could  its  capabilities  of  over¬ 
coming  resistances  opposed  to  it,  have  escaped  them.  Thus  we  find  that 
experimenters  are  almost  always  said  to  have  derived  the  first  hint  from 
a  culinary  vessel  :  hence  the  Marquis  of  Worcester,  according  to  a  tradi¬ 
tion,  had  his  attention  drawn  to  the  use  of  this  fluid  to  raise  water,  by 
witnessing,  while  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  London,  the  lid  of  a  boiler 
thrown  off  by  the  vapor — but  the  anecdote  is  of  much  older  date,  and 
was  applied  to  many  others  before  his  time  as  well  as  since.  Vitruvius 
illustrates  his  views  respecting  the  appearance  of  springs  on  mountains, 
by  a  cauldron  which,  he  says,  when  two  thirds  filled  with  water  and  heat¬ 
ed  ffy  the  fire,  “  communicates  the  heat  to  the  water ;  and  this  on  account 
of  its  natural  porosity,  receiving  a  strong  inflation  from  the  heat,  not  only 
fills  the  vessel,  but  swelling  with  the  steam  and  raising  the  cover ,  over¬ 
flows,”  &c.  (Book  viii,  chap.  3.)  Such  occurrences  are  nature’s  hints, 
by  attention  to  which  important  discoveries  have  always  been  made. 
Even  when  people  in  former  limes  were  injured  by  the  'explosion  of  a 
cauldron,  the  misfortune  should  have  been  considered  as  an  indication  of 
nature  to  employ  the  force  thus  developed — and  also  as  a  punishment 
for  having  neglected  to  do  so.  Nay,  we  don’t  see  why  such  occurrences 
may  not,  in  this  view  of  them,  be  considered  providential,  as  well  as  simi¬ 
lar  ones,  which  theological  writers  avail  themselves  of,  to  establish  a 

similar  doctrine. 

* 

There  are  intimations  that  the  elastic  force  of  steam  was  employed  by 
several  people  of  antiquity,  but  the  details  of  its  application  are  unfortu¬ 
nately  not  known.  Some  relics  of  its  use,  as  well  as  that  of  heated  air, 
are  to  be  found  in  the  deceptions  practiced  by  the  heathen  priesthood.  Its 
application  for  similar  purposes  was  continued  till  comparatively  modern 
times,  for  it  was  the  animating  principle  in  the  eolipilic  idols  of  the  middle 
ages  ;  and,  from  an  incidental  notice  of  some  experiments  of  a  Greek  archi¬ 
tect,  it  is  probable  that  the  trembling  of  the  earth,  and  other  horrors  expe¬ 
rienced  by  those  who  were  initiated  into  the  greater  mysteries  of  ancient 
worship,  were  also  effected  by  steam.  Artificial  thunder,  lightning  from 
the  vapor  of  inflammable  liquids,  and  unearthly  music,  were  produced  by 
its  means.  Some  of  the  tricks  performed  by  the  Pythoness  and  her  co¬ 
adjutors  at  Delphos  seemed  to  have  been  matured  by  it.  The  famous 
tripod  against  which  she  leaned  is  represented  as  a  brazen  vessel -from 
which  a  miraculous  vapor  arose.  Steam  was  one  of  the  agents  of  decep¬ 
tion  in  trials  of  ordeal.  Those  persons  condemned  to  undergo  that  of 
boiling  water,  were  protected  by  the  priests  (when  it  was  their  interest 
or  inclination  to  do  so)  by  admitting  a  concealed  stream  of  steam  into  the 
lower  part  of  the  cauldron  containing  tepid  water — the  consequent  agita¬ 
tion  of  the  liquid  and  the  ascent  of  the  vapor  that  escaped  condensation 
presented  to  the  ignorant  and  unsuspecting  beholders  every  appearance 
of  genuine  ebullition.  On  similar  occasions  air  was  forced  through  the 
liquid  in  the  dark  ages. 

Ancient  priests,  both  among  the  Jews  and  heathen,  were  from  their 
ordinary  duties  necessarily  conversant  with  the  generation  of  steam.  Its 
elastic  force  could  not  therefore  escape  the  shrewd  observers  among  them. 
Sacrifices  were  frequently  boiled  in  huge  cauldrons,  several  of  which  were 
permanently  fixed  in  the  vicinity  of  temples — in  “  the  boiling  places”  as 
their  locations  are  named  by  Ezekiel,  “  where  the  ministers  of  the  house 
shall  boil  the  sacrifice  of  the  people.’’  (See  an  example  from  Herodotus 
at  page  200.)  It  would  seem  moreover  as  if  some  of  the  boilers  were 
made  on  the  principle  of  Papin’s  Digester,  in  which  bones  were  softened 


Anthemius  and  Zeno. 


393 


Chap.  3.] 

by  *  high  steam’ — at  any  rate  a  distinction  is  made  between  seething  pots 
and  cauldrons,  and  from  the  manner  in  which  both  are  mentioned  they 
seem  to  have  been  designed  for  different  purposes  ;  the  former  to  seethe 
or  soften  bones,  the  latter  to  boil  the  flesh  in  only.  “  They  roasted  the 
passover  with  fire,  but  the  other  offerings  sod  they  in  pots  and  in  caul¬ 
drons.”  (2  Chr.  chap,  xxxv,  13.)  “Set  on  a  pot,  set  it  on,  and  also 
\  pour  water  into  it.  Gather  the  pieces  thereof  into  it,  even  every  good 
'  piece,  the  thigh  and  the  shoulder  ;  fill  it  with  the  choice  bones.  Take 
the  choice  of  the  flock  and  burn  [or  heap]  also  the  bones  under  it,  and  make 
it  boil  well,  and  let  them  seethe  the  bones  of  it  therein.”  (Ezek.  xxiv.  3,  5.) 
The  opinion  of  the  Jews  having  close  vessels  in  which  steam  was  raised 
higher  than  in  common  cauldrons  is  also  rendered  probable  from  the  fact 
that  the  Chinese,  a  contemporary  people,  employ  similar  ones,  and  which 
from  their  tenacity  to  ancient  devices  have  probably  been  used  by  them 
from  times  anterior  to  those  of  the  prophet.  (Davis’  Chinese,  ii,  271. 
John  Bell’s  Travels,  i,  296  and  ii,  13.) 

Similar  processes  have  been  common  with  chemists  in  all  ages,  in  the 
making  of  extracts,  and  sometimes  in  preparing  food.  There  is  an  ex¬ 
ample  in  Porta’s  Natural  Magic.  He  tells  us  (in  the  xiii  chap,  on  distil¬ 
lation)  that  he  has  restored  persons  at  the  point  of  death  to  health  by  “  an 
essence  extracted  out  of  flesh.”  He  directs  three  capons  to  be  dressed 
and  boiled  “  a  whole  day  in  a  glass  vessel  close  stopt,  until  the  bones  and 
flesh  and  all  the  substance  be  dissolved  into  liquor.” 

Some  of  the  ancient  philosophers,  who  were  close  observers  of  nature, 
compared  the  earth  to  a  cauldron,  in  which  water  is  heated  by  internal 
fires;  and  they  explained  the  phemonena  of  earthquakes  by  the  accumu¬ 
lation  of  steam  in  subterraneous  caverns,  until  its  elastic  energy  rends  the 
superincumbent  strata  for  a  vent.  Vitruvius  explains  by  it  the  existence 
of  boiling  springs.  In  the  reign  of  Justinian,  Anthemius,  an  architect  and 
mathematician  illustrated  several  natural  phenomena  by  it;  but  of  this  we 
should  probably  never  have  heard,  had  it  not  been  for  a  quarrel  between 
him  and  his  next  door  neighbor,  Zeno,  the  rhetorician.  This  orator 
appears  to  have  inherited  a  considerable  share  of  credulity  and  supersti¬ 
tion,  which  gave  his  antagonist  the  advantage.  Anthemius,  we  are  in¬ 
formed,  had  several  steam  boilers  in  the  lower  part  of  his  house,  from 
each  of  which  a  pipe  conveyed  the  vapor  above,  and  by  some  mechanism, 
of  which  no  account  has  been  preserved,  he  shook  the  house  of  his  enemy 
as  by  a  real  earthquake,  upon  which  the  frightened  Zeno  rushed  to  the 
senate  “  and  declared  in  a  tragic  style  that  a  mere  mortal  must  yield  to 
the  power  of  an  antagonist  who  shook  the  earth  with  the  trident  of 
Neptune.” 

There  are  reasons  for  believing  that  the  expansive  force  of  the  steam 
which  was  evolved  in  heating  the  immense  volumes  of  water  for  the  hot 
baths  at  Rome,  was  employed  to  elevate  and  discharge  the  contents  of  the 
boilers.  Sir  W.  Gell  has  given,  in  his  Pompeiana,  a  representation  of  a 
set  of  cauldrons  belonging  to  the  Thermae,  at  Pompeii,  derived  from  im¬ 
pressions  left  in  the  mortar  or  cement  in  which  they  were  embedded.  It 
would  seem  that  several  series  or  sets  were  used,  each  consisting  of  three 
close  boilers  (in  shape  not  unlike  modern  stills,)  placed  directly  upon,  and 
connected  by  pipes  to  each  other.  The  manner  in  which  they  were  con¬ 
nected  is  not  known;  Gell  says  by  a  species  of  siphon.  The  lowest 
boiler  was  the  largest  and  was  placed  directly  over  the  furnace;  and  the 
arrangement  was  such,  that  when  any  part  of  the  boiling  liquid  was  with¬ 
drawn,  an  equal  quantity,  already  warmed,  entered  from  the  next  boiler 
above,  which  at  the  same  time  derived  a  supply  from  the  uppermost  one ; 

50 


394 


Eolipiles,  from  Heron. 


[Book  IV. 


this  last  being  always  kept  filled  by  a  pipe  from  the  aqueduct  or  castel- 
lum.  Remains  of  the  pipes,  cocks,  copper  flues,  &c.  have  been  found  in 
abundance,  but  the  details  of  the  heating  apparatus  and  those  connected 
with  the  elevation  and  distribution  of  the  liquid  have  not  been  ascer¬ 
tained  :  this  is  to  be  regretted  because,  from  the  number  and  magnitude 
of  the  hot  baths  at  Rome,  the  operations  of  boiling  and  dispersing  the 
water  must  have  been  conducted  on  a  scale  far  more  extensive  than  any 
thins:  in  modern  times — the  most  extensive  breweries  and  distilleries 
not  excepted.  Some  idea  of  the  operations  may  be  derived  from  the  fact 
that  a  single  establishment  could  accommodate  two  thousand  persons  with 
warm,  or  rather  hot,  baths  at  the  same  time.  Seneca,  in  a  letter  to  Luci- 
lius,  says  “  there  is  no  difference  between  the  heat  of  the  baths  and  a 
boiling  furnace  and  it  would,  he  observes,  appear  to  a  reasonable  man 
as  a  sufficient  punishment  to  wash  a  condemned  criminal  in  them.  The 
persons  who  had  the  charge  of  heating  in  close  vessels  and  distributing 
daily  such  large  quantities  of  water,  must  necessarily  have  been  conver¬ 
sant  with  the  mechanical  properties  of  steam,  and  with  economical  modes 
of  generating  it.  In  some  cases  the  water  was  heated  by  passing  through 
a  coiled  copper  tube,  like  a  distiller’s  worm,  which  was  embedded  in  fire. 
We  have  previously  remarked  that  the  Romans  also  heated  water  by 
making  it  pass  through  the  hollow  grates  of  a  furnace.  (See  Pompeii, 
vol.  i,  196,  and  Gell’s  Pompeiana.) 

Besides  the  various  applications  of  heated  air  and  of  vapor  already 
noticed,  there  is  in  problem  XLV  of  Heron’s  Spiritalia,  a  description  of 
a  close  boiler,  from  the  upper  part  of  which  a  current  issues  that  supports 
at  some  distance  above  the  boiler  a  light  ball  like  those  that  are  made  to 
play  on  jets  of  water.  (See  the  annexed  figure,  No.  179.)  The  whir¬ 
ling  eolipile,  No.  180,  is  the  subject  of  problem  L — and  is  the  earliest 
representation  of  a  machine  moved  by  steam  that  is  extant.  It  consists 

of  a  small  hollow  sphere,  from 
Eolipiles,  from  Heron.  which  two  short  tubes  proceed 

in  the  line  of  its  axis,  and  whose 
ends  are  bent  in  opposite  direc¬ 
tions.  The  sphere  is  suspend¬ 
ed  between  two  columns,  their 
upper  ends  being  pointed  and 
bent  towards  each  other.  One 
of  these  columns  was  hollow  and 
conveyed  steam  from  the  boiler 
into  the  sphere,  and  the  escape 
of  the  vapor  from  the  small 
tubes  by  its  reaction  imparted  a 
revolving  motion  to  the  sphere. 
These  two  applications  of  steam 
have  been  considered  the  result 
of  a  fortunate  random  thought, 
which  Heron,  or  some  other  old 
mechanic,  stumbled  on  by  a  species  of  chance  medley,  whereas  they  cer¬ 
tainly  indicate  an  intimate  though  it  may  be  a  limited  acquaintance  with 
the  mechanical  properties  of  that  fluid.  We  should  never  suppose  that 
this  elegant  application  of  the  jet  to  sustain  a  ball  in  the  air  was  the  fruit 
of  a  first  attempt  to  use  steam,  much  less  that  the  complex  movement  of 
the  whirling  eolipile  was  another  thought  of  the  moment.  Did  any 
modern  experimenter  in  hydraulics  ever  hit  upon  the  suspension  of  a  ball 
by  a  jet  of  water  in  his  first  essays,  or  devise  Barker’s  mill  at  a  sitting, 


No.  179. 


No.  180. 


Chap.  3.] 


Eolipiles  described  by  Vitruvius. 


395 

without  having  ever  heard  of  either?  No  more  than  any  old  mechanician 
ever  invented  the  above  before  experimental  researches  on  steam  had  be¬ 
came  familiar  to  him  if  not  to  his  contemporaries.  Besides,  there  have 
been  within  the  last  half  century  not  less  than  half  a  dozen  patents  taken 
out  for  rotary  steam  engines  identical  in  principle  with  the  whirling 
eo  ipile.  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  Heron  selected  the  two  devices 
above,  on  the  same  principle  as  the  rest  of  the  illustrations,  i.  e.  such  as 
m  his  judgment  would  be  the  most  interesting0 

From  a  remark  of  Vitruvius  in  the  first  book  of  his  Architecture,  chap.  6 
we  learn  that  those  portable  steam  machines  named  Eolipiles ,  (from  Eolus 
the  god  of  wind,  and  their  application  to  create  artificial  winds)  were  in 
common  use  in  his  time.  Speaking  of  the  town  of  Mytilene,  he  observes 
that  the  inhabitants  were  subject  to  colds,  in  those  seasons  when  cer¬ 
tain  winds  blew;  and  which  might  have  been  in  some  degree  avoided 
by  a  more  proper  disposition  of  the  streets.  “  Wind,  [he  remarks]  is  only 
a  current  of  air,  flowing  with  uncertain  motion  ,* — it  arises  from  the  action 

1  hea^,UP°"  raoisture~tlie  vlolence  of  the  heat  forcing  out  the  blasts  of 
air.  _  ihat  this  is  the  fact,  the  brass  eolipiles  make  evident for  the  op¬ 
erations  of  the  heavem  and  nature  may  be  discovered  by  the  action  of 
artificial  machines.  These  brass  eolipiles  are  hollow  and  have  a  very  nar¬ 
row  aperture,  by  which  they  arejilled  with  water,  and  then  placed  on  the 
fire:— before  they  become  hot,  they  emit  no  effluvia,  but  as  soon  as  the  icater 
begins  to  boil,  they  send  forth  a  vehement  blast  .”  As  these  instruments 
have  been  adapted  to  a  great  variety  of  purposes,  as  well  as  being-  inti¬ 
mately  connected  with  this  part  of  our  subject,  we  shall  notice  them  with 
some  detail.  From  the  times  of  Vitruvius  to  those  of  Des  Cartes,  and  up 
o  the  present  century,  they  have  been  used  as  philosophical  instruments 
to  illustrate  the  nature  of  winds  and  meteors,  as  well  as  for  other  scien¬ 
tific  pursuits.  They  were  used  as  substitutes  for  bellows  in  blast  furna¬ 
ces  and  ordinary  fires.  The  draft  of  chimneys  was  increased  by  means 
ol  them.  They  were  made  to  produce  music  and  disperse  perfumes. 

1  hey  constituted  the  distilling  vessels  of  the  alchymists,  and  in  another 
form  were  employed  as  weapons  of  war,  and  were  even  deified  in  the 
steam  idols  of  old.  They  were  the  first  instruments  employed  to  raise 
water  by  steam,  and  the  first  to  produce  motion  by  it ;  and  hence  they 
constitute  the  germ  of  modern  steam  engines,  to  which  we  may  add  that 

•l  Yo  \  ?/he  inventl0n  of  steam  guns.  (See  Martin’s  Philosophy,  vol. 
n,  90.)  I  hey  are  commonly  made  of  iron,  brass,  or  strong  copper,  hav¬ 
ing  a  short  neck  in  which  a  very  minute  opening  is  made.  In  order  to 
charge  one  with  water  (or  other  liquid)  it  is  placed  on  a  fire  until  nearly 
red  hot  ;  it  is  then  taken  off,  and  the  neck  placed  in  water  or  the  whole 
p  unged  in  it,  which,  as  the  vessel  cools,  takes  the  place  of  the  air  driven 
ou  iy  the  heat.  .  It  is  then  placed  on  a  brazier  of  charcoal  or  other  fire 
unti  steam  is  rapidly  evolved  and  discharged  with  violence  at  the  orifice. 

ltruvius  has  not  mentioned  the  particular  purposes  for  which  eolipiles 
were  used  by  the  Romans.  It  is  however  known  that  they  were  Em¬ 
ployed  as  bellows  for  exciting  fires ;  and  as  this  was  not  for  want  of  the 
atter  instruments,  they  must  have  had  properties  which  rendered  them 

ffarden'wfiTwfrkl1  7ater  and  air>  W,ere  a  favorite  accompaniment  of  the  old 

been  in  use ZiZlth*  t?J  &C'  of  ItaIy>  where  the  device  has  probably 

wK^srdic"w  ‘"b£  T1” ,he  ^  tchrs,,-,” z'oS 

wlmre  its  motions,  varymg  wuh  the  force  of  the  current,  produce  a  very  agreeable 


396 


Eolipiles from  Rivius  and  Cardan.  [Book  IV 

preferable,  on  some  occasions,  to  bellows.  One  perhaps  was  their  occu¬ 
pying  little  room  on  the  hearth ;  and  another,  their  requiring  no  attendant 
to  keep  up  the  blast.  It  has  already  been  observed  (page  237-8,)  that 
human  bellows-blowers  formed  part  of  the  large  domestic  establishments 
in  ancient  Egypt,  and  Nos.  103  and  104  of  our  illustrations  represent 
some  at  work  in  one  of  the  kitchens  of  the  Pharaohs.  The  practice  was 
probably  common  among  all  the  celebrated  nations  of  old,  and  we  know 
that  it  was  continued  in  Europe  till  the  sixteenth  century  if  not  later. 
To  supersede  these  workmen  might  therefore  have  been  one  reason  for 
the  employment  of  eolipiles. 

In  a  Latin  collection  of  “  Emblems  human  and  divine ,”  (Prague,  1601,) 
there  is  a  device  of  one  of  the  old  Counts  of  Hapsburg,  which  consists 
of  a  blowing  eolipile  with  a  stream  of  vapor  issuing  from  it,  and  the 
motto  Lcesus  Juvo.  (Vol.  ii,  372.)  The  same  device  is  also  given  in  a 
treatise  on  Heroic  Symbols,  Antwerp,  1634.  Hence  this  ancient  domes¬ 
tic  instrument  was  adopted  on  such  occasions  as  well  as  the  bellows, 
syringe,  watering  pot,  &c. 

Rivius  in  commenting  on  the  eolipiles  mentioned  by  Vitruvius  describes 
those  in  use  in  his  own  time,  (A.  D.  1548,)  and  gives  several  figures,  from 
which  we  have  selected  the  first  three  of  the  following  ones. 

Eolipiles,  from  Rivius  and  Cardan. 


^  No.  181.  No.  182.  No.  183.  No.  184. 

Rivius  names  them  “  wind  holders”  and  “  fire  blowers.”  He  says  they 
were  made  in  various  shapes  and  of  different  materials,  and  were  used 
“to  blow  the  fire  like  a  pair  of  bellows.”  Some,  designed  for  other  pur¬ 
poses,  that  will  presently  be  mentioned,  were  made  of  gold  or  silver  and 
richly  ornamented,  as  represented- above.  At  a  subsequent  period  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  Cardan  gave  a  figure  of  one.  (See  No.  184.)  Fludd, 
Porta  and  other  old  writers  also  describe  them.  The  latter,  in  book  xix, 
chap.  3,  of  his  Natural  Magic,  speaks  of  them  as  used  in  houses  to  blow 
fires.  Sir  Hugh  Platte,  in  1594,  published  a  figure  and  description  of 
“  a  rounde  ball  of  copper,  or  latton  [brass]  that  blows  the  fyre  verie 
stronglie  by  thq  attenuation  of  the  water  into  ay  re.” 

Bishop  Wilkins,  in  his  Mathematical  Magic,  (published  in  1648)  speaks 
of  eolipiles  as  then  common.  They  are  made,  he  observes,  “  of  some 
such  material  as  may  endure  the  fire,  having  a  small  hole,  at  which  they 
are  filled  with  water,  and  out  of  which  (when  the  vessels  are  heated)  the 
air  doth  issue  forth  with  a  strong  and  lasting  violence.  These  are  fre¬ 
quently  used  for  the  exciting  and  contracting  of  heat  in  the  melting  of 
glasses  or  inetals.  They  may  also  be  contrived  to  be  serviceable  for  sun¬ 
dry  other  pleasant  uses,  as  for  the  moving  of  sails  in  a  chimney  corner, 
the  motion  of  which  sails  may  be  applied  to  the  turning  of  a  spit,  or  the 
like.”  (Book  ii,  chap.  1.)  Ivircher  has  given  a  figure  of  an  eolipile 
turning  a  joint  of  meat,  (as  indicated  by  the  Bishop)  in  the  first  volume 


Chap.  3.]  Smelting  Ore  with  the  blast  of  an  Eolipile.  397 

of  his  Mundus  Subterraneus ,  page  203.)  We  do  not  remember  to  have 
met  with  a  figure  of  an  eolipile  applied  to  the  fusing  of  glass  or  metal, 
except  in  the  Aula  Subterranea  of  Lazarus  Erckers  (or  Erckern)  on  Me¬ 
tallurgy,  published  in  German,  in  1672,  and  which,  like  that  of  Agricola, 
is  illustrated  with  numerous  cuts.  The  author  was  superintendent  of  the 
mines  of  Hungary,  Germany,  and  the  Tyrol,  under  three  Emperors,  and 
his  work  is  said  to  contain  every  thing  necessary  to  be  known  in  the 
assaying  of  metals.  The  annexed  figure  is  copied  from  the  fifth  edition, 

(with  notes)  published  at  Frankfort  on 
the  Mayn,  in  1736.  It  is  named  Eine 
tupfferne  kugel  darinn  wasser  ist,  wird 
ubers  feuer  geseht,  und  an  statt  Eines 
blas-balgs  gebraacht,  and  is  represented 
as  smelting  copper  ore  in  a  cupelo  fur¬ 
nace.  Erckers  has  figured  it  twice — 
at  pages  1  and  136. 

It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  this 
mode  of  increasing  the  intensity  of 
fires  by  a  jet  of  steam  directed  into  the 
burning  fuel  has  recently  been  patent¬ 
ed  both  in  this  country  and  Europe. 
It  does  not  however  appear  to  have 
answered  the  expectations  formed  of 
it,  since  it  has  never  come  into  general 
use,  nor  are  we  aware  that  it  is  at 
present  employed  at  all.  Two  obvi¬ 
ous  discrepancies  between  ancient  and 
modern  applications  of  steam  for  such  purposes  may  here  be  noticed,  since 
they  will,  we  think,  account  for  the  failure  of  the  latter :  one  is  in  the 
nature  of  the  fuel — the  other  in  the  temperature  of  the  blast.  In  the  old 
eolipiles,  the  steam,  having  but  a  very  minute  passage  through  which  to 
escape,  was  raised  to  a  temperature  which  far  exceeded  that  which  is 
generated  in  ordinary  steam  engine  boilers — the  vapor  was  perfectly-  in¬ 
visible,  and  its  escape  only  known  by  the  sound  of  the  blast,  and  its  effect 
on  the  fire.  But  in  late  experiments  the  current  consisted  of  steam  loaded 
with  moisture — a  mass  of  aqueous  globules  poured  into  the  fire,  instead  of 
the  rarefied  and  glowing  aura  that  rushed  with  such  impetuous  velocity 
from  eolipiles.  The  powerful  effect  of  the  latter  on  fires  of  wood  and 
charcoal  is  unquestionable,  but  the  results  of  similar  blasts  on  other  kinds 
of  fuel  (as  stone  coal)  has  not  yet  we  believe  been  sufficiently  ascertained. 
Another  difference  consisted  in  the  dimensions  of  the  volumes  of  the 
blasts  : — the  one  from  the  eolipile  was  small  and  compact — that  of  the 
other  large  and  diffuse,  a  circumstance  that  may  account  still  further  for 
the  different  results;  for  it  should  be  remembered  that  in  using  an  eolipile 
it  is  not  the  jet  of  steam  alone  that  is  impelled  against  the  burning  fuel, 
but  a  volume  of  atmospheric  air  is  set  in  motion  by  the  blast  and  carried 
into  the  fire  along  with  it :  the  same  thing  takes  place  in  using  a  common 
bellows,  more  air  being  forced  against  the  fire  than  what  issues  from  the 
nozzle  ;  and  hence  as  the  velocity  of  the  jet  from  an  eolipile  was  much 
greater  and  the  jet  itself  smaller  than  those  of  modern  applications  of 
steam  for  the  same  purpose,  a  much  larger  proportion  of  air  was  also 
borne  along  with  it.  It  is  probable  that  on  particular  occasions  the  an¬ 
cients  filled  them  with  oil  or  spirituous  liquors  instead  of  water,  in  order 
to  promote  a  more  rapid  combustion. 

The  idea  of  increasing  the  heat  of  fires  by  water  is  very  old.  Pliny 


No.  185.  Smelting  ore  with  the  blast  of  an 
Eolipile. 


398 


Ancient  Tenures. 


[Book  IV. 


says  that  charcoal  which  has  been  wetted  gives  out  more  heat  than  that 
which  is  always  kept  dry.  (Nat.  Hist.  B.  xxxiii,  cap.  5.)  Dr.  Fryer 
speaks  of  “  water  cast  on  sea  coal”  rendering  the  heat  more  intense. 
(Travels,  Lon.  1698,  p.  290.) 

If  there  was  no  evidence  that  eolipiles  had  been  moulded  into  various 
shapes  of  men,  animals,  &c.  we  might  have  concluded  that  such  was  the 
fact  from  what  is  known  of  the  practice  of  the  ancients.  Whenever  the 
design,  action  or  movement  of  a  machine  or  implement  corresponded  at 
all  with  those  of  men,  it  was  sure  to  resemble  them  in  form,  if  its  use  could 
possibly  admit  of  it.  The  taste  for  such  things  jvas  universal  in  former 
times,  and  is  to  a  certain  extent  indulged  in  all  times.  It  seems  inhe¬ 
rent  in  savage  people ;  hence  then  -esque  and  monstrous  statues  or  idols, 
speaking  heads  ar  other  androidii  of  the  old  mechanics.  There  has  in 
fact  always  been  a  predominating  disposition  to  imitate  the  human  form; 
and  in  accordance  with  it,  eolipiles  were  made  to  assume  the  figures  of 
men,  boys,  &o.  the  blast  escaping  from  the  eyes,  mouth,  or  other  parts  of 
the  figure.  Even  so  late  as  the  seventeenth  century  we  are  told  that  “  to 
render  eolipiles  more  agreeable ,  they  commonly  make  them  in  the  form 
of  a  head,  with  a  hole  at  the  mouth.”  (Ozanam’s  Mathematical  and  Phy¬ 
sical  Recreations,  English  translation,  London,  1708,  419.)  It  was  in¬ 
deed  natural  that  these  machines  should  be  made  to  resemble  figures  of 
the  god  from  whom  they  were  named.  An  old  one  is  described  in  the 
Encyclopedia  of  Antiquities  as  “  made  in  the  shape  of  a  short  fat  man 
with  very  slender  arms,  in  a  curious  wig,  cheeks  extremely  swollen,  a 
hole  behind  for  filling  it,  and  a  small  one  at  the  mouth  for  the  blast.” 

Most  readers  are  aware  that  tenures  by  which  lands  were  held  in  the 
middle  ages  were  often  based  on  1  most  trifling  and  ridiculous  consi¬ 
derations.  Camden  has  noticed  a  gr.  j,„  number  in  his  Brittannia,  and  in 
the  description  of  the  county  of  Suffolk,  there  is  one  which  seems  to  have 
had  reference  to  the  employment  of  an  eolipile  ;  but  whether  it  had  or  not, 
there  is  in  Dr.  Plott’s  History  of  Shropshire  an  account  of  one  of  these 
“merry  tenures”  in  which  blowing  the  fire  with  an  eolipile  formed  part 
of  the  duty  required.  The  instrument  was  of  the  human  form  and  de¬ 
signated,  like  many  other  domestic  utensils,  by  the  soubriquet  “  Jack." 
“Jack  of  Hilton,  a  little  hollow  image  of  brass,  about  twelve  inches  high, 
with  his  right  hand  on  his  head  and  his  left  on  pego,”  blows  the  fire  in 
Hilton-hall  every  new  year’s  day,  while  the  Lord  of  Essington  drives  a 
goose  three  times  round  it,  before  it  is  to  be  roasted  and  eaten  by  the 
Lord  of  Hilton  or  his  deputy.  In  some  accounts  it  is  stated  that  the 
image  blew  the  fire  while  the  goose  was  roasting,  which  is  more  proba 
ble  than  the  other.  The  custom  is  supposed  to  have  been  continued  at 
Hilton-hall  from  the  tenth  or  eleventh  to  the  seventeenth  century.  This 
image  is  considered  by  some  writers  as  an  ancient  idol. 

From  the  above  use  of  eolipiles  it  will  be  perceived  that  there  is  a 
similar  analogy  between  them  and  machines  to  raise  water  by  steam,  as 
between  pumps  and  bellows  ;  every  device  for  blowing  a  fire  having  oeen 
used  to  raise  liquids. 

It  will  readily  be  imagined  that  these  blowing  images  offered  too  many 
advantages  to  escape  being  pressed  into  the  secret  services  of  the  temples, 
even  supposing  they  did  not  originate  in  them.  By  charging  the  interior 
with  different  fluids  the  results  could  be  varied  according  to  circum¬ 
stances,  and  if  an  inflammable  liouid  was  employed,  as  oil,  spirits  of  wine, 
turpentine,  &c.  &c.  streams  and  flashes  of  fire  could  be  made  to  shoot 
from  any  or  every  part  of  the  figure.  Enough  is  known  to  convince  us 
that  such  things  were  often  done.  Notwithstanding  all  the  care  of  the 


399 


Cap.  3.]  Puster,  a  Steam  Deity  of  the  Germans. 

old  priests  to  conceal,  and  when  concealment  was  impracticable  to  des¬ 
troy  their  apparatus,  some  specimens  of  their  machinery  have  come  down. 
In  the  fifteenth  or  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  an  eolipilic  idol  of 
the  ancient  Germans  was  found  in  making  some  excavations,  and  is  we 
believe  still  extant.  A  figure  of  it  is  inserted  in  the  second  volume  of 
Montfaucon’s  Antiquities.  It  is  made  of  a  peculiar  species  of  bronze  and 
is  between  three  and  four  feet  in  height,  and  the  body  two  and  a  half  in 
circumference.  Its  appearance  is  very  uncouth.  It  is  without  drapery, 
with  one  knee  on  the  ground,  the  right  hand  on  the  head,  and  the  left, 
which  is  broken  off,  rested  upon  the  thigh.  The  cavity  for  the  liquid 
holds  about  seven  gallons,  and  there  are  two  openings  for  the  escape  of 
the  vapor,  one  at  the  mouth  and  the  other  in  the  forehead.  These 
openings  were  stopped  with  plugs  of  wood,  and  the  priests  had  secret 
means  of  applying  the  fire.  It  appears  from  Weber  and  other  German 
writers  on  the  subject  that  this  idol  was  made  to  express  various  passions 
of  the  deity  it  represented,  with  a  view  to  extort  offerings  and  sacrifi¬ 
ces  from  the  deluded  worshippers;  and  that  the  liquid  was  inflammable. 
When  the  demands  of  the  priests  were  not  complied  with,  the  ire  of  the  gocl 
was  expressed  by  sweat  (steam)  oozing  from  all  parts  of  his  body  ;  and 
if  the  people  still  remained  obdurate,  his  fury  became  terrible  :  murmurs, 
bellowings,  and  even  thunderbolts  (the  wooden  plugs)  burst  from  him  ; 
flashes  or  streams  of  fire  rushed  from  his  mouth  and  head,  and  presently 
he  was  enveloped  in  clouds  of  smoke;  when  the  people,  horror  stricken, 
consented  to  comply  with  the  requisitions.  It  is  very  evident  from  the 
accounts  that  the  priests  had  the  means  of  rapidly  increasing  or  diminish¬ 
ing  the  intensity  of  the  fire,  as  the  disposition  of  the  worshippers  required 
the  idol  to  express  approbation  or  displeasure.  It  further  appears  that  the 
monks  in  the  middle  ages  made  use  of  this  idol,  and  found  it  not  the  least 
effectual  of  their  wonder-working  machines.  It  was  in  fact  in  this  man¬ 
ner  chiefly  that  the  great  body  of  ecclesiastics  then  maintained  their  in¬ 
fluence  over  the  multitude.  The  very  same  devices  which  their  prede¬ 
cessors  had  found  effectual  in  the  temples  of  Osiris,  Ceres,  and  Bacchus, 
were  repeated ;  and  such  images  of  the  heathen  gods  and  goddesses  as 
had  escaped  destruction  were  converted  into  those  of  Christian  saints, 
and  being  repaired  were  made  to  perform  the  same  miracles  which  they 
had  done  before  in  pagan  Greece  and  Rome.  Monks,  as  we  have  before 
observed,  were  then  the  most  expert  mechanicians,  and  some  of  their 
most  elaborate  productions  were  imitations  of  ancient  androidii — and 
the  speaking  heads  of  Bacon,  Robert  of  Lincoln,  Gerbert  and  Albertus, 
were  considered  proofs  of  an  intercourse  subsisting  between  their  owners 
and  spirits,  as  much  so  as  in  the  cases  of  Orpheus  and  Odin,  and  other 
magicians  of  old. 

The  name  of  the  German  idol  is  written  differently  :  Puster,  Pluster, 
Plusterich,  Buestard,  Busterich,  are  all  names  given  to  it  and  the  deity  it 
represents.  The  name  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the  Saxon  verb  pusten , 
to  blow — or  puster,  a  bellows  :  this  shows  its  connection  with  the  eolipile 
as  a  “  fire  blower ;  and  it  is  probable  that  from  these  eolipilic  idols  the 
term  JEolist,  “  a  pretender  to  inspiration,”  is  derived.  (See  Dictionary 
Trevoux.  Art.  Puster.)  This  ancient  steam  idol  was,  A.  D.  1546,  placed 
for  safe  keeping  in  the  fortress  of  Sunderhausen,  where  it  remained  dur¬ 
ing  the  last  century. 

How  singular  that  steam  should  have  been  among  the  motive  agents 
of  the  most  ancient  idols  of  Egypt  (as  the  Statue  of  Memnon  and  others) 
and  in  some  of  the  deified  images  of  Europe  !  That  it  should  formerly 
have  been  employed  with  tremendous  effect  to  delude  men,  to  lock  them 


400 


Eolipiles  used  in  War.  .  [Book  IV. 

in  ignorance  ;  while  it  now  contributes  so  largely  to  enlighten  and  benefit 
mankind.  These  instances  of  early  applications  of  steam  make  us  regret 
that  detailed  descriptions  of  the  various  apparatus  have  not  been  preserved. 
Many  ingenious  devices  were  evidently  employed,  and  although  we  con¬ 
demn  the  contrivers  of  such  as  were  used  for  purposes  of  delusion,  we 
cannot  but  admire  the  ingenuity  which  even  these  men  displayed,  in  ex¬ 
hibiting  before  a  barbarous  people  their  gods  in  the  most  imposing  man¬ 
ner  and  with  such  terrific  effect — in  making  idols  express  by  means  of 
steam  approbation  and  anger  with  the  voice  of  thunder  or  the  hissing 
of  dragons,  and  causing  them  to  appear  and  disappear  in  clouds  of  smoke 
and  sheets  of  flame. 

It  is  probable  from  the  antiquity  of  these  idols  and  of  eolipiles  that 
allusions  to  both  might  be  found  in  the  Bible.  May  not  such  expressions 
as  “  the  blast  of  his  mouth,”  “  the  blast  of  the  terrible  ones,”  “  the  blast 
of  his  nostrils,”  &c.  have  reference  to  eolipiles  or  steam  idols  of  old  1 
“  Their  molten  images  [says  Isaiah]  are  wind  and  confusion.”  Hospita¬ 
bly  receiving  a  traveler  into  the  house  during  a  storm,  and  protecting 
him  from  the  inconvenient  heat  of  the  fire  when  urged  by  an  eolipile,  may 
be  alluded  to  by  the  same  prophet  in  the  following  passage  :  “  Thou  hast 
been  a  strength  to  the  poor,  a  strength  to  the  needy  in  his  distress,  a  re¬ 
fuge  from  the  storm,  a  shadow  from  the  heat  when  the  blast  of  the  terrible 
ones  is  as  a  storm  against  the  walls.”  The  expression  ‘  terrible  ones/ 
probably  referring  to  the  hideous  forms  into  which  we  have  already  seen 
those  blowing  instruments  were  moulded.  Eolus  the  god  of  winds  was 
represented  “  with  swoln  cheeks,  like  one  who  with  main  force  blows 
a  blast,  with  wings  on  his  shoulders  and  a  fiery  countenance.”  Idols 
were  always  made  of  a  terrific  form,  and  are  so  made  by  barbarous  peo¬ 
ple  at  the  present  day.  When  God  is  personified  as  blowing  on  the  fire , 
is  there  not  an  allusion  to  these  instruments  1 

Eusebius,  in  the  third  book  of  his  life  of  Constantine,  says  that  when 
images  were  subverted,  among  other  things  found  in  some  of  them  were 
“  small  faggots  of  sticks” — perhaps  the  remains  of  fuel  employed  to  raise 
steam  in  them.a 

From  the  observation  of  one  of  the  early  travelers  into  the  East,  it 
seems  that  eolipiles  were  employed  even  in  war  and  with  great  effect. 
Carpini,  in  the  account  of  his  travels,  A.  D.  1286,  describes  a  species  of 
eolipile  of  the  human  form,  and  apparently  charged  with  an  inflammable 
liquid,  as  having  been  used  in  a  battle  between  the  Mongals  and  the 
troops  of  Prester  John.  The  latter,  he  says,  caused  a  number  of  hollow 
figures  to  be  made  of  copper,  which  resembled  men,  and  being  charged 
with  some  combustible  substance,  “  were  set  upon  horses,  each  having  a 
man  behind  on  the  horse  with  a  pair  of  bellows,  to  stir  up  the  fire. 
When  approaching  to  give  battle,  these  mounted  images  were  first  sent 
forward  against  the  enemy,  and  the  men  who  rode  behind  set  fire  by  some 
means  to  the  combustibles,  and  blew  strongly  with  their  bellows  ;  and  the 
Mongal  men  and  horses  were  burnt  with  wild  fire  and  the  air  was  dark¬ 
ened  with  smoke. ”b  Supposing  these  eolipiles  to  have  been  charged 
with  alcohol  or  spirit  of  wine,  they  must  have  been  (as  we  see  they  were) 
of  terrible  effect,  since,  as  modern  experiments  show,  a  jet  of  flame  from 
each  might  have  extended  to  a  distance  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet. 

Besides  blowing  directly  upon  or  against  a  fire,  eolipiles  were  employed 
to  increase  the  draft  of  chimneys,  for  which  purpose  the  jet  rose  perpen¬ 
dicularly  from  the  centre  of  the  dome,  as  in  No.  181.  One  or  two  stand- 


1  Peter  Martyr’s  Common  Places,  Part  ii,  336.  b  Kerr’s  Collection  of  Voyages,  vol.  1, 135. 


401 


Chap.  3.]  Music  produced  by  Eolipiles. 

ing  on  the  hearth  and  heated  by  the  fire,  close  to  which  they  were  placed 
the  vapor  rushed  through  the  orifice  and  drove  the  smoke  before  it;  and 
at  the  same  time  induced  a  current  of  atmospheric  air  to  follow  in  the 
same  direction.  Sometimes  those  designed  for  this  purpose  had  a  handle 
or  bail  to  suspend  them  over  the  fire,  as  No.  183.  As  several  ancient 
domestic  customs  still  prevail  in  Italy,  and  numerous  culinary  and  other 
implements  found  in  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii  are  similar  to  those  now 
used  it  might  be  supposed  that  some  relics  of  eolipiles  and  their  uses 
would  be  still  met  with  in  that  country.  The  supposition  has  been  veri¬ 
fied  ;  lor  we  are  informed  that  these  instruments  are,  or  were  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  “  commonly  made  use  of  in  Italy  to  cure  smoaky 
chimneys,  for  being  hung  over  the  fire,  the  blast  arising  from  them  carries 
up  the  loitering  smoke  along  with  it”— and  again,  “  an  eolipile  has  been 
sometimes  placed  in  a  chimney  where  it  can  be  heated,  the  vapor  of  which 
serves  to  drive  the  smoke  up  the  chimney.”  This  application  of  steam 
n  will  be  perceived,  is  similar  to  that  lately  adopted  to  increase  the  draft 
of  chimneys  of  locomotive  carriages. 

Rivius  mentions  another  use  of  eolipiles.  He  says  some  were  made 
of  gold,  silver  and  other  costly  metals,  and  were  filled  with  scented 
water,  “  to  cause  a  pleasant  temperature,  to  refresh  the  spirit  and  rejoice 
the  heart,  not  only  of  the  healthy  but  also  of  the  sick.”  He  observes 
that  they  were  used  for  these  purposes  in  the  halls  and  chambers  of  the 
wealthy.  Rhenanus,  an  old  German  writer,  who  died  in  1547,  enumera- 
tmg  the  treasures  belonging  to  the  ancient  church  at  Mentz,  mentions 
eolipiles  in  the  form  of  “  silver  cranes,  in  the  belly  of  which  was  put  fire” 
and  which  gave  out  “  a  sweete  savour  of  perfumes  by  the  open  beake.” 
Seneca  has  observed  that  perfumes  were  sometimes  disseminated  in  the 
amphitheatres,  by  being  mixed  with  boiling  water,  so  that  the  odor  rose 
and  was  diffused  by  the  steam.  We  learn  from  Shakespeare  that  perfum¬ 
ing  rooms  was  common  in  his  time,  the  neglect  of  cleanliness  rendering 
such  operations  necessary.  It  is  probable  that  he  refers  to  the  same  pro¬ 
cess  as  that  mentioned  by  Rivius.  “  Being  entertained  for  a  perfumer, 
as  I  was  smoking  a  room.”  “  Much  ado  about  Nothing ,”  Act  1,  Scene  3.’ 

Eolipiles  were  also  employed  to  produce  music.  By  adapting  trum¬ 
pets,  flutes,  clarionets,  and  other  wind  instruments  to  the  neck  or  orifice 
of  one,  they  were  sounded  as  by  currents  of  air.  This  application  of 
eolipiles  is  probably  coeval  with  their  invention.  It  is  indeed  only  a 
variation  of  the  supposed  musical  apparatus  of  the  Memnonian  Statue, 
and  of  the  devices  described  by  Heron.  All  the  old  writers  on  eolipiles 
mention  it.  Fludd  figures  a  variety  of  instruments  sounded  by  currents 
of  steam;  and  Rivius,  after  noticing  the  use  of  eolipiles  for  blowing  fires 
and  fumigating  rooms,  observes  “they  are  also  made  to  produce  music, 
the  steam  passing  through  reeds  or  organ  pipes,  so  as  to  cause  astonish¬ 
ment  in  those  who  have  no  idea  of  such  wonderful  operations.”  Gerbert 
applied  eolipiles  in  place  of  bellows  to  sound  an  organ  at  Rheims  in  the 
tenth  century ;  and  the  instrument  according  to  William  of  Malmsbury 
was  extant  two  hundred  years  afterwards.  (During  the  middle  ages 
the  churchmen  were  the  only  organ  makers ;  and  even  so  late  as  ^the 
sixteenth  century,  they  retained  the  manufacture  chiefly  in  their  own 
hands  :  in  the  household  book  of  Henry  VIII.  mention  is  made  of  two 
payments  of  ten  pounds  each  to  John,  or  “  Sir  John,  the  organ  maker,” 

°*  the  .  ltor  s.aJs>  ‘  ^ ’s  almost  certain  that  he  was  a  priest.’) 

The  preceding  notice  of  eolipiles  is  due  to  them  as  the  true  germ  of 
modern  steam  engines,  for  such  they  were,  whether  the  latter  be  consider¬ 
ed  as  devices  for  raising  water  only,  or  as  machines  to  move  others.  We 

51 


402 


Applications  of  Steam. 


[Book  IV. 


have  seen  that  the  oldest  apparatus  moved  by  steam,  of  which  theie  is 
any  account,  was  an  eolipile  suspended  on  its  axis,  at  once  both  boiler 
and  engine,  (No.  180)  and  we  shall  find  that  the  first  attempts  to  raise 
water  by  the  same  fluid  were  made  with  the  same  instruments.  Indeed, 
all  the  early  experiments  on  steam  were  made  with  eolipiles,  and  all  the 
first  steam  machines  were  nothing  else. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Employment  of  steam  in  former  times — Claims  of  various  people  to  the  steam  engine — Application 
of  steam  as  a  motive  agent,  perceived  by  Roger  Bacon — Other  modern  inventions  and  discoveries  known 
to  him — Spanish  steam-ship  in  1543 — Official  documents  relating  to  it — Remarks  on  these — Antiquity  of 
paddle-wheels  as  propellers — Project  of  the  author  for  propelling  vessels — Experiments  on  steam 
in  the  sixteenth  century — Jerome  Cardan — Vacuum  formed  by  the  condensation  of  steam,  known  to  the 
Alchymists — Experiments  from  Fludd — Others  from  Porta — Expansive  force  of  steam  illustrated  by  old 
authors — Interesting  example  of  raising  water  by  steam  from  Porta — Mathesius,  Canini  and  Besson — 
Device  for  raising  hot  water  from  Decaus — Invention  of  the  steam  engine  claimed  by  Arago  for  France — 
Nothing  new  in  the  apparatus  of  Decaus,  nor  in  the  principle  of  its  operation — Hot  springs — Geysers— 
Boilers  with  tubular  spouts — Eolipiles — Observations  on  Decaus — Writings  of  Porta — Claims  of  Arago 
in  behalf  of  Decaus  untenable — Instances  of  hot  water  raised  by  steam  in  the  arts — Manufacture  of  soap — 
Discovery  of  iodine — Ancient  soap  makers — Soap  vats  in  Pompeii — Manipulations  of  ancient  mechanics — 
Loss  of  ancient  writings — Large  sums  anciently  expended  on  soap — Logic  of  Omar. 


It  will  have  been  perceived  from  the  preceding  chapter  that  eolipiles 
for  blowing  fires  and  for  other  purposes  were  formerly  common,  and  conse¬ 
quently  that  people  were  familiar  with  the  generation  of  steam,  and  of 
high  steam  too,  long  before  modern  steam  engines  were  known.  Of  the 
applications  of  this  fluid  to  produce  motion  or  raise  liquids,  during  the 
long  period  that  intervened  between  the  time  of  Heron  and  the  introduc¬ 
tion  of  printing  into  Europe,  scarcely  any  thing  is  known  ;  yet  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  it  was  occasionally  used  to  a  limited  extent  for  one  pur¬ 
pose  or  the  other,  and  perhaps  for.  both. 

As  the  origin  and  early  progress  of  the  steam  engine  are  necessarily  con¬ 
nected  with  this  part  of  our  subject,  the  inquisitive  reader  will  not  object 
to  dwell  a  little  upon  it,  although  some  parts  of  the  detail  do  not  relate 
directly  to  the  elevation  of  liquids. 

From  the  important  and  increasing  influence  of  the  steam  engine  on 
human  affairs,  a  controversy  has  arisen  between  writers  of  different  na¬ 
tions  respecting  the  claims  of  their  countrymen  to  its  invention ;  and  some 
acrimonious  feelings  have  been  displayed.  This  is  to  be  regretted  as 
fostering  prejudices  and  passions  which  it  is  the  province  of  philosophers 
to  eradicate — not  to  cherish.  National  vauntings  may  form  articles  in 
the  creed,  as  they  are  made  to  contribute  to  the  capital  of  politicians ; 
but  should  find  no  place  in  that  of  a  savan.  Philosophy,  like  Christianity, 
contemplates  mankind  as  one  family,  and  recognizes  no  sectional  boast¬ 
ing.  Neither  science  nor  the  arts  are  confined  by  degrees  of  longitude, 
nor  are  the  scintillations  of  genius  to  be  measured  by  degrees  from  the 
equator.  As  in  the  republic  of  letters,  so  in  that  of  science  and  the  arts, 


Chap.  4.] 


Spanish  Steam  Ship  in  1543. 


403 

unknown!011  disdnCti°nS  resPecdng  the  abode  of  its  citizens  should  be 

A  few  scattered  relics  of  ingenious  men  who  flourished  in  the  dark 
ges  are  still  extant,  which  serve  to  convince  us  that  experimental  re- 

infho  6Sf °  S°me  °f  the  monks  and  otker  ardent  inquirers  after  knowledge 
n  those  times  were  more  extensive,  and  evinced  a  more  thorough  a&c 

quamtance  with  the  principles  of  natural  philosophy,  than  is  generally 

themw^  rhe  From 

and  Z  m7  mfCr  that,he  WaS  aware  of  the  elastic  f°rce  of  steam 

d  its  applicability  to  propel  vessels  on  water  and  carriages  on  land 

That  he  was  acquainted  with  gunpowder  is  generally  admitted  and  it 

would  seem  that  neither  diving  bells  nor  suspension  bridges  escaped  him 

Men  may  construct  for  the  wants  of  navigation  such  machines  Tai 

the  greatest  vessels,  directed  by  a  single  man,  shall  cut  through  the  rivers 

and  seas  with  more  rapidity  than  if  they  were  propelled  by  rowers- 

chariots  may  be  constructed  which,  without  horses,  shall  run  with  imm^ 

surable  speed.  Men  may  conceive  machines  which  could  bear  the  diver 

without  danger,  to  the  depth  of  the  waters.  Men  could  invent  a  multil 

tudeof  other  engines  and  usefnlmstruments,  such  as  bridges  that  shall 

span  the  broadest  rivers  without  any  intermediate  support.  Art  has  its 
thunders  more  terrible  than  those  of  heaven.  A  small  quantity  of  matter 
produces  a  horrible  explosion,  accompanied  by  a  bright  light ;  and  this 
ay  be  repeated  so  as  to  destroy  a  city  or  entire  battalions.” 

.tfacon  was  not  a  man  to  speak  or  write  in  this  manner  at  random.  His 
experiments  led  him  to  the  conclusions  he  has  thus  recorded,  for  he  was 
y  far  the  most  talented  and  indefatigable  experimental  philosopher  of 
his  age.  His  discoveries  however  were  not  understood,  or  their  minor 

mri(-T?PPniated’  f°r  He  7aS  ™Prisoned  ten  yea^  as  a  practised  of 
magic  &c.  There  is  a  remark  m  his  treatise  “  on  the  secret  works  of 

art  and  nature,  that  is  too  valuable  to  be  omitted:  he  says  a  person  who 

s  pertectly  acquainted  with  the  manner  that  nature  observes  in  her  over  a 

toons,  can  not  only  rival  but  surpass  her.  “  That  he  was  acquainted  with 

thm  ”  ^  °frr'  ^  tke.stracture  of  tke  air  pump,  is  past  contradic- 
tion.  He  was  (says  Dr.  Friend)  the  miracle  of  the  times  he  lived  in 

and  the  greatest  genius  perhaps  for  mechanical  knowledge  which  ever 
appeared  in  the  world  since  Archimedes.  The  camera  obscura  and 
telescope  were  known  to  him,  and  he  has  described  the  mode  of  making 

lafd  tngK&rSe\  °f  -the  °Perations  now  use<i  in  chemistry  are 

rv  ,  3  f  descnbed.or  mentioned  by  him.  A  description  of  his  laborato¬ 
ry  and  o  the  experiments  he  made,  with  a  sketch  of  the  various  appara- 
us  employed,  would  have  been  infinitely  more  valuable  than  all  the 
volumes  on  scholastic  divinity  that  were  ever  written. 

n  1543,  a  naval  officer  under  Charles  V.  is  said  to  have  propelled  a 
s  ip  of  two  hundred  tons,  by  steam,  in  the  harbor  of  Barcelona.  No 
account  of  his  machinery  is  extant,  except  that  he  had  a  large  copper 
oi  er  and  that  paddle  wheels  were  suspended  over  the  sides  ofP  the 
vesse  .  Like  all  old  inventors  he  refused  to  explain  the  mechanism.  The 
ollowing  account  was  furnished  for  publication  by  the  superintendent  of 
the  .pamsh  royal  archives.  “  Blasco  de  Garay,  a  captain  in  the  navy, 

fn ?°  1  in  154u  t0  the  ®“Peror  and  King,  Charles  the  Fifth,  a  machine 
p  opel  large  boats  and  ships,  even  m  calm  weather,  without  oars  or 
sails,  in  spite  of  the  impediments  and  the  opposition  which  this  project 
met  with,  the  Emperor  ordered  a  trial  to  be  made  of  it  in  the  port  .of 
Barcelona  which  in  fact  took  place  on  the  17th  of  the  month  of  June, 
of  the  said  year  1543.  Garay  would  not  explain  the  particulars  of  his 


404 


Spanish  Steam  Ship.  [Book  IV. 

discovery  :  it  was  evident  however  during  the  experiment  that  it  consisted 
in  a  large  copper  of  boiling  water,  and  in  moving  wheels  attached  to 
either  side  of  the  ship.  The  experiment  was  tried  on  a  ship  of  two  hun¬ 
dred  tons,  called  the  Trinity,  which  came  from  Colibre  to  discharge  a 
cargo  of  corn  at  Barcelona,  of  which  Peter  de  Scarza  was  captain.  By 
order  of  Charles  V,  Don  Henry  de  Toledo  the  governor,  Don  Pedro  de 
Cordova,  the  treasurer  Ravago,  and  the  vice  chancellor,  and  intendant 
of  Catalonia  witnessed  the  experiment.  In  the  reports  made  to  the  em¬ 
peror  and  to  the  prince,  this  ingenious  invention  was  generally  approved, 
particularly  on  account  of  the  promptness  and  facility  with  which  the 
ship  was  made  to  go  about.  The  treasurer  Ravago,  an  enemy  to  the 
project,  said  that  the  vessel  could  be  propelled  two  leagues  in  three  hours — 
that  the  machine  was  complicated  and  expensive — and  that  there  would 
be  an  exposure  to  danger  in  case  the  boiler  should  burst.  The  other 
commissioners  affirmed  that  the  vessel  tacked  with  the  same  rapidity  as 
a  galley  manoeuvred  in  the  ordinary  way,  and  went  at  least  a  league  an 
hour.  As  soon  as  the  experiment  was  made  Garay  took  the  whole  ma¬ 
chine  with  which  he  had  furnished  the  vessel,  leaving  only  the  wooden 
part  in  the  arsenal  at  Barcelona,  and  keeping  all  the  rest  for  himself.  In 
spite  of  Ravago’s  opposition,  the  invention  was  approved,  and  if  the 
expedition  in  which  Charles  the  Vth  was  then  engaged  had  not  prevented, 
he  would  no  doubt  have  encouraged  it.  Nevertheless,  the  emperor  pro¬ 
moted  the  inventor  one  grade,  made  him  a  present  of  two  hundred 
thousand  maravedis,  and  ordered  the  expense  to  be  paid  out  of  the  trea¬ 
sury,  and  granted  him  besides  many  other  favors.” 

“  This  account  is  derived  from  the  documents  and  original  registers 
kept  in  the  Royal  Archives  of  Simuncas,  among  the  commercial  papers 
of  Catalonia,  and  from  those  of  the  military  and  naval  departments  for 
the  said  year,  1543.  Thomas  Gonzalez. 

“  Simuncas,  August  27,  1825.” 

From  this  account  it  has  been  inferred  that  steam  vessels  were  invented 
in  Spain,  being  only  revived  in  modern  times  ;  and  that  Blasco  de  Garay 
should  be  regarded  as  the  inventor  of  the  first  steam  engine.  As  long  as 
the  authenticity  of  the  document  is  admitted  and  no  earlier  experiment 
adduced,  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  how  such  a  conclusion  can  be  avoided ; 
at  least  so  far  as  steam  vessels  are  concerned.  It  may  appear  singular  that 
this  specimen  of  mechanical  skill  should  have  been  matured  in  that  coun¬ 
try  ;  but  at  the  time  referred  to,'  Spain  was  probably  the  most  promising 
scene^for  the  display  of  such  operations.  Every  one  knows  that  half  a 
century  before,  Columbus  could  find  a  patron  no  where  else.  The  great 
loss  which  Charles  sustained  in  his  fleet  before  Algiers. the  previous  year, 
must  have  convinced  him  of  the  value  of  an  invention  by  which  ships 
could  be  propelled  without  oars  or  sails  ;  and  there  is  nothing  improbable 
in  supposing  the  loss  on  that  occasion  (fifteen  ships  of  war  and  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  forty  transports,  in  which  eight  thousand  men  perished  and 
Charles  himself  narrowly  escaped)  was  one  principal  reason  for  Captain 
Garay  to  bring  forward  his  project.  M.  Arago,  who  advocates  with  pe¬ 
culiar  eloquence  and  zeal  the  claims  of  Decaus  and  Papin,  as  inventors 
of  the  steam  engine,  thinks  the  document  should  be  set  aside  for  the  fol¬ 
lowing  reasons  :  1st.  Because  it  was  not  printed  in  1543.  2d.  It  does 

not  sufficiently  prove  that  steam  was  the  motive  agent.  3d.  If  Captain 
Garay  really  did  employ  a  steam  engine,  it  was  “  according  to  all  appear¬ 
ance”  the  reacting  eolipile  of  Heron,  and  therefore  nothing  new.  To 
us  there  does  not  appear  much  force  in  these  reasons.  M.  Arago  ob- 


405 


Chap.  4.J  Observations  on  Garay's  Steam  Apparatus. 

serves,  “  manuscript  documents  cannot  have  any  value  with  the  public, 
because,  generally,  it  has  no  means  whatever  of  verifying  the  date  as¬ 
signed  to  them.”  To  a  limited  extent  this  may  be  admitted.  Respecting 
private  MSS.  it  may  be  true ;  but  surely  official  and  national  records  like 
those  referred  to  by  the  Spanish  secretary  should  be  excepted.  We 
have  m  the  eighth  chapter  of  our  1'hird  Book  quoted  largely  from  official 
Mb.  documents  belonging  to  this  city,  (New-York  :)  now  these  are  pre¬ 
served  in  a  public  office  and  may  be  examined  to  verify  our  extracts  as 
well  as  their  own  authenticity  :  and  the  Spanish  records  we  presume  are 
equally  accessible,  and  their  authenticity  may  be  equally  established.  The 
mere  printing  of  both  could  add  nothing  to  their  credibility,  although  it 
would  afford  to  the  public  greater  facilities  of  judging  of  their  claims  to  it. 
So  far  from  rejecting  such  sources  of  information  respecting  the  arts  of 
former  times,  we  should  have  supposed  they  were  unexceptionable. 

But  it  is  said — although  a  boiler  is  mentioned,  that  is  not  sufficient  proof 
that  steam  was  the  impelling  agent,  since  there  are  various  machines  in 
which  fire  is  used  under  a  boiler,  without  that  fluid  having  any  thing  to 
do  with  the  operations  :  Well,  but  the  account  states  that  which  really 
appears  conclusive  on  this  point,  viz.  that  this  vessel  contained  “  bailing 
water"  and  thatRavago  the  treasurer,  opposed  the  scheme  on  the  ground 
that  there  would  be  an  exposure  to  danger  “  in  case  the  boiler  should 
burst.”  As  this  danger  could  not  arise  from  the  liquid  contents  merely, 
but  from  the  accumulation  of  steam,  (the  irresistible  force  of  which  was’ 
as  has  been  observed,  well  known  from  the  employment  of  eolipiles)  it  is 
obvious  enough  that  this  fluid  performed  an  essential  part  in  the  opera¬ 
tion — in  other  words  was  the  source  of  the  motive  power.  Had  it  not 
been  necessary,  Garay  would  never  have  furnished  in  it  such  a  plausible 
pretext  for  opposition  to  his  project.  It  has  been  also  said  “  if  we  were 
to  admit  that  the  machine  of  Garay  was  set  in  motion  by  steam,  it  would 
not  necessarily  follow  that  the  invention  [steam  engine]  was  new,  and 
that  it  bore  any  resemblance  to  those  of  our  day.”  True,  but  it  would 
at  least  follow  that  Garay  should  be  considered  the  father  of  steam  navi¬ 
gation,  until  some  earlier  and  actual  experiment  is  produced.  Arago  further 
thinks,  that  if  Garay  used  steam  at  all,  his  engine  was  the  whirling 
eolipile  (No.  180) — “  every  thing”  he  observes  would  lead  us  to  believe 
that  he  employed  this.  We  regret  to  say  there  are  strong  objections  to 
such  an  opinion.  That  an  engine  acting  on  the  same  principle  of  recoil 
as  Heron’s  eolipile  might  have  been  made  to  propel  a  vessel  of  two  hun¬ 
dred  tons  is  admitted  ;  but  from  modern  experiments  with  small  engines 
of  this  description,  we  know;  1st,  that  in  order  to  produce  the  reported 
result,  the  elasticity  of  the  steam  employed  must  have  been  equivalent  to 
a  pressure  of  several  atmospheres;  and  2d,  that  the  enormous  consump¬ 
tion  of  the  fluid  when  used  in  one  of  these  engines  must  have  required 
either  a  number  of  boilers  or  one  of  extraordinary  dimensions.  Had 
Garay  employed  several  boilers,  the  principal  difficulty  would  be  removed, 
as  he  might  then  have  made  them  sufficiently  strong  to  resist  the  pressure 
of  the  confined  vapor ;  he  however  used  but  one,  and  every  person  who 
has  witnessed  the  operation  of  reacting  engines  will  admit  that  a  single 
boiler  could  hardly  have  been  made  to  furnish  the  quantity  of  steam  re¬ 
quired,  at  the  requisite  degree  of  tension. 

As  the  nature  of  this  Spanish  engine  is  not  mentioned,  every  person  is 
left  to  form  his  own  opinion  of  it.  We  see  no  difficulty  in  admitting  that 
he  employed  the  elastic  force  of  steam  to  push  a  piston  to  and  fro — or 
that  he  formed  a  vacuum  under  one  by  condensing  the  vapor.  Such  ap¬ 
plications  of  steam  were  as  likely  to  occur  to  a  person  deeply  engaged  in 


406  Substitute  for  Paddle  Wheels.  [Book  IV 

devising  modes  of  employing  it,  in  the  sixteenth  as  well  as  in  the  seven¬ 
teenth  century,  notwithstanding  the  objection  so  often  reiterated,  that 
the  arts  were  not  sufficiently  matured  for  the  fabrication  of  a  metallic 
cylinder  and  piston,  and  apparatus  for  transmitting  the  movements  of  a 
piston  to  revolving  mechanism.  The  casting  and  boring  of  pieces  of 
ordnance  show  that  the  construction  of  a  steam  cylinder  was  not  beyond 
the  arts  of  the  sixteenth  century,  or  even  of  the  two  preceding  ones;  while 
the  water-works,  consisting  of  forcing  pumps  worked  by  wheels,  and 
also  numerous  other  machines  put  in  motion  by  cranks,  (and  the  irre¬ 
gularity  of  their  movements  being  also  regulated  by  fly  wheels)  described 
in  the  works  of  Besson,  Agricola,  &c.  show  that  engineers  at  that  time 
well  understood  the  means  of  converting  rotary  into  rectilinear  motions, 
and  rectilinear  into  rotary  ones. 

Had  Garay  used  a  steam  apparatus  on  the  principle  of  Savery’s, 
Papin’s,  or  Leopold’s,  to  raise  water  upon  an  overshot  wheel  fixed  on  the 
same  axle  as  the  paddles,  we  should  probably  have  heard  of  it,  since  such 
a  wheel  would  have  been  a  more  prominent  object  than  the  paddles  or 
the  boiler  itself. 

It  need  not  excite  surprise  that  Garay  adopted  paddle  wheels  as  pro¬ 
pellers,  since  they  were  well  known  before  his  time,  being  of  very  an¬ 
cient  date.  Roman  galleys  were  occasionally  moved  by  them,  and  they 
have  probably  never  been  wholly  laid  aside  in  Europe  since  the  fall  of 
the  empire.  Stuart,  in  his  Anecdotes  of  the  Steam  Engine,  observes  that 
the  substitution  of  them  for  oars  is  mentioned  in  several  old  military  trea¬ 
tises.  In  some  ancient  MSS.  in  the  King  of  France’s  library  it  is  said 
that  boats,  in  which  a  Roman  army  under  Claudius  Candex  were  trans¬ 
ported  into  Sicily,  were  propelled  by  wheels  moved  by  oxen.  An  an¬ 
cient  bas-relief  has  also  been  found  representing  a  galley  with  three  wheels 
on  each  side  ;  the  whole  being  moved  by  three  pair  of  oxen.  Robertus 
Valturius,  in  his  De  Re  Militari,  Verona,  1472,  gives  a  figure  of  a  galley 
with  five  paddle  wheels  on  each  side.  Another  is  portrayed  with  one  on 
each  side.  To  these  we  add  another  from  the  Nuremburg  Chronicle, 
published  in  1497  ;  at  folio  XCVIII  a  vessel  is  figured  with  two  wheels 
on  the  side  that  is  represented.  An  old  English  writer  mentions  them 
in  157S ;  and  in  1682,  a  horse  tow-boat  with  paddle  wheels  was  used  at 
Chatham,  England. 

Of  various  substitutes  for  revolving  oars  or  paddle  wheels,  there  is  one 
which,  among  other  things,  we  have  long  purposed  to  try.  It  consists  in 
protruding  into  the  water,  in  a  horizontal  direction  from  close  receptacles 
formed  in  the  stern  and  below  the  water  line,  a  series  of  two  or  more 
solid,  or  tight  hollow  bodies,  of  such  dimensions  that  the  water  displaced 
might  afford  a  resistance  sufficient  to  drive  forward  the  boat.  Some  idea 
of  this  resistance  may  be  obtained  by  attempting  to  sink  an  empty  barrel 
or  hogshead,  or  by  pushing  a  bucket  or  washing  tub  into  a  liquid,  bottom 
downwards.  The  moveable  bodies  or  propellers  might  be  square  boxes 
of  wood,  closed  tight  and  made  to  slide  in  and  out  at  the  stern  like  the 
drawers  of  a  bureau  ;  their  outer  ends  being  flush  with  the  stern  when 
drawn  in,  and  the  joint  (at  the  stern)  made  tight  by  some  contrivance 
analogous  to  a  stuffing  box  ;  their  velocity  and  length  of  stroke  being 
proportioned  to  the  size  of  the  vessel  and  its  required  speed.  The  wa¬ 
ter  itself  would  drive  or  help  to  drive  back  each  propeller  at  the  termi¬ 
nation  of  its  stroke,  just  as  a  hollow  vessel  is  pushed  up  when  thrust  un¬ 
der  water.  The  receptacles  might  be  open  at  the  top  so  as  to  allow  any 
water  which  leaked  in  at  the  joint  to  be  readily  discharged.  We  are 
not  aware  that  such  a  plan  has  ever  been  proposed. 


401 


Chap.  4.J 


Raising  Water  by  the  condensation  of  Steam. 


There  are  several  indications  that  mechanicians  in  different  parts  of 
Europe,  were  alive  to  the  power  developed  by  steam  at  the  time  Garay 
was  making  his  experiments  ;  and  we  have  little  doubt  that  interesting 
information  respecting  it  will  yet  be  obtained  from  the  obsolete  tomes  of 
the  XV  and  XVI  centuries.  Those  old  authors,  whose  works  are  gener¬ 
ally  quoted  on  the  subject,  obviously  derived  their  information  principally 
from  those  of  their  predecessors  as  well  as  from  the  laboratories  of  the 
alchymists. 

Jerome  Cardan,  an  Italian,  born  in  1501  and  died  in  1575,  one  of  the 
most  eccentric  geniuses  that  ever  lived,  in  whom  was  united  “  the  most 
transcendent  attainments  with  the  most  consummate  quackery,  profound 
sagacity  with  the  weakest  superstition  ;  who  on  one  page  is  seen  draw¬ 
ing  the  horoscope  of  Christ,  and  in  another  imploring  his  forgiveness 
for  the  sin  of  having  eaten  a  partridge  on  Friday;  unfolding  the  most 
beautiful  relations  in  algebraic  analysis,  and  foretelling  from  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  specks  on  his  nails  his  approach  to  some  discovery  ;  above 
all,  eloquently  enforcing  the  obligations  of  a  pure  religion  and  expressing 
the  finest  sentiments  in  morals,  while  his  long  life  was  one  continued  ex¬ 
ertion,  grossly  outraging  both.  Here,  this  philosopher,  juggler  and 
madman,  is  entitled  to  brief  mention  from  displaying  in  his  writings  a 
knowledge  of  what  has  been  called  the  capabilities  of  steam,  and  more 
particularly  with  the  fact  of  a  vacuum  being  speedily  procured  by  its 
condensation.” 


That  the  alchymists  were  familiar  with 
the  formation  of  a  vacuum  by  the  con¬ 
densation  of  steam,  and  with  raising  water 
into  it  by  atmospheric  pressure  is  certain. 
Their  ordinary  manipulations  necessarily 
made  them  acquainted  with  both.  In 
Fludd’s  Integrum  Morborum  Mystcrium, 
page  462,  he  illustrates  his  notions  re¬ 
specting  fever  and  dropsy,  by  what  he 
calls  a  common  experiment,  and  with  the 
apparatus  figured  in  the  cut.  An  empty 
retort  or  one  containing  a  little  water  was 
suspended  over  a  fire  with  the  neck  turned 
down  into  a  vessel  of  water :  when  the 
retort  was  heated  the  air  or  vapor  became  expanded  and  part  of  it  driven 
out  through  the  liquid.  Upon  removing  the  fire,  the  water  was  forced  by 
the  atmosphere  through  the  neck  to  supply  the  place  of  the  air  or  vapor 
expelled  by  the  heat.  This  although  nothing  more  than  the  old  process 
of  filling  eolipiles,  most  of  which  could  be  charged  in  no  other  way, 
shows  that  the  principle  was  well  understood  and  adopted  in  various 
operations.  We  add  another  and  earlier  example  from  Porta’s  Natural 
Magic,  a  work  first  published  in  1560,  where  he  distinctly  shows  the 
formation  of  a  vacuum  by  the  condensation  of  steam,  and  raising  of  water 
into  it  by  the  atmosphere.  “  Make  a  vessel  with  a  very  long  neck  ;  the 
longer  it  is,  the  greater  wonder  it  will  seem  to  be.  Let  it  be  of  transpa¬ 
rent  glass  that  you  may  see  the  water  running  up  :  fill  this  with  boiling 
water,  and  when  it  is  very  hot,  or  setting  the  bottom  of  it  to  the  fire  that 
it  may  not  presentlie  wax  cold  ;  the  mouth  being  turned  downwards  that 
it  may  touch  the  water,  it  will  suck  it  all  in.”  Discharging  the  hot  water 
is  not  mentioned,  but  that  is  of  course  implied,  and  before  the  vessel  was 
placed  on  the  fire — while  full  of  hot  water,  it  could  not  suck  up  any  of 
the  cold.  (Book  19,  cap.  3.) 


408 


Raising  Water  by  the  Elasticity  of  Steam  from  Porta.  [Book  IV 

That  the  same  laborious  experimenters  were  acquainted  with  the  proper¬ 
ty  of  steam  to  displace  liquids  from  close  vessels  is  equally  clear.  Many 
of  their  operations  made  them  familiar  with  the  fact  that  in  this  respect  its 
effects  were  similar  to  those  of  compressed  air.  Portions  of  their  appa¬ 
ratus  were  admirably  adapted  to  produce  jets  of  water  by  means  of 
steam — the  mere  opening  of  a  cock  to  draw  off  the  liquid  contents  of  a 
heated  alembic  would  often  illustrate  the  operation,  just  as  the  overturn¬ 
ing  of  an  eolipile,  or  inclining  one  till  the  orifice  was  covered  with  water, 
would  do. 

So  far  as  relates  to  the  principles  of  raising  liquids  into  a  vacuum  formed 
by  the  condensation  of  steam,  and  forcibly  ejecting  them  by  its  elasticity, 
nothing  new  was  discovered  by  Decaus,  Worcester,  Savery,  or  Papin  : 
both  operations  had  long  been  performed  with  eolipiles,  and  were  of  com¬ 
mon  occurrence  in  laboratories.  It  was  in  the  extension  of  these  opera¬ 
tions  to  hydraulic  purposes  that  the  merits  of  those  last  named  consisted. 
‘  Draining  machines’  were  wholly  out  of  the  track  of  the  transmuters  of 
metals — the  design  of  such  contrivances  was  one  which  few  if  any  of 
them  would  have  stooped  to  pursue.  Had  they  made  the  raising  of 
water  by  steam  a  subject  of  particular  study,  hardly  one  of  them  could 
have  failed  to  produce  a  machine  similar  to  Savery’s,  for  every  element 
of  it  was  in  their  possession  and  in  constant  use.  ’Tis  true  we  have 
as  yet  referred  only  to  the  expulsion  of  hot  water  from  close  vessels, 

but  the  application  of  steam  to  drive  cold  liquids 
from  a  separate  vessel  was  not  unknown.  Of  this 
there  is  an  incidental  but  very  conclusive  proof  in 
a  book  of  Porta’s,  entitled  Sjnritali,  (named  after 
Heron’s  work)  originally  published  in  Latin  in 
1601,  and  five  years  after  in  Italian  and  Spanish. 
In  the  translation  of  1606,  is  the  annexed  figure 
No.  187,  designed  to  show  “  into  how  many  parts 
a  simple  portion  of  water  may  be  transformed” 
i.  e.  by  measuring  the  quantity  expelled  from  a 
close  vessel,  by  vapor  evolved  from  a  certain  quan¬ 
tity  heated  in  a  retort.  “  Make  a  box  of  glass  or 
tin,  ( c )  the  bottom  of  which  should  be  pierced  with 
a  hole,  through  which  shall  pass  the  neck  of  a  bot¬ 
tle  (a)  used  for  distilling,  containing  one  or  two 
ounces  of  water.  The  neck  shall  be  soldered  to  the  bottom  of  the  box 
so  that  nothing  can  escape  there.  From  the  same  bottom  shall  proceed 
a  pipe,  (i)  the  opening  of  which  shall  almost^ .(ouch  it,  leaving  just  room 
enough  between  them  for  the  water  to  run.  This  pipe  shall  pass  through 
an  opening  in  the  lid  of  the  box,  and  extend  itself  on  the  outside  to  a 
small  distance  from  its  surface.  The  box  must  be  filled  with  water  by  a 
funnel  (e)  which  is  afterwards  to  be  well  closed,  so  as  not  to  allow  the 
air  [steam]  to  escape  : — finally,  the  bottle  must  be  placed  upon  the  fire 
and  heated  a  little  ;  then  the  water,  changed  into  steam,  will  act  violently 
upon  the  water  in  the  box,  and  will  make  it  pass  through  the  pipe  (i)  and 
flow  off  on  the  outside,”  &c.a  This  apparatus  although  designed  merely 
to  illustrate  the  relative  bulk  of  a  volume  of  water  and  that  of  the  steam 
into  which  it  might  be  converted,  yet  exhibits  in  the  clearest  light  the 
principle  afterwards  adopted  for  raising  liquids  by  the  elasticity  of  steam. 


a  Aratro’s  History  of  tlie  Steam  Engine,  translated  by  Lieut.  Harewood,  U.  S.  N., 
Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  Vol.  XXV.  This  device  of  Porta’s  was,  we  believe, 
first  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Ainger,  an  English  writer,  whose  work  we  have  not  seen. 

52 


No.  187.  A.  D.  1006.  Porta. 


409 


Chap.  4.] 


Rupture  of  Vessels  by  Steam. 


The  diagram  and  description,  observes  Stuart,  are  so  complete,  that  the 
pplication  to  such  a  purpose  of  a  similar  apparatus  could  not  be  consi¬ 
dered  even  as  a  variation  of  Porta’s  idea. 

In the  first  histories  of  the  modern  steam  engine,  its  origin  was  traced 
to  a  device  for  raising  water,  proposed  by  the  Marquis  of  Worcester  in 
his  Century  of  Inventions,  a  tract  written  in  1655  and  published  in  1663 
Subsequent  researches  have  brought  to  light  facts  (some  of  which  have 
just  been  noticed)  which  prove  that  steam  was  applied  to  that  and  other 
purposes  long  before;  and  future  inquiries  will  probably  produce  still 
arlier  examples.  .  Previous  to  describing  other  old  applications  of  this 
uid,  we  shall  notice  some  experiments  which  historians  of  the  steam  en 
gine  have  introduced.  Thus  Rivault,  a  French  courtier,  is  said  to  have 

in?oTfiVei'ed  U  l605  thiat/  ?£ht  b°mb  sbe11  containing  water  and  thrown 

1615  tW  W°1 U  be  eXP  °Ken  by  the  ponfi^ed  vapor— and  by  Decaus  in 
1615,  that  a  close  copper  ball  partly  filled  with  water  and  heated,  would 

be  rent  asunder  with  a  noise  resembling  that  of  a  petard— and  by  the 

exblod^rl0^^!^01'06^^1'  ^  lb6^’  tba^  a  P*ece  Of  ordnance  would  also  be 
exploded,  if  treated  in  the  same  way  with  its  mouth  and  touch-hole  plug¬ 
ged  up  Now,  the  fact  which  these  experiments  established  (if  they 
were  all  made)  was  one  with  which  every  person  who  ever  used  an 
eo  lpile  was  familiar ;  and  which  was  no  more  a  new  discovery  in  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  than  experiments  to  prove  that  the 
cover  of  a  common  cauldron  might  be  blown  off  by  the  same  agent,  could 
have  been  in  the  middle  of  it.  It  was  a  knowledge  of  the  same  fact  that 
led  ancient  philosophers  to  account  for  the  phenomenon  of  earthquakes— 
which  induced  the  ministers  of  the  steam  deities,  mentioned  in  the  last 
chapter,  to  regulate  the  resistance  of  the  plugs  which  closed  the  mouth 
and  eyes  of  the  idols,  so  as  to  give  way  before  the  tension  of  the  steam 
exceeded  the  strength  of  the  metal,  and  blew  both  them  and  their  gods  to 
atoms.  When  the  Spanish  treasurer  objected  to  the  project  of  Garay  that 
ie  boiler  might  “  burst,”  he  did  not  dream  of  having  made  a  discovery  of 
the  danger  arising  from  imprisoned  steam  :  had  such  been  the  case  his  ob¬ 
jection  would  have  had  no  force  till  the  fact  upon  which  it  was  based  had 
been  tested  and  become  generally  known— but  the  ground  of  his  opposition 
every  person  of  that  age  could  appreciate  as  well  as  we  can  ;  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  on  that  ground  only  was  the  project  abandoned.  The 
same  objection  still  prevents  thousands  from  traveling  either  in  steam  boats 
or  steam  carriages. 

Examples  to  show  that  old  chemists  were  as  familiar  with  the  same  fact 
almost  as  with  “  the  cracklings  of  thorns  under  a  pot,”  might  be  quoted  in 
abundance  they  are  not  necessary,  but  we  shall  adduce  one  or  two.  In 
I  orta  s  Natural  Magic,  (Book  X,  chap.  1,  on  Distillation,)  he  speaks  of  re¬ 
gulating  the  capacity  of  stills  to  the  various  substances  treated  in  them, 
buch  as  were  of  “  a  flat  and  vapourous  nature”  require,  he  observes,  large 
vessels,  “  lor  when  the  heat  shall  have  raised  up  the  flatulent  matter,  and  it 
nds  itself  straighten’d  ....  it  will  seek  some  other  vent,  and  so  tear  the 
vessels  in  pieces,  which  will  fly  about  with  a  great  bounce  and  crack,  and  not 
without  endamaging  the  standers  by.”  Again,  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  the 
same  book,  he  directs  that  particular  care  should  be  taken  to  make  the  joints 
tight  lest  the  force  of  the  vapours  arising  may  burst  it  [the  still!  open 
and  scald  the  laces  of  the  by  standers.”  That  such  occurrences  were  not 
uncommon  may  be  inferred  from  another  remark ;  (in  the  21st  chapter  of  the 
10th  book,)  speaking  of  “  the  separation  of  the  elements”  and  of  the  various 
substances  distilled,  he  observes,  “  we  account  those  airy  which  fill  the  ves¬ 
sels  and  receivers  and  easily  burst  them,  and  so  flie  out.”  These  examples 


410 


Raising  Hot  Water  by  Steam,  from  Decaus.  [Book  IV 

are  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  irresistible  force  of  steam  when  confined,  was 
known  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century — in  fact  it  always  has  been 
known  since  distillation  was  practised  or  an  eolipile  used.  Particular 
care  was  always  required  to  keep  the  orifice  of  the  latter  instrument  open 
when  on  the  fire. 

Besides  the  Natural  Magic  of  Porta  and  the  writings  of  Cardan,  there 
were  other  works  published  in  the  sixteenth  century  in  which  steam  is 
either  incidentally  mentioned,  or  expressly  treated  on.  About  the  year 
1560,  Mathesius,  a  German  preacher,  in  order  to  illustrate  the  enormous 
force  of  a  little  imprisoned  vapor,  introduced  into  a  sermon  a  description 
of  an  apparatus  “  answering  to  a  steam  engine” — an  instance  of  ingenuity 
equal  to  that  of  Cardan,  who  contrived  to  swell  the  contents  of  a  treatise 
on  arithmetic,  (which  he  wrote  for  the  booksellers  by  the  page)  by  ex¬ 
patiating  on  the  motions  of  the  planets,  on  the  creation,  and  the  tower  of 
Babel.  Canini,  a  Venetian,  made  experiments  on  steam  in  1566.  In 
1569,  an  anonymous  tract,  printed  at  Orleans,  and  ascribed  to  Besson, 
contains  an  account  of  the  expansion  of  water  into  steam,  and  the  relative 
volumes  of  each.  About  15(97,  a  German  writer  proposed  the  whirling 
eolipile  of  Heron,  as  a  substitute  for  dogs  in  turning  the  spit,  and  recom¬ 
mended  it  in  a  passage,  an  extract  from  which  may  be  seen  at  page  76  of 
this  volume. 

The  “Forcible  Movements”  of  Decaus,  or  de  Caus,  is  the  next  au¬ 
thority  for  early  notices  of  steam.  This  work  was  first  published  at 
Frankfort  in  1615,  and  in  Paris  in  1624.  It  is  entitled  Res  Raisans  des 
Forces  Mouvantes,  avec  diverses  machines  tant  utiles  que  plaisantes,  &c : — 
Reasons  of  moving  forces,  with  various  machines  both  useful  and  inter¬ 
esting.  The  title  seems  to  have  been  slightly  changed  in  different  editions; 
and,  as  noticed  at  page  319,  the  name  of  the  author  also;  a  circumstance 

that  has  led  Mr.  Farey  to  suppose  there 
were  two  books,  written  by  different  au¬ 
thors  of  the  same  name.  In  the  English 
translation  of  1659,  which  consists  of  two 
parts  :  “  The  theorie  of  the  conduct  of  wa¬ 
ter”  and  the  “Forcible  movements,”  the 
theorems  on  steam  are  omitted.  By  these 
theorems  Decaus  intended  to  show  that 
heat  carries  off  water  by  evaporation — that 
steam  when  condensed  returns  to  its  origin¬ 
al  .bulk — and  that  a  hollow  ball  or  eolipile 
may  be  exploded  by  it.  The  only  device 
for  employing  this  fluid  which  he  has  given, 
is  in  illustration  of  the  fifth  theorem,  viz : 
Water  maybe  raised  above  its  level  by  means 
of  fire. :  “  The  third  method  of  raising  water 
is  by  the  aid  of  fire,  whereby  diverse  ma¬ 
chines  may  be  made.  I  shall  here  give 
the  description  of  one.  Take  a  ball  of 
copper  marked  A,  well  soldered  at  every 
part.  It  must  have  a  vent  hole  marked  1) 
by  which  water  may  be  introduced  ;  and 
also  a  tube  marked  C,  soldered  into  the 
top  of  the  ball,  and  the  end  C  reaching 
nearly  to  the  bottom,  but  not  touching  it. 
After  filling  this  ball  with  water  through  the  vent  hole,  stop  it  close  and 


No.  188.  Decaus,  A.  D.  1615. 


411 


Chap.  4.]  Vessels  with  Tubular  Spouts. 

put  the  ball  on  the  fire,  then  the  heat  acting  against  the  said  ball,  will  cause 
all  the  water  to  rise  through  the  tube  C.” 

On  the  supposition  that  this  apparatus  was  originally  designed  by  De- 
caus,  M.  Arago  has  claimed  for  France  the  invention  of  the  steam  engine. 
1  he  English,  he  observes  in  his  Memoir  of  Watt,  have  ascribed  the  honor 
to  the  Marquis  of  Worcester;  but  on  this  side  the  channel,  “we  main¬ 
tain  that  it  belongs  to  a  humble  engineer,  almost  forgotten  by  our  bio¬ 
graphers  viz.  Solomon  de  Caus”  And  in  his  ‘History  of  the  Steam 
Fngine,  he  asserts  that  “the  idea  of  raising  water  by  the  elastic  force 
of  steam  belongs  to  the  same  individual.  With  the  disposition  and 
even  an  anxiety  to  give  to  every  inventor  his  full  meed  of  praise,  we 
confess  that  we  cannot  perceive  in  the  figure  and  description  before  us, 
sufficient  ground  from  which  such  inferences  could  fairly  be  drawn, 
ihe  fact  is,  to  no  one  age  or  people  can  the  origin  of  the  steam  engine 
be  attributed— nor  yet  its  various  applications.  That  some  have  contri¬ 
buted  greatly  more  than  others  to  develope,  mature  and  apply  it,  no 
person  doubts.  rr  J 

Were  it  even  admitted  that  no  apparatus  precisely  like  that  represented 
m  the  figure  was  previously  known,  it  would  be  difficult  to  establish  the 
claims  put  forward  in  behalf  of  Decaus.  But  there  was  nothing  novel 
either  in  its  construction  or  in  the  principle  of  its  operation;  while  for 
nearly  all  practical  purposes  it  was  valueless. 

So  far  as  respects  the  apparatus  simply,  no  part  of  it  was  invented  by 
him.  It  is  figured  in  the  Spiritalia  as  an  illustration  of  Problem  IX,  viz. 
a  hollow  sphere  partly  filled  with  water,  and  resting  upon  a  tripod,  with 
a  jet  pipe  extending  down  into  the  liquid.  Instead  of  fire  under  it  to 
raise  steam,  a  syringe  is  connected  to  the  upper  part,  by  which  to  inject 
air  or  water.  This  figure  is  copied  in  Plate  VII  of  the  “  Forcible  Move¬ 
ments,  (Leak’s  Trans.)  and  of  it  Decaus  observes,  “  as  concerning  the 
figure  of  the  globe,  it  may  serve  for  pleasure  to  cast  the  water  very  high 
by  the ^ pipe,  after  that  you  have  forced  it  in  with  violence  with  the  sy¬ 
ringe.”  Had  not  this  device  of  raising  water  by  air  compressed  with  a 
syringe  been  found  in  the  Spiritalia,  it  might  also  have  been  deemed  the 
invention  of  Decaus,  for  he  does  not  mention  the  source  whence  he  de¬ 
rived  it;  and  as  it  is,  we  think  he  may  with  as  much  reason  be  considered 
the  author  of  air-engines,  as  the  first  inventor  of  steam  engines.  The 
apparatus  is  also  a  modification  of  that  by  which  Heron  raised  water  by 
the  heat  of  the  sun,  but  the  author  of  the  Spiritalia  was  too  well  versed 
in  the  subject.,  to  introduce  in  that  work  such  a  device  as  that  of  Decaus. 

1  he  elevation  of  water  by  the  elastic  force  of  steam  was  also  well 
known  before  the  time  of  Decaus.  Nature  herself  has  always  presented 
striking  proofs  of  it  in  boiling  springs,  and  in  the  magnificent  fountains 
and  jets  that  are  thrown  up  in  various  parts  of  the  earth  from  subter¬ 
raneous  cauldrons  by  imprisoned  steam  ;  as  in  the  Geysers  of  Iceland 
where  the  hot  liquid,  is  thus  violently  forced  through  natural  tubes,  of 
nine  or  ten  feet  in  diameter,  to  heights  varying  from  twenty  to  ninety 
feet,  and  accompanied  with  intermitting  volumes  of  the  vapor ;  pheno¬ 
mena  the  philosophy  of  which  was  well  understood  by  the  ancientsf  But 
if  such  examples  are  deemed  too  indirect,  and  as  known  only  to  a  few 
there  are  others  with  which  people  generally  have  always  been  conver- 
sant :  Vessels  for  heating  water,  with  tubular  spouts,  whose  upper  orifices 
stand  higher  than  the  top  of  the  vessels  or  the  liquid  within  them,  are  of 
extreme  antiquity;  some  that  resemble  our  tea-kettles  and  coffee-pots  are 
found  portrayed  on  the  paintings  and  sculptures  of  Egypt.  Now  every 


412 


Observations  on  the  device  of  Decaus. 


[Book  IV 


one  knows  that  when  the  covers  of  these  fit  so  close  as  to  prevent  the 
steam  from  escaping  as  fast  as  it  is  generated,  the  confined  vapor  forces  up 
the  hot  liquid  through  the  spouts ;  and  in  a  manner  precisely  the  same  as 
described  by  Decaus,  for  the  effect  is  the  same  whether  the  discharging 
tube  be  connected  to  the  lower  side  of  a  boiler  like  a  tea-kettle  spout,  or 
inserted  through  the  top  and  continued  within  to  the  liquid.  From  such 
domestic  exhibitions  of  the  effects  of  steam,  the  devices  of  Heron  and 
other  ancient  experimenters  were  probably  derived  :  a  person  whose 
thoughts  were  turned  to  the  subject  of  raising  water  by  it  could  not  fail  to 
profit  by  them,  or  to  hit  upon  so  slight  a  modification  of  the  apparatus  as 
shown  in  the  last  figure. 

The  same  application  of  steam  was  often  exhibited  by  alchymists  as  al¬ 
ready  observed  in  their  manipulations,  and  in  drawing  off  the  contents  of 
their  stills  and  retorts ;  but  it  was  still  more  clearly  illustrated  in  common 
life  in  the  employment  of  eolipiles,  and  the  copper  ball  of  Decaus  was 
merely  one  of  these  with  ajetpipe  prolonged  into  the  liquid.  The  very  terms 
“  ball  of  copper,”  “  ball  of  brass,”  were  those  by  which  eolipiles  were 
designated.  (See  page  396.)  Now  no  one  was  ignorant  that  an  opening 
on  the  top  of  one  of  these  instruments  let  out  steam,  and  that  through  one 
near  the  bottom  hot  water  would  be  violently  expelled  through  a  vertical 
tube,  if  attached  to  the  opening.  Suppose  the  one  figured  at  No.  185 
either  accidentally  or  designedly  placed  on  the  fire  with  the  tube  inclined 
upwards,  and  heated  in  that  position  while  two  thirds  filled  with  water; 
the  vapor  would  then  accumulate  in  the  dome,  and  would  necessarily 
drive  out  the  boiling  liquid  until  the  lower  orifice  of  the  tube  was  no  longer 
covered  with  water:  or  imagine  No.  184  inclined  till  water  rushed  out 
instead  of  steam.  That  such  experiments  were  not  only  frequent  but  com¬ 
mon,  no  person  can  reasonably  doubt,  although  no  notice  of  them  may  be 
found  in  books.  Such  a  mode  of  raising  water  was  of  little  value  and  not 
thought  worth  recording,  and  but  for  its  introduction  into  some  histories 
of  the  steam-engine,  we  should  not  have  deemed  it  of  sufficient  importance 
to  notice.  Moreover,  the  ordinary  mode  of  charging  eolipiles  which  had 
but  one  minute  orifice,  viz.  by  heating  and  then  plunging  them  in  water, 
must  have  frequently  caused  them  to  produce  liquid  jets,  in  consequence 
of  their  imbibing  too  much,  and  there  being  no  other  way  of  expelling 
the  surplus  than  by  placing  the  instrument  on  the  fire.  Probably  an  eoli- 
pile  was  never  used  that  was  not  occasionally  overcharged  with  the  liquid, 
and  thus  made  to  raise  a  portion  of  it  by  the  elastic  force  of  steam.  At 
any  rate,  no  one  who  was  familiar -with  these  instruments,  from  Heron  to 
Decaus,  could  have  been  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  they  might  be  applied  to 
produce  jets  of  hot  water  as  well  as  of  vapor;  and  few  ever  used  them 
who  did  not  occasionally  make  them  produce  both. 

It  would  be  an  unjust  reflection  on  Decaus  to  suppose  he  could  not  have 
given  a  better  plan  than  No.  18S  for  raising  water  by  steam,  if  the  project 
had  been  seriously  entertained  by  him;  but  there  is  not  the  slightest  ground 
to  believe  he  ever  dreamt  of  applying  that  fluid  to  hydraulic  purposes,  or 
as  a  substitute  for  pumps,  chains  of  pots,  &c.  He  certainly  would  have 
laughed  at  any  one  proposing  a  device  by  which  water  could  not  be  raised 
until  the  whole  of  it  was  boiled,  whether  the  quantity  was  a  pint,  a  hogs¬ 
head,  or  a  million  of  gallons ;  and  in  some  cases  not  until  its  temperature 
far  exceeded  that  at  which  ebullition  in  open  vessels  takes  place.  Why 
then,  it  may  be  asked,  did  he  mention  the  device  at  all?  Simply  to  show 
that  “  water  may  be  raised  above  its  level  by  means  of  fire.”  Well,  but 
he  says  that  “diverse  machines”  may  be  deduced  from  it.  True,  and  he 
has  given  a  description  of  one,  from  which  we  may  judge  of  the  rest:  these 


Chap.  4.] 


413 


Observations  on  the  device  of  Decaus. 

were  most  likely  mere  trifles— whims  that  suited  the  taste  of  the  age. 
No  1S9  is  probably  one  ol  them,  which  a  contemporaneous  English  author 
adduces  under  “Experiments  of  mocions  by  rarefying  water  with  fier,” 
and  of  which  he  also  observes,  other  devices  may  be  derived  from  it. 

Decaus  appears  to  have  read  and  traveled  much,  and  to  have  collected 
knowledge  from  every  source  within  his  reach.  He  describes  saw-mills 
that  were  used  in  Switzerland,  fire-engines  of  Germany,  canal-locks  which 
he  noticed  between  Venice  and  Padua:  he  cites  Tacitus,  Pausanias  and 
1  liny;  quotes  largely  from  Heron,  and  refers  his  more  learned  readers  to 
Ai  chnnedes,  a  commentary  upon  whose  writings  he  promises  to  undertake. 
‘>1  course  he  was  acquainted  with  the  works  of  Porta,  for  this  Neapolitan 
philosopher  and  his  writings  were  greatly  celebrated  throughout  Eu¬ 
rope.  Now  had  Decaus  turned  his  thoughts  at  all  to  the  elevation  of  water 
by  steam,  he  would  at  once  have  perceived  the  advantages  of  a  device 
like  No.  137,  by  which  the  liquid  could  be  raised  in  unlimited  quantities 
without  being  heated  at  all,  as  well  as  under  all  possible  circumstances  : 
and  having  perceived  this,  would  he  not  (if  the  project  of  thus  raising 
water  had  ever  entered  his  head)  have  given  it,  or  a  modification  of  it, 
instead  of  No.  183  ?  It  is  clear  that  he  wanted  an  illustration  of  a  propo¬ 
sition  merely,  and  the  one  he  has  given  he  considered  as  good  as  any 

As  long  as  the  Natural  Magic  and  the  Sjnritali  of  Porta  are  admitted 
to  have  been  published,  the  former  about  fifty  and  the  latter  at  least  ten 
years  before  the  work  of  Decaus,  there  is  little  if  any  thing  whereon  to 
found  a  claim  for  the  latter.  If  we  were  to  concede,  what  certainly  is  not 
established  beyond  dispute,  that  the  first  idea  of  raising  a  weight  by  means 
of  the  elastic  power  of  steam  belongs  to  the  French  author,”  the  fact  would 
still  remain  that  the  Neapolitan  had  long  before  show,n  how  this  could  be 
done  ;  and  M.  Arago  has  himself  observed,  that  “  in  the  arts,  as  in  the 
sciences,  the  last  comer  is  supposed  to  be  acquainted  with  the  labors  of 
those  who  preceded  him — all  denial  in  this  respect  is  without  value.”  The 
object  of  Porta  in  introducing  the  device  referred  to  was  not  to  show  its 
application  to  raise  water,  and  it  is  not  fair  to  conclude  that  he  was  igno¬ 
rant  of  its  adaptation  for  that  purpose  because  he  has  not  gone  out  of3  his 
way  to  point  it  out.  It  has  also  been  objected,  that  his  apparatus  raised 
the  liquid  to  a  very  limited  height.  We  do  not  know  that  Decaus’s  did 
more,  for  we  are  only  told  that  the  contents  of  the  ball  would  be  driven 
out,  without  the  slightest  intimation  of  an  elevated  discharge.  Well,  (an 
advocate  of  the  latter  will  say)  but  his  apparatus  is  capable  of  raisino- wa¬ 
ter  to  all  heights.  And  so  is  Porta’s.  But  had  Porta  “  the  least  idea  of 
the  great  power  which  steam  is  susceptible  of  acquiring]”  The  extracts 
which  we  have  given  from  his  Natural  Magic,  on  the  rupture  of  vessels 
by  steam,  prove  that  he  was  well  aware  of  it;  and  the  book  from  which 
these  extracts  are  taken  was  his  earliest  production,  being  published  in 
1560,  at  which  time  (he  observes  in  the  preface)  he  was  only  about  fifteen 
years  old.  To  conclude,  we  are  constrained  to  embrace  the  opinion,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  arguments  and  eloquence  of  M.  Arago,  that  the  device 
described  by  Decaus  brought  to  light  no  new  fact,  and  gave  rise  to  no  new 
or  useful  result. 

Although  instances  rarely  occur  in  the  arts  in  which  the  elevation  of 
hot  water  by  the  steam  evolved  from  it  could  be  of  service,  there  are  some, 
as  in  chemical  manipulations,  in  a  few  breweries  and  distilleries,  and  also 
in  soap  manufactories.  The  operation  in  the  latter  is  worth  noticing : — 
In  the  ordinary  process  of  manufacturing  common  hard  soap,  three  or  four 
tons  are  often  made  at  once  in  a  deep  iron  vat  or  boiler.  Into  this  several 


414 


Hot  water  raised  by  Steam  in  soap  manufactories.  [Book  IV. 


hundred  gallons  of  ley,  with  the  other  ingredients,  tallow,  rosin,  lime,  &c. 
are  put.  After  the  whole  has  been  several  times  boiled,  the  semi-fluid 
mass  is  suffered  to  remain  some  time  at  rest,  when  the  ley  collecting  at  the 
bottom  leaves  a  thick  stratum  of  soap  formed  above.  As  no  openings  are 
made  in  the  sides  or  bottom  of  the  boiler,  the  hot  ley  is  drawn  off  at  the 
top,  and  is  usually  done  by  a  common  pump.  Long  after  the  fire  is  with¬ 
drawn  steam  continues  to  rise  from  the  liquid,  below ;  for,  from  the  vast 
mass  of  heated  materials,  their  non-conducting  property,  and  that  of  the 
furnace,  the  heat  is  slowly  dissipated.  The  soap  in  the  mean  time  acquires 
a  firmer  consistence,  and  prevents  the  vapor  from  escaping  above  almost  as 
effectually  as  the  bottom  of  the  boiler  does  below ;  so  that  not  until  the 
steam  attains  considerable  elastic  force  can  it  open  a  passage  through, 
and  when  it  does  the  opening  is  instantly  closed  as  before.  When  there¬ 
fore  the  pump  is  pushed  through  the  whole  to  the  bottom  of  the  vat,  and 
started  to  work,  the  liquid  continues  of  itself  to  pass  up,  being  urged  by 
the  steam.  (It  is  necessary  to  work  the  pump  at  first  because  the  open¬ 
ings  in  its  end  become  stopped  with  soap  in  passing  it  down.  The  end 
of  a  plain  tube  would  be  choked  in  the  same  way  ;  but  by  a  pump  at¬ 
tached  to  it,  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  is  added  to  that  of  the  steam 
to  force  the  passage  open.)  The  large  body  of  soap  keeps  settling  down 
as  the  ley  is  discharged,  and  thus  preserves  the  steam  at  the  same  degree 
of  tension  until  all  the  ley  is  ejected,  when  the  steam  itself  escapes  also 
through  the  pump.  The  soap,  it  will  be  perceived,  acts  as  a  flexible  pis¬ 
ton,  its  adhesion  to  the  sides  of  the  boiler  and  its  spissitude  and  weight 
effectually  confining  the  vapor  below. 

Of  the  origin  of  this  mode  of  raising  ley,  and  the  extent  to  which  it  is 
practiced,  we  are  not  informed.  It  affords  however  an  example  of  the 
truth  of  the  remark,  that  important  results  may  be  deduced  from  attention 
to  simple  facts,  as  well  as  from  the  observance  of  common  products.  An 
examination  of  the  residuum  of  a  soap-boiler’s  kettle,  it  is  well  known,  led 
to  the  discovery  of  a  new  chemical  element,  (iodine,)  and  of  its  virtues  as 
a  specific  in  the  cure  of  the  goitre  ;  and  from  the  preceding  remarks  it  may 
be  inferred,  that  an  observing  Greek  or  Roman  soap-boiler  might  have 
discovered  the  applicability  of  steam  to  raise  water,  since  he  possessed  all 
the  requisite  machinery  in  his  ordinary  apparatus,  and  might  have  per¬ 
formed  the  operation  as  often  as  he  made  soap.  His  ingenuity  would  also 
have  been  rewarded  by  a  diminution  of  his  labor.  And  who  can  prove 
that  such  a  plan  was  not  in  use  in  some  of  the  old  soap-factories  of  former 
times  ?  In  that,  for  example,  which  has  been  discovered  in  Pompeii,  in 
one  apartment  of  which  are  the  vats,  placed  on  a  level  with  the  ground, 
and  in  another  were  found  heaps  of  lime  of  so  superior  a  quality  as  to 
have  excited  the  admiration  of  modern  manufacturers.1 11 

Of  the  manipulations  of  ancient  mechanics  and  manufacturers  we  know 
little  or  nothing.  Of  the  thousands  of  their  devices,  many  valuable  ones 
have  certainly  been  lost.  Some  of  these  have  been  revived  or  rediscovered 
in  modern  times,  among  which  we  think  may  be  mentioned  various  appli¬ 
cations  of  steam.  There  were  indeed  so  many  occasions  for  the  employ¬ 
ment  of  this  fluid  by  the  ancients,  and  particularly  in  raising  of  water,  that, 
taken  in  connection  with  the  information  respecting  it  in  the  Spiritalia,  the 
part  it  was  made  to  perform  in  the  temples,  the  traces  of  it  in  the  hot 


1  Soap  must  have  been  an  expensive  article  among  the  Greeks,  at  least  such  as  was 

used  in  the  toilette,  if  we  were  to  judge  from  the  amount  that  Demetrius  extorted  from 
the  Athenians,  viz.  250  talents,  which,  says  Plutarch,  “he  gave  to  Lamia  and  his  other 
mistresses  to  buy  soap." 


415 


Chap.  4.J  Ancient  Writings  on  the  Arts  destroyed. 

baths  at  Rome,  and  the  apparatus  of  Anthemius,  by  which  last  it  was 
adapted  to  a  very  novel  purpose  as  a  motive  agent,  thus  exhibiting  re¬ 
sources  in  its  appplication  that  could  only  be  derived  from  experience _ 

we  cannot  divest  ourselves  of  the  idea  that  the  ancients  were  better  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  mechanical  properties  of  steam  and  its  application  to  the 
arts  than  is  commonly  supposed. 

But  for  the  destruction  of  the  numerous  libraries  of  the  ancients,  some 
of  which  contained  volumes  that  treated  on  every  subject,  we  should  have 
been  intimately  acquainted  with  their  arts  and  machinery  ;  and  but  for 
the  logic  of  Omar,a  we  might  have  been  in  possession  of  those  treatises 
on  mechanics  that  Ctesibius  studied,  and  which  supplied  Heron  with  ma¬ 
terials  for  the  Spiritalia ;  for  the  latter  refers  to  inventions  and  writings  of 
his  predecessors,  and  admits  having  incorporated  some  of  their  produc¬ 
tions  with  his  own.  Possibly  the  very  books  out  of  which  he  selected  the 
applications  of  steam  No.  179  and  No.  180  might  now  have  been  extant. 
The  destiuction  of  such  works  as  these  was  a  severe  loss  to  the  world. 
Had  they  been  saved,  the  state  of  society  would  not,  in  the  following 
ages,  have  been  so  greatly  degenerated,  nor  would  the  arts  have  sunk  to 
so  low  an  ebb.  Mechanics  have  therefore  as  much  reason,  if  not  more,  to 
deplore  the  loss  of  those  volumes  that  treated  on  the  subjects  of  their  pur¬ 
suits,  as  learned  men  have  to  regret  the  destruction  of  those  that  related 
to  literature  only.  It  was  also  easier  to  replace  the  latter  than  the  former 
—to  revive  the  literature  than  the  arts  of  the  ancients;  for  reflections  on 
history,  politics,  morals,  literature,  romance,  &c.  are  more  or  less  common 
to  our  race  in  all  times,  and  in  every  age  men  will  be  found  to  clothe 
them,  or  selections  of  them,  in  glowing  language ;  whereas  mechanical 
inventions,  though  often  brought  about  by  the  observance  of  common 
facts,  are  frequently  the  results  of  fortuitous  thoughts  which  local  occur¬ 
rences  or  singular  circumstances  induce,  and  if  once  lost  can  hardly  be 
revived,  except  by  congenial  minds  under  similar  circumstances.  Besides, 
it  is  not  by  the  mere  arresting  an  idea  as  it  floats  through  the  mind  that 
discoveries  or  improvements  in  mechanism  are  effected  :  on  the  contrary, 
it  requires  to  be  cultivated  and  matured  by  reflection  ;  the  accuracy  of  the 
device  suggested  by  it  has  to  be  tested  by  models,  and  these  by  experi¬ 
ment,  before  the  incipient  thought  becomes  embodied  in  a  working  ma¬ 
chine. 


a  Amrou,  his  general,  having  taken  Alexandria,  wrote  for  directions  respecting  the 
disposition  of  the  famous  library  which  it  had  been  the  pride  of  the  Ptolemies  to  collect. 
The  reply  was— if  the  writings  agreed  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Koran,  they  were  use • 
less;  and  if  they  did  not,  they  ought  to  be  destroyed.  The  argument  was  irresistible, 
and  the  whole  were  burnt. 


416 


Few  Inventions  formerly  recorded. 


[Book  IV. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Few  Inventions  formerly  recorded— Lord  Bacon — His  project  for  draining  mines — Thomas  Bushell — 
Ice  produced  by  hydraulic  machines— Eolipiles — Branca’s  application  of  the  blast  of  one  to  produce 
motion— Its  inutility — Curious  extract  from  Wilkins — Ramseye’s  patent  for  raising  water  by  fire — Ma¬ 
nufacture  of  nitre — Figure  illustrating  the  application  of  steam,  from  an  old  English  work — Kirrher’s 
device  for  raising  water  by  steam — John  Bate — Antiquity  of  boys’  kites  in  England — Discovery  of  at¬ 
mospheric  pressure — Engine  of  motion — Anecdotes  of  Oliver  Evans  and  John  Fitch — Elasticity  and 
condensation  of  steam — Steam-engines  modifications  of  guns — A  moving  piston  the  essential  feature  in 
both — Classification  of  modern  steam  engines — Guerricke’s  apparatus — The  same  adopted  in  steam-en¬ 
gines — Guerricke  one  of  the  authors  of  the  steam-engine. 


How  few,  how  exceedingly  few  of  the  conceptions  and  experimental 
researches  of  mechanics  have  ever  been  recorded  !  How  many  millions 
of  men  of  genius  have  passed  through  life  without  making  their  discove¬ 
ries  known  !  Even  since  printing  was  introduced,  not  a  moiety  of  those 
who  possessed  in  an  unusual  degree  the  faculty  of  invention  have  pre¬ 
served  any  of  their  ideas  on  paper.  Of  some  men  celebrated  for  the  no¬ 
velty  of  their  devices,  nothing  is  known  but  their  names  ;  they  have  gone, 
and  not  a  trace  of  their  labors  is  left.  Of  others,  the  title  by  which  they 
designated  their  inventions  is  nearly  all  that  has  come  down — no  particu¬ 
lars  by  which  we  might  judge  of  their  merits.  This  is  the  case  with  many 
of  the  old  experimenters  on  steam,  especially  those  who  raised  or  at¬ 
tempted  to  raise  water  by  it.  Among  these  we  have  sometimes  thought 
Lord  Bacon  should  have  a  place,  under  the  impression  that  he  employed, 
or  designed  to  employ,  that  fluid  to  raise  water  from  the  deluged  mines 
which  he  undertook  to  recover.  He  obviously  had  some  new  modes  and 
machines  for  the  purpose.  An  account  of  these  he  laid  before  the  King, 
(James  I)  who  approved  of  the  project,  and  consented  that  the  aid  of 
parliament  should  be  invoked.  In  the  “  Speech  touching  the  recovery  of 
drown’d  mineral  works,”  which  Bacon  prepared  to  be  delivered  before 
parliament,  is  the  following  passage  :  “And  I  may  assure  your  Lordships 
that  all  my  proposals,  in  order  to  this  great  architype,  seemed  so  rational  and 
feasable  to  my  Royal  Sovereign,  our  Christian  Salomon,  [!]  that  I  thereby 
prevailed  with  his  Majesty  to  call  .this  honorable  Parliament,  to  confirm 
and  impower  me,  in  my  own  way  of  mining,  by  an  act  of  the  same.”®  This 
great  man  was  therefore  in  possession  of  a  novel  plan  of  accomplishing 
one  of  the  most  arduous  undertakings  in  practical  hydraulics ;  and  so  im¬ 
pressed  with  a  belief  in  its  efficiency  that  the  king  was  induced  by  him  to 
call,  or  agree  to  call,  a  parliament,  chiefly  it  would  seem  to  give  sanction 
to  it.  What  the  plan  was,  we  are  not  informed,  nor  is  any  account  of  it 
believed  to  be  extant.  Dr.  Tenison,  (Archbishop  of  Canterbury)  the  au¬ 
thor  of  “  Baconiana,”  alluding  in  1679  to  Bacon’s  “  Mechanical  Inventions,” 
observes,  “His  instruments  and  ways  in  recovering  deserted  mines,  I  can 
give  no  account  of  at  all ;  though  certainly,  without  new  tools ,  and  peculiar 
inventions,  he  would  never  have  undertaken  that  new  and  hazardous 
work.”b  That  the  project  consisted  chiefly  in  some  peculiar  mode  of 
raising  the  water  is  certain  ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  a  member  of 


a  Baconiana.  Lond.  1679,  p.  133.  b  “An  Account  of  all  the  Lord  Bacon’s  Works," 
subjoined  to  Baconiana,  p.  17. 


417 


Chap.  5.]  Lord  Bacon's  Project  for  raising  Water  from  Mines. 

his  household  was  a  mining  engineer,  and  celebrated  for  the  invention  or 
construction  of  hydraulic  engines,  viz.  “  Mr.  Thomas  Bushell,  one  of  his 
ordship  s  menial  servants;  a  man  skilful  in  discovering  and  opening  of 
mines,  and  famous  for  his  curious  water-works  in  Oxfordshire,  by  which 
he  imitated  rain,  hail,  the  rainbow,  thunder  and  lightning.”11  This  was 
probabiy  the  same  individual  who  is  mentioned  in  some& biographies  as 
“  Master  of  the  Royal  Mines  in  Wales,”  under  Charles  I.  * 

That  the  application  of  steam  to  drain  mines  and  impart  motion  to  ma¬ 
chinery  had  begun  to  excite  attention  in  England  before  the  death  of  Ba 
con,  (in  1626)  is  very  obvious.  Of  this  there  are  several  indications; 
and  within  four  years  of  his  demise,  a  patent  was  granted  for  a  method  of 
dischargmg  water  “from  low  pitts  by  fire?  Then  he  was  acquainted 
with  the  writings  of  Porta,  and  consequently  with  the  apparatus  No.  187. 
No  experiment  or  fact  of  the  kind  illustrated  by  this  could  have  escaped 
him,  even  if  he  had  not  been  engaged  in  the  project  of  recovering  flooded 
mines ;  and  he  was,  to  say  the  least,  as  likely  as  any  other  man  of  his  a^e 
to  perceive  the  adaptation  of  such  an  apparatus  as  No.  187  for  raisin*-  wa¬ 
ter,  and  also  to  apply  it.  We  hear  of  no  such  uses  of  steam  in  England 
before  his  time,  but  soon  after  his  death  they  make  their  appearance  with¬ 
out  any  one  very  distinctly  to  claim  them.  It  may  however  be  said  if 
Bacon  raised  water  by  steam,  Bushell,  his  engineer,  would  most  likely 
have  done  the  same  after  the  death  of  the  chancellor,  and  proofs  of  this 
fact  might  be  obtained  from  an  examination  of  the  water-works  of  the 
latter  Had  we  any  account  of  these,  the  question  most  likely  could  be 
settled ;  but  almost  the  only  information  we  have  respecting  the  machines 
and  labors  of  Bushell  is  contained  in  the  extract  above,  and  there  is  but 
one  particular  from  which  any  thing  respecting  their  construction  can  be 
inferred,  viz.  had  is  said  to  have  been  produced  by  them.  How  this 
was  done  we  know  not;  possibly  by  admitting  high  steam  into  a  close 
vessel,  from  which  water  mixed  with  airb  was  expelled  with  a  velocity 
sufficient  to  produce  ice,  somewhat  in  the  same  manner  as  the  operation  is 
performed  by  compressed  air  in  the  pressure  engine  described  at  page  362. 
The  same  thing  was  done  by  others  who  we  know  did  experiment  on 
steam,  and  who  performed  the  operation  without  the  aid  of  a  great  fall  of 
water.  The  Marquis  of  Worcester  makes  it  the  subject  of  the  18th  pro¬ 
position  of  his  “  Century  of  Inventions,”  in  a  fountain  which  he  says  a 
child,  could  invert.  And  a  century  before,  Cornelius  Drebble  “  made 
certain  machines  which  produced  rain,  hail  and  lightning,  as  naturally  as 
if  these  effects  proceeded  from  the  sky.” 

But  whether  Lord  Bacon  used  steam  or  not — and  it  must  be  admitted 
that  there  is  no  direct  evidence  that  he  did — it  is  interesting  to  know  that 
his  great  mind  was  bent  to  the  subject  of  raising  water  on  the  most  ex¬ 
tensive  scale,  and  this  too  at  the  time  when  steam  first  began  to  be  propo¬ 
sed  for  that  purpose  in  England.  On  this  account,  if  on  no  other,  are  his 
labors  entitled  to  notice  here.® 


*  Account  of  Lord  Bacon’s  Works,  p.  19. 

Dr.  (afterwards  Bishop)  Burnett,  in  his  Letters  from  Italy,  noticing  the  water-works 
,0bleryes’  “the  mixture  of  wind  with  the  water  and  the  thunder  and  storms 
that  tins  maketh,  is  noble.”  3d  edition,  Rotterdam,  1687,  p.  245. 

,<«l,^I/.?aCOnS!ems  ,tCl  have  been  greatly  interested  in  mining  and  in  the  reduction, 
componndmg  and  working  of  metals.  In  his  treatise  on  the  Advancement  of  Learning 
e  divides  natural  philosophy  into  the  mine  and  furnace,  and  philosophers  into  pioneers 
smi  is,  or  iggers  and  hammerers ;  the  former  being  engaged  in  the  inquisition  of 
causes,  and  the  latter  in  the  production  of  effects.  In  his  “  Physiological  Remains,”  we 
hnd  the  saving  of  fuel  thus  noticed  under  the  head  of  “  Experiments  for  Profit:”  “Build 
mg  of  chimneys,  furnaces  and  ovens,  lo  give  out  heat  with  less  wood.” 

53 


418 


Branca' s  Eolipile. 


Book  IV. 


Three  years  after  Bacon’s  death,  the  first  printed  account  was  published 
of  any  modern  attempt  (yet  discovered)  to  communicate  motion  to  solids 
by  steam,  and  as  usual  an  eolipile  was  employed.  Occupying  a  place  on 
the  domestic  hearth,  as  this  instrument  did,  the  shrill  current  proceeding 
from  it  must  have  often  excited  attention,  and  led  ingenious  men  to  ex¬ 
tend  the  application  of  the  blast  to  other  purposes.  The  first  idea  that 
would  occur  to  a  novice  when  attempting  to  obtain  a  rotary  movement 
from  a  current  of  vapor,  would  be  that  of  a  light  wheel,  having  its  wings 
or  vanes  placed  so  as  to  receive  the  impulse,  in  a  similar  manner  as  little 
paper  wheels  are  made  to  revolve,  which  children  support  on  a  pin  or 
wire  and  blow  round  with  the  mouth — or  those  which  resemble  ventila¬ 
tors  and  revolve  when  held  against  the  wind  at  the  end  of  a  stick.  These 
toys  are  vertical  and  horizontal  windmills  in  miniature,  and  windmills  and 
smoke-jacks  were  the  only  instruments  in  the  16th  century  that  revolved 
by  currents  of  air.  Hence  it  was  natural  to  imitate  the  movements  of 
these  in  the  first  applications  of  steam ;  and  the  more  so  since  steam 
at  that  time  was  generally  considered  to  be  nothing  but  air.a  Such  was 
the  device  of  Giovanni  Branca,  as  described  in  a  work  entitled  The  Ma¬ 
chine,  written  in  Italian  and  Latin,  and  published  at  Rome  in  1629.  The 
volume  contains  sixty-three  engravings.  The  twenty-fifth  represents  an 
eolipile,  in  the  form  of  a  negro’s  head,  and  heated  on  a  brazier :  the  blast 
proceeds  from  the  mouth,  and  is  directed  against  pallets  or  vanes  on  the 
periphery  of  a  large  wheel,  which  he  thus  expected  to  turn  round;  and 
by  means  of  a  series  of  toothed  wheels  and  pinions,  to  communicate  mo¬ 
tion  to  stampers  for  pounding  drugs.  He  proposed  also  to  raise  water  by 
it  with  a  chain  of  buckets,  to  saw  timber,  drive  piles,  &c. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  observe  that  the  apparatus  figured  by  Branca 
in  all  probability  never  existed  except  in  his  imagination,  and  that  his 
stampers,  buckets,  saws,  piles,  &c.  could  no  more  have  been  moved  by 
the  blast  of  his  eolipile,  than  those  venerable  trees  were  which  Wilkins 
and  older  writers  have  represented  being  torn  up  from  the  earth  by  a  man’s 
breath — the  blast  being  directed  against  the  vanes  of  a  wheel,  and  the 
force  multiplied  by  a  series  of  toothed  wheels  and  pinions,  until  its  energy 
could  no  longer  be  resisted  by  the  rootsl*5  Branca  seems  to  have  had  these 
childish  dreams  in  his  mind  when  he  proposed  a  continuous  stream  ot 
steam  from  an  eolipile,  in  lieu  of  intermitting  puffs  of  air  from  a  person’s 
mouth.  Italian  writers  have  however  claimed  for  him  the  invention  of 
the  steam-engine,  a  claim  quite  as  untenable  as  that  put  forth  in  behalf  of 
Decaus ;  for,  in  the  first  place,  his'mode  of  producing  a  rotary  motion  by 
a  current  of  vapor  was  not  new  :  all  that  can  be  accorded  to  him  in  this 
respect  is,  that  he  perhaps  was  the  first  to  publish  a  figure  and  description 
of  it.  Then  it  indicates  neither  ingenuity  nor  research.  There  probably 
never  was  a  boy  that  made  and  played  with  “  paper  windmills”  who  would 
not  have  at  once  suggested  it,  had  he  been  consulted ;  and  when  eolipiles 
were  common,  many  a  lad  doubtless  amused  himself  by  making  his  “  mills” 
revolve  in  the  current  of  vapor  that  issued  from  them.  Moreover,  the 
device  is  of  no  practical  value.  How  infinitely  does  it  fall  short  when 
compared  with  that  of  Heron,  (No.  180.)  The  philosophical  principle  of 

a  A  horizontal  and  a  vertical  windmill  are  figured  at  folio  49  of  Rivius’  translation  of 
Vitruvius,  A.  D.  1548. 

b  By  the  multiplication  of  wheels  and  pinions  it  were  easy  to  have  made,  says  Wilkins, 
“one  of  Sampson’s  hairs  that  was  shaved  off,  to  have  been  of  more  strength  than  all  of 
them  when  they  were  on  :  by  the  help  of  these  arts  it  is  possible,  as  I  shall  demonstrate, 
for  any  man  to  lift  up  the  greatest  oak  by  the  roots  with  a  straw,  to  pull  it  up  with  a  /tair, 
or  to  blow  it  up  with  his  breath."  Math.  Magic,  book  i,  chap.  14. 


Chap.  5.] 


Ramseye's  Patent,  A.D.  1630 


419 

recoil  by  which  the  Alexandrian  engineer  imparted  motion  by  steam  has 
often  been  adopted,  and  engines  resembling  his  are  made  even  at  this  day 
but  one  on  the  plan  of  Branca  never  was,  and,  without  presumption  ^t 
may  be  said,  never  will  be.  The  principle  being  bad,  no  modification  or 
extension  of  it  could  be  made  useful.  No  boiler  could  by  it  be  made  to 
W°1^1  --  a  PumP  to  inject  the  necessary  supply  of  water 
trMr:  Farey  has  well  observed  that  steam  has  so  little  density,  that  the 
he  utmost  effect  it  can  produce  by  percussion  is  very  triflingf  notwith¬ 
standing  the  great  velocity  with  which  it  moves.  The  blast  i£uinJ  from 
an  eohpile,  or  from  the  spout  of  a  boiling  tea-kettle,  appears  to  rush  out 
with  so  much  force  that  at  first  sight  it  might  be  supposed  its  power  on  a 
larger  scale,  might  be  applied  in  lieu  of  a  natural  current  of  wind  to’ give 
motion  to  machinery ;  but  on  examination  it  will  be  found,  that  the  steam 
being  less  than  half  the  specific  gravity  of  common  air,  its  motion  .s  im¬ 
peded  and  resisted  by  the  atmosphere.  As  steam  contains  so  lie  e  matter 
or  weight,  it  cannot  communicate  any  considerable  force  by  its  impetus  or 
concussion  when  it  strikes  a  solid  body.  The  force  of  a  current  o?f  steam 
also  soon  ceases.  This  may  be  observed  in  a  tea-kettle  :  the  vapor  which 
issues  with  great  velocity  at  the  spout,  becomes  a  mere  mist  at  a  few  inches 
distance,  and  without  any  remaining  motion  or  energy ;  and  if  the  issuing 
current  were  directed  to  strike  upon  any  kind  of  vanes,  with  a  view  of 
obtaining  motion  from  it,  the  condensation  of  the  steam  would  be  still  more 
sudden,  because  the  substance  of  such  vanes  would  absorb  the  heat  of  the 
steam  more  rapidly  than  air. 

Branca’s  apparatus  has  been  made  to  figure  in  the  history  of  the  *team- 

f^?WbUJ™th  e(?Ual  might  the  child’s  windmill  be  introduced 

nto  that  of  air-engines,  for  the  analogy  is  precisely  the  same  in  both.  His 
device  had  no  influence  in  developing  modern  engines.  Instead  of  lead¬ 
ing  to  the  employment  of  the  fluid  in  close  vessels,  and  to  the  use  of  a 
piston  and  cylinder,  its  tendency  was  the  reverse  :  hence  so  far  from  indi 
eating  the  right  path,  it  diverted  attention  from  it. 

At  the  time  Branca  was  preparing  his  book  for  the  press,  some  experi¬ 
ments  on  steam  were  being  made  in  England— or  so  it  would  seem  from 
banderson  s  edition  of  Rymer’s  Foedera.  In  vol.  xix  is  a  copy  of  a  patent 
or  special  privilege  granted  by  Charles  I  to  David  Ramseye,  one  of  the 

fuar^l  1630  ™^  Chamber’  f°r  the  following  inventions;  and  dated  Ja- 

“  1.  To  multiply  and  make  saltpeter  in  any  open  field,  in  fower  acres 
oi  ground  sufficient  to  serve  all  our  dominions.  2.  To  raise  water  from 
low  puts  by  fire.  3.  To  make  any  sort  of  mills  to  goe  on  standing  waters 
by  continual  motion,  without  the  help  of  wind,  waite  [weight]  or  horse.  4. 
lo  make  all  sorts  of  tapistrie  without  any  weaving  loom,  or  waie  ever  vet 
m  use  in  this  kingdome.  5.  To  make  boats,  shippes  and  barges  to  soe 
against  strong  wind  and  tide.  6.  To  make  the  earth  more  fertile  than 
usual.  7.  To  raise  water  from  low  places,  and  mynes,  and  coalvitts  bv  a 

K  ln  lS\  -8'  T°  makG  hard  ir°n  S0ft>  and  likewise  copper 
to  tie  tutte  and  soft,  which  is  not  in  use  within  this  kingdome.  9  To  make 

yellow  wax  white  vene  speedilie.”  The  privilege  was  for  fourteen  years, 
and  the  patentee  was  to  pay  a  yearly  rent  of  3/.  6s.  8 d.  to  the  king.  Mr. 
r  says  that  Ramseye  had  patents  for  other  inventions  from  Charles  I 
but  does  not  enumerate  them.  As  it  was  not  then  customary  to  file  spe¬ 
cifications,  there  is  no  record  of  the  details  of  his  plan. 

It  is  singular  that  English  writers  have  passed  over  this  patent  almost 
without  comment,  and  yet  it  contains  the  first  direct  proposal  to  raise  water 
in  that  country  by  steam  of  which  any  account  has  yet  been  produced. 


420 


Ramseye' s  Patent. 


[Book  IV 


It  may  perhaps  be  said,  that  steam  is  not  mentioned;  still  it  is  clearly  im¬ 
plied  in  the  second  device,  and  was  probably  used  in  the  third,  fifth  and 
seventh.  The  very  expression  “  to  raise  water  by  fire,”  is  the  same  that. 
Porta,  Decaus,  and  other  old  authors,  used  when  referring  to  such  ap¬ 
plications  of  steam.  Worcester,  Papin,  Savery  and  Newcomen,  all  de¬ 
scribed  their  machines  as  inventions  for  “  raising  water  by  fire;”  and  hence 
they  were  named  “  fire  water-works,”  “  fire  machines,”  and  “  fire  engines.” 
It  should  moreover  be  remembered  that  the  word  steam  was  not  then  in 
vogue.  It  is  not  once  used  by  the  translators  of  the  Bible.  The  fluid  was 
generally  referred  to  as  air,  or  wind,  or  smoke,  according  to  the  appear¬ 
ances  it  presented.  ‘‘Rarefying  water  into  ayer  by  fier,”  and  similar  ex¬ 
pressions,  were  common.  The  idea  of  air  in  motion,  or  wind,  was  also 
applied  to  currents  of  steam:  thus  we  read  of  “heating  water  to  make 
wind,”  and  eolipiles  were  designated  “  vessels  to  produce  wind.”  From  the 
form  of  clouds  which  steam  assumes  when  discharged  into  the  atmosphere, 
it  was  also  named  smoke:  thus  Job  calls  it,  in  a  passage  already  quoted; 
and  Porta,  in  describing  the  apparatus  No.  1S7,  speaks  of  it  both  as  smoke 
and  air.  “  The  water  [in  the  bottle]  must  be  kept  heated  in  this  way  until 
no  more  of  it  remains ;  and  as  long  as  the  water  shall  smoke,  (sfumera) 
the  air  will  press  the  water  in  the  box,”  &c. — and  again,  “from  that  you 
can  conclude  how  much  water  has  run  out,  and  into  how  much  air  it  has 
been  changed.”  Had  Ramseye  therefore  called  his  device  a  steam  ma¬ 
chine,  its  nature  would  not  have  been  so  well  understood  as  by  the  title 
he  gave  it,  if  indeed  it  could  have  been  comprehended  at  all  by  the  former 
term.  The  expression  “  raising  water  by  fire”  appears  to  have  as  dis¬ 
tinctly  indicated,  in  the  17th  century,  a  steam-machine,  as  the  term  steam- 
engine  does  now ;  and  there  is  no  account  extant  of  any  device  either  pro¬ 
posed  or  used,  in  that  century,  for  raising  water  from  wells  and  mines  by 
fire ,  except  it  was  by  means  of  steam. 

The  date  of  this  patent  being  so  near  that  of  the  publication  of  Branca’s 
book,  it  may  perhaps  be  thought  that  Ramseye  derived  some  crude  notions 
from  it  of  applying  a  blast  of  steam  to  drive  mills  and  raise  water,  as  sug¬ 
gested  by  the  Italian  ;  but  we  should  rather  suppose  some  modification  of, 
or  device  similar  to,  Porta’s  (see  page  408)  was  intended  in  No.  2,  and 
that  Nos.  3,  5  and  7  were  deduced  from  it.  When  once  an  efficient  mode 
of  raising  water  by  steam  (like  No.  187)  was  realized,  some  application  of 
it  to  propel  machinery  would  readily  occur.  We  know  that  both  Savery 
and  Papin  and  others  proposed  to  work  mills,  by  discharging  the  water 
they  raised  upon  overshot  wheels ;-  and  this  idea  was  so  obvious  and  na¬ 
tural,  that  hundreds  of  persons  have  proposed  it  in  later  times  without 
knowing  that  it  had  previously  been  done. 

From  the  order  in  which  the  first  three  devices  are  noticed  in  the  privi¬ 
lege,  it  is  possible  that  they  were  all  modifications  of  the  same  thing ;  that 
the  second  and  third  were  deduced  from  the  first,  and  consequently  in¬ 
vented  independently  of  any  previous  steam  machines.  The  operation  of 
making  saltpetre  or  nitre  consists  principally  in  boiling,  in  huge  vats  or 
cauldrons,  the  lixivium  containing  the  nitrous  earth  ;  and  from  the  large 
quantities  of  water  and  fuel  required,  was  formerly  carried  on  in  such 
places  only  as  afforded  these  in  abundance.  At  such  works,  the  idea  of 
employing  the  vast  volumes  of  vapor  (which  escaped  uselessly  into  the 
air)  to  raise  the  hot,  and  subsequently  cold,  liquids,  would  naturally  occur 
to  an  observing  mind,  and  especially  when  the  subject  of  raising  water  by 
steam  was  exciting  attention.  Certainly  the  idea  was  as  likely  to  occur  to 
practical  men  while  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  nitre  in  the  beginning 
of  the  17th  century,  as  it  was  to  Worcester  and  others  in  the  middle  of  it 


421 


Chap.  5.] 


Figure  from  an  old  English  Work. 


and  to  Papin  and  Savery  at  the  close.  Perhaps  it  will  be  said,  nitre  was 
not  made  in  England  at  that  time,  and  therefore  Ramseye  could  not  have 
taken  the  hint  from  such  works  ;  and  that  the  suggestion  could  only  have 
been  derived  from  a  long  practical  experience  in  them,  which  he  probably 
never  had;  1  his  may  be  true,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  was  merely 
an  agent  in  the  business,  having  by  his  influence  at  court  obtained  the 
patent  lor  his  own  as  well  as  the  inventor’s  benefit.  The  clause  attached 
to  the  8th  device,  “notin  use  within  this  kingdome,”  implies  that  they  were 
not  all  of  English  origin.  But  whatever  were  the  origin  and  details  of  those 
or  raising  water,  it  is  clear  that  the  subject  of  steam  was  then  abroad  in 
the  world,  and  ingenious  men  in  various  parts  of  Europe  were  exercising 
their  wits  to  employ  it.  B 

It  appears  to  us  from  the  caption  of  Ramseye’s  patent,  that  No.  2  (raisin c 
water  by  fire)  was  not  the  first  thing  of  the  kind  proposed  in  England* 
since  if  it  were  he  would  have  said  so,  as  well  as  of  No.  8,  (softening  iron 
and  copper)  and  this  further  appears  from  what  he  remarks  of  No.  7, 
“  raising  water  from  low  places,  mynes  and  coal  pitts,”  probably  an  im¬ 
provement  upon  No.  2,  and  differing  from  all  previous  applications  of 
steam  for  the  purpose  ;  hence  we  are  told  that  it  was  a  “  new  waie,”  one 
neve/  yet  in  use.”  Had  not  steam  therefore  been  previously  applied  to. 
raise  water,  it  is  exceedingly  probable  that  he  would  have  attached  a  simi¬ 
lar  remark  to  No.  2. 

The  Treatise  on  Art  and  Nature,  mentioned  page  321,  is  the  oldest 

English  book  we  have  met  with  that  illustrates 
the  raising  of  water  by  steam  with  a  cut.  The 
annexed  figure  is  from  page  30.  It  possibly 
may  have  been  deduced  from  the  one  given  by 
Decaus,  (No.  185)  but  we  should  think  not ; 
since,  although  the  volume  is  a  compilation,  and 
two  thirds  of  it  taken  up  with  “water-works,” 
there  is  nothing  except  this  from  which  to  infer 
even  the  slightest  acquaintance  with  Decaus’s 
book.  .  It  seems  to  have  been  copied  without 
alteration  from  some  other  author.  It  is  named 
“A  conceited a  Lamp,  having  the  image  of  a  cock 
sitting  on  the  top ,  out  of  whose  mouth  by  the 
heat  of  the  lamp  either  water  or  ayer  may  be 
sent”  The  device  consists  of  an  eolipile  con¬ 
taining  water  and  heated  by  a  lamp  of  several 
wicks.  The  image  of  the  bird  is  hollow,  and 
communicates  by  a  species  of  three-way  cock 
with  the  steam,  and  also  with  a  pipe  that  de¬ 
scends  into  the  liquid ;  so  that  when  the  bird  is 
turned  round  till  an  opening  in  the  moveable 
disk  to  which  its  lower  part  is  attached  coin¬ 
cides  with  another  which  communicates  with 


the  steam  in  the  upper  part  of  the  vessel,  vapor 
issues  from  the  mouth ;  and  when  it  is  turned  till  the  upper  orifice  of  the 
pipe  corresponds  with  the  opening  in  the  disk,  then  hot  water  is  driven 
out ;  and  when  the  opening  in  the  disk  does  not  coincide  with  either, 
nothing  can  escape.  After  observing  that  an  opening  with  a  proper  stop¬ 
per  should  be  made  in  the  vessel,  to  charge  it  with  water,  the  writer  con- 


a  No.  45  of  Worcester’s  Century  of  Inventions,  is  named  “A  most  conceited  Tinder- 
Box  No.  71  “  A  Square  Key  more  conceited  than  any  other;”  and  No.  74  “Aeon 
ecited  Door.” 


422 


Raising  Water  by  Steam,  from  Kircher.  [Book  IV. 


tinues — “  The  larger  you  make  this  vessel,  the  more  strange  it  will  appear 
in  its  effects,  so  the  lights  [wicks]  be  proporcionable.  Fill  the  vessell 
halfe  full  of  water,  and  set  the  lights  on  fire  underneath  it,  and  after  a 
short  time,  if  you  turn  the  holes  that  are  on  the  sides  of  the  pipes,  that 
they  may  answer  one  another,  the  water  being  by  little  and  little  con¬ 
verted  into  ayer  [steam]  by  the  heat  of  the  lights  that  are  underneath,  will 
breath  forth  at  the  mouth  of  the  cock  :  but  if  you  turn  the  mouth  of  the 
cock  the  other  way,  that  the  holes  at  the  bottom  of  the  pipes  may  answer 
each  to  other,  then  there  being  no  vent  for  the  ayer  to  breath  out,  it  will 
presse  the  water  and  force  it  to  ascend  the  pipe,  and  issue  out  where  the 
ayer  breathed  out  before.  This  is  a  thing  may  move  great  admiracion'in 
the  unskilfull,  and  such  as  understand  it  not.  Other  devices,  and  those 
much  more  strange  in  their  effects,  may  be  contrived  from  hence.”* 

Kircher,  in  1641,  described  in  his  Ars  MagneticaP  the  device  for  raising 
water  figured  in  the  margin,  a  model  of  which  was  found 
in  his  museum  after  his  death.  A  close  vessel  containing 
the  water  to  be  elevated  is  connected  by  a  pipe  that  pro¬ 
ceeds  from  its  upper  part  to  the  top  of  the  boiler,  which 
is  supported  on  a  trevet.  When  the  boiler  was  heated, 
steam  ascended  through  the  pipe,  and  accumulating  in  the 
upper  vessel,  forced  the  water  up  the  jet-pipe  as  repre¬ 
sented. 

This,  it  will  be  seen,  is  Porta’s  machine  (No.  187) 
adapted  to  the  operation  of  raising  liquids,  which  it  ex¬ 
hibits  in  a  very  neat  and  satisfactory  manner.  It  is  not 
however  equally  clear  that  Kircher  had  any  idea  of  adapt¬ 
ing  the  plan  to  the  draining  of  mines,  or  other  hydraulic 
purposes  in  the  arts.  Had  such  been  the  case,  he  would 
most  likely  have  mentioned  it  in  his  Mundus  Sublerrancus, 
a  work  published  some  years  afterwards,  and  in  the  se¬ 
cond  volume  of  which  he  figures  and  describes  the  ordi¬ 
nary  machines  then  in  use,  viz.  the  bucket  and  windlass, 
chain  of  pots,  chain  pump,  and  atmospheric  pumps.  The 
form  of  the  model  (an  imitation  of  a  vase  supported  on  a 
column)  rendered  it  an  appropriate  addition  to  his  phi¬ 
losophical  apparatus. 

In  1643,  the  great  discovery  of  atmospheric  pressure 
was  made ;  a  discovery  whose  influence,  like  that  of  the 
atmosphere  itself,  is  felt  more  or  less  in  every  art  and  every 


No.  190.  Kircher. 
1641. 


science. 


It  led  in  a  very  short  time  to  a  series  of  inventions  of  the  highest 
value,  among  which  the  reciprocating  steam-engine  should  probably  be 
placed.  We  mention  it  here  in  chronological  order,  that  its  influence  in 
developing  and  improving  the  machine  just  named  may  be  more  readily 
appreciated  when  we  come  to  notice  subsequent  attempts  to  impart  motion 
by  steam. 


a  John  Bute,  who  published  a  treatise  on  Fire-works  in  1635,  was  perhaps  the  compiler 
of  this  curious  volume.  Strutt,  in  his  Sports  and  Pastimes  of  the  People  of  England, 
quotes  Bate’s  book,  but  it  would  seem  that  the  same  cuts  were  not  in  both,  for  when 
speaking  of  boys’  kites,  Strutt  observes  that  the  earliest  notice  of  them  that  lie  could  find 
in  books  was  in  an  English  and  French  Dictionary  of  1690;  whereas  there  is  a  figure 
of  a  man  flying  one,  with  crackers  and  other  fire-works  attached  to  the  tail,  in  the  se¬ 
cond  part  of’1  Art  and  Nature.” 

b  This  work  was  published  in  quarto,  at  Rome  and  Colonne,  in  1641  ;  and  in  folio, 
at  Rome,  in  1654.  Catalogue  of  Kircher’s  Works  at  the  end  of  the  first  volume  of 
Mundus  Sublerrancus.  Amsterdam,  1665. 


Chap.  5.] 


Motive  Engine  in  1651. 


423 

Some  remarkably  ingenious  experimentalists  flourished  about  the  middle 
o  the  nth  century,  whose  names  have  perished ;  and  of  their  labors  no¬ 
thing  is  known  except  an  enumeration  of  the  uses  to  which  some  of  their 
inventions  could  be  applied.  An  example  of  this  is  furnished  by  an  ano¬ 
nymous  pamphlet, a  published  in  1651,  from  which  the  following  extract  is 
taken.  1  he  device  referred  to  seems  to  have  possessed  every  attribute 
ot  a  modern  high-pressure  engine,  and  the  various  applications  of  the  latter 
appear  to  have  been  anticipated.  “  Whereas,  by  the  blessing  of  God 
who  only  is  the  giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift,  while  I  was  search¬ 
ing  after  that  which  many,  far  before  me  in  all  humane  learning-  have 
sought  but  not  yet  found,  viz.  a  perpetual  motion,  or  a  lessening  the  dis¬ 
tance  between  strength  and  time  ;  though  I  say,  not  that  I  have  fully  ob¬ 
tained  the  thing  itself,  yet  I  have  advanced  so  near  it,  that  already  I 
can,  with  the  strength  or  helpe  of  four  men,  do  any  work  which  is  done  in 
England,  whether  by  winde,  water  or  horses,  as  the  grinding  of  wheate 
rape  oj  raising  of  water ;  not  by  any  power  or  wisdome  of  mine  own’ 
but  by  God  s  assistance  and. (I  humbly  hope,  after  a  sorte,)  immediate  di¬ 
rection,  1  have  been  guided  in  that  search  to  treade  in  another  pathe  than 
ever  any  other  man,  that  I  can  hear  or  reade  of,  did  treade  before  me  • 
yet,  with  so  good  success,  that  I  have  already  erected  one  little  engine  or 
great  model ,  at  Lambeth,  able  to  give  sufficient  demonstration  to  either 
artist  or  other  person,  that  my  invention  is  useful  and  beneficial,  (let  others 
Kay  upon  proof  how  much  more,)  as  any  other  way  of  working  hitherto 
known  or  used.”  And  he  proceeds  to  give  “  a  list  of  the  uses  or  applica¬ 
tions  for  which  these  engines  are  fit,  for  it  is  very  difficult,  if  not  impossi¬ 
ble,  to  name  them  all  at  the  same  time.  To  grind  malt,  or  hard  corne- 
to  grind  seed  for  the  making  of  oyle  ;  to  grind  colours  for  potters,  painters, 
or  glasse-houses ;  to  grind  barke  for  tanners ;  to  grind  woods  for  dyers  •’ 
to  grind  spices,  or  snuffe,  tobacco  ;  to  grind  brick,  tile,  earth,  or  stones  for 
plaster;  to  grind  sugar-canes  ;  to  draw  up  coales,  stones,  ure,  or  the  like, 
or  materials  for  great  and  high  buildings;  to  draw  wyre ;  to  draw  water 
from  mines,  meers,  or  fens  ;  to  draw  water  to  serve  cities,  townes,  castles* 
and  to  draw  water  to  flood  dry  grounds,  or  to  water  grounds  ;  to  draw  or 
hale  ships,  boates,  Sfc.  up  rivers  against  the  stream  ;  to  draw  carts,  wagons 
4  c.  as  fast  without  cattel :  to  draw  the  plough  without  cattel  to  the  same 
despatch  if  need  be;  to  brake  hempe,  flax,  &c.;  to  weigh  anchors  with  less 
trouble  and  sooner ;  to  spin  cordage  or  cables;  to  bolt  meale  faster  and 
tine ;  to  saw  stone  and  timber ;  to  polish  any  stones  or  mettals ;  to  turne 
any  great  works  in  wood,  stone,  mettals,  Sfc.  that  could  hardly  be’ done  be¬ 
fore  ;  to  fie  much  cheaper  in  all  great  works;  to  bore  wood,  stone,  mettals; 
to  thrashe  corne,  if  need  be;  to  winnow  corne  at  all  times,  better,  cheaper, 
&c;  ^ For  paper  mills,  thread  mills,  iron  mills,  plate  mills;  cum  multis 
aliis.”  If  this  extraordinary  engine  of  motion,  observes  Mr.  Stuart,  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  extract,  was  not  some  kind  of  a  steam- 
engine,  the  knowledge  of  an  equally  plastic  and  powerful  motive  a^ent 
has  been  utterly  lost.  6 

Steam  is  not  here  indicated,  but  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  any  other 
agent,  unless  some  explosive  compound  be  supposed,  by  which  the  pres¬ 
sure  of  the  atmosphere  was  excited.  That  the  engine  consisted  of  a 
working  cylinder  and  piston,  and  the  latter  moved  by  steam,  must  we 


Invention  of  Engines  of  Motion  lately  brought  to  perfection ;  “  whereby  may  be  despatch- 
ed  any  work  now  done  m  England,  or  elsewhere,  (especially  works  that  require  strength 
and  swiftness,)  either  by  water,  wind,  cattel,  or  men,  and  that  with  better  accommoda¬ 
tion  and  more  profit  than  by  any  thing  hitherto  known  and  used.”  Loudon,  1651. 


424 


Oliver  Evans  and  John  Fitch. 


[Book  IV. 


think  be  admitted  ;  for  although  most  of  the  operations  mentioned  might 
have  been  performed  by  forcing  up  water  on  an  overshot  wheel,  by  an 
apparatus  similar  to  Papin’s  or  Savery’s  steam-engines,  there  are  others 
to  which  such  a  mode  was  quite  inapplicable,  as  raising  of  anchors,  or 
propelling  carts,  wagons  and  ploughs.  The  inventor,  whoever  he  was, 
has  given  proofs  of  an  extraordinary  sagacity,  for  every  operation  named 
bv  him  is  now  effected  by  the  steam-engine,  except  raising  the  anchors  of 
steam-vessels  and  ploughing.  The  latter  is  at  present  the  subject  of  ex¬ 
periment,  and  the  former  will  in  all  probability  be  soon  adopted.  The 
author’s  labors  were  most  likely  not  appreciated  by  his  contemporaries, 
and  as  the  world  is  always  too  apt  to  think  the  worst  in  such  cases,  the 
whole  will  probably  now  be  set  down  by  some  persons  as  the  dream  of  a 
sanguine  projector — the  judgment  commonly  passed  upon  those  who  are 
in  advance  of  the  age  they  live  in.  Of  this  lamentable  truth  several  ex¬ 
amples  will  be  found  in  this  volume,  and  in  the  history  of  every  important 
invention.  We  shall  notice  two  here,  as  they  relate  to  two  of  the  most 
valuable  applications  of  steam.  Oliver  Evans,  in  1786,  urged  upon  a 
committee  of  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  steam-boats  and  “  steam- wagons,”  and  predicted  their  universal 
adoption  in  a  short  time.  The  opinion  which  the  committee  formed  of 
him  was  expressed  a  few  years  afterwards,  by  one  of  its  members,  in  the 
following  words :  “To  tell  you  the  truth,  Mr.  Evans,  we  thought  you 
were  deranged  when  you  spoke  of  making  steam-wagons .”  The  other 
relates  to  John  Fitch,  a  clock  and  watch  maker,  than  whom  a  more  inge¬ 
nious,  persevering  and  unfortunate  man  never  lived.  In  spite  of  difficulties 
that  few  could  withstand,  he  succeeded  in  raising  the  means  to  construct 
a  steam-boat,  which  he  ran  several  times  from  Philadelphia  to  Burlington 
and  Trenton  in  1788.  As  a  first  attempt,  and  from  the  want  of  proper 
manufactories  of  machinery  at  the  time,  it  was  of  necessity  imperfect : 
then  public  opinion  was  unfavorable,  and  the  shareholders  finally  aban¬ 
doned  the  scheme.  His  feelings  may  be  imagined,  but  not  described  ; 
for  he  saw  and  predicted  the  glory  that  awaited  the  man  who  should  suc¬ 
ceed  in  introducing  such  vessels  in  more  favorable  times.  “  The  day  will 
come  [he  observes]  when  some  more  powerful  man  will  get  fame  and 
riches  by  my  invention,  but  nobody  will  believe  that  poor  John  Fitch  can 
do  any  thing  worthy  of  attention.”  He  declared  that  within  a  century 
the  western  rivers  would  swarm  with  steam-vessels,  and  he  expressed  a 
wish  to  be  buried  on  the  margin  of  the  Ohio,  that  the  music  of  marine  en¬ 
gines  in  passing  by  his  grave  might  echo  over  the  sods  that  covered  him. 
In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Rittenhouse,  in  1792,  he  shows  the  applicability  of  steam 
to  propel  ships  of  war,  and  asserts  that  the  same  agent  would  be  adopted 
to  navigate  the  Atlantic,  both  for  packets  and  armed  vessels.  Descanting 
on  one  occasion  upon  his  favorite  topic,  a  person  present  observed  as  Fitch 
retired,  “  poor  fellow!  what  a  pity  he  is  crazy  !”  He  ended  his  life  in  a 
fit  of  insanity  by  plunging  into  the  Allegany.8 

In  tracing  the  progress  of  discovery  which  resulted  in  the  steam-engine, 
we  have  seen  that  the  two  grand  properties  of  aqueous  vapor — its  elastic 
energy,  and  the  instant  annihilation  of  this  energy  by  condensation — were 
well  known  in  tho  16th  century.  On  these  properties  of  steam  were  based 
all  the  efforts  of  experimenters  to  accomplish  the  two  great  objects  they 
had  in  view;  i.  e.  to  impart  motion  by  it  to  general  mechanism,  and  to 
employ  it  as  a  substitute  for  pumps  to  raise  water.  Before  either  the 

»  Supplement  to  Art.  “Steam-Boat,”  Ed.  Encyclopedia,  l>y  Dr.  Mease;  and  Watson’s 
“  Early  Settlement  and  Progress  of  Philadelphia,”  &c.  Phil.  1833. 


Chap.  5.]  Classification  of  Modem  Steam  Engines.  425 

4 

elastic  force  or  the  condensation  of  steam  could  be  beneficially  applied  to 
give  motion  directly  to  solids,  some  plan  very  different  from  that  of  Branca 
was  required— one  by  which  the  fluid  could  be  used  in  close  vessels. 
Now  there  is  in  the  whole  range  of  mechanical  combinations  but  one  de¬ 
vice  of  the  kind  yet  known,  and  it  has  but  few  modifications,  viz.  a  piston 
and  cylinder.  Experience  has  proved,  that  of  all  contrivances  for  trans¬ 
mitting  the  force  of  highly  elastic  fluids  to  solid  bodies,  this  is  the  best. 
Thus  guns  are  cylinders,  and  bullets  are  pistons,  fitted  to  fill  the  bore  and 
at  the  same  time  to  move  through  the  straight  barrels.  It  is  the  same, 
whatever  the  impelling  agent  maybe;  whether  gun-powder,  steam,  or 
compressed  air.  The  air-guns  of  Ctesibius  are  the  oldest  machines  of 
the  kind  on  record,  and  from  them  we  see  that  the  ancients  had  detected 
this  mode  of  employing  aeriform  fluids. 

Steam-engines  simply  considered  are  but  modifications  of  guns.  In  the 
latter,  the  bullet  or  piston  is  driven  entirely  out  of  the  cylinder,  and  in 
one  direction  only,  because  the  intention  is  to  impart  the  momentum  to  a 
distant  object  at  a  blow  :  but  by  the  former  the  design  is  to  derive  from 
the  moving  bullet  a  continuous  force;  hence  it  is  not  allowed  to  leave  the 
cylinder,  but  is  made  to  traverse  incessantly  backwards  and  forwards 
within.  In  order  to  transmit  its  impetus  to  the  outside  of  the  cylinder 
and  to  the  objects  to  be  acted  upon,  a  straight  rod  is  attached  to  it,  and 
made  to  slide  through  an  opening  in  one  end  of  the  cylinder.  It  is  by 
means  of  this  rod  that  motion  is  imparted  to  the  machinery  intended  to  be 
moved.  All  the  mechanism,  the  wheels,  cranks,  shafts,  drums,  &c.  of 
steam-engines  are  but  appendages  to  the  cylinder  and  piston ;  they  may 
be  removed  and  the  energy  of  the  machine  still  remains;  but  take 
away  either  cylinder  or  piston  and  the  whole  becomes  inert  as  the  limbs 
of  an  animal  whose  heart  has  ceased  to  beat.  Therefore  it  is  the  working 
cylinder  and  piston  alone  that  give  efficiency  to  modern  steam-engines ; 
and  it  is  to  those  persons  who  contributed  to  introduce  them,  that  the 
glory  attending  the  invention  of  these  great  prime  movers  is  chiefly  due. 

Whatever  may  be  said  respecting  more  ancient  applications  of  steam  as 
a  moving  power,  modern  engines  are  one  of  the  results  of  the  discovery 
of  atmospheric  pressure.  All  the  early  ones  of  which  descriptions  are 
extant  were  rather  air  than  steam  machines,  not  being  moved  by  the  latter 
fluid  at  all.  Their  inventors  had  no  idea  of  employing  the  elastic  force 
of  steam,  but  confined  themselves  to  the  atmosphere  as  a  source  of  motive 
force  :  hence  they  merely  applied  steam  in  lieu  of  a  syringe  to  displace 
air  from  a  cylinder,  that,  when  the  vapor  became  condensed  by  cold  into 
a  liquid,  the  atmosphere  might  force  down  the  piston.  That  this  was  the 
way  in  which  modern  engines  took  their  rise  appears,  further,  from  the 
same  feature  being  retained  in  a  great  portion  of  them  to  this  day.  They 
are  now  ranged  in  three  classes — 1st  atmospheric,  2d  low  pressure,  and  3d 
high  pressure  engines;  and  this  we  know  is  the  order  in  which  they  were 
developed.  In  the  first,  the  power  is  derived  exclusively  from  the  atmos¬ 
phere,  the  vapor  employed  being  used  only  as  a  substitute  for  an  air-pump 
in  making  a  vacuum  under  the  piston.  In  process  of  time  the  second  was 
devised,  in  which  the  elastic  force  of  steam  is  made  to  act  against  one  side 
of  the  piston,  while  a  vacuum  is  formed  on  the  opposite  side.  The  next 
step  was  to  move  the  piston  by  the  steam  alone,  and  such  are  named  high- 
pressure  engines.  The  term  ^raw-engine  is  therefore  not  so  definite  as 
some  persons  might  suppose,  since  it  is  not  confined  to  those  in  which 
steam  is  the  prime  mover.  Had  it  not  been  for  Torricelli’s  discovery,  it 
is  possible  that  we  should  never  have  known  any  other  species  of  steam- 
engine  than  those  of  the  third  class ;  and  hence  we  repeat,  that  whatever 

54  % 


426  Guerricke' s  Illustration  of  Atmospheric  Pressure.  [Book  IV 

may  be  thought  of  engines  made  previous  to  the  17th  century,  those  of 
modern  days  were  obviously  derived  from  atmospheric  ones  of  the  first 
class,  while  these  in  their  turn  were  very  likely  deduced  from  the  appa¬ 
ratus  described  in  the  next  paragraph. 

Otto  Guerricke,  of  whom  we  spoke  at  page  190,  one  of  the  earliest,  and 
as  far  as  mechanical  ingenuity  went  perhaps  the  most  gifted,  of  the  early 

elucidators  of  atmospheric  pressure, 
exhibited  in  his  public  experiments 
at  Ratisbon,  in  1654,  the  following 
application  of  that  pressure  as  a  mo 
tive  force.  A  large  cylinder,  A,  was 
firmly  secured  to  a  post  or  frame. 
It  was  open  at  the  top  and  closed  at 
the  bottom,  and  had  a  piston  accu¬ 
rately  fitted  to  work  in  it.  A  rope 
was  fastened  to  the  piston-rod  and 
passed  over  two  pulleys,  B  C,  as  rep¬ 
resented,  by  which  was  suspended  a 
scale,  D,  containing  several  weights. 
When  the  air  was  withdrawn  from 
the  lower  part  of  the  cylinder,  the 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere  depress¬ 
ed  the  piston  and  raised  the  scale  and 
weights.  To  vary  the  experiment, 
the  weights  were  removed  and 
No.  191.  Guerricke.  A.  D.  1654.  twenty  men  were  employed  to  pull 

at  the  rope  with  all  their  strength  ; 
but  as  soon  as  a  vacuum  was  made  by  the  small  air-pump  attached  to  the 
bottom  of  the  cylinder,  the  piston  descended,  notwithstanding  all  their 
efforts  to  prevent  it. 

This  is  the  oldest  apparatus  on  record  for  transmitting  motion  to  solids 
by  a  piston.  We  can  however  hardly  believe  that  it  was  the  first  devised 
for  the  purpose.  It  would  be  strange  if  it  were ;  for  whatever  may  have 
been  the  nature  of  Anthemius’s,  Garay’s,  and  other  old  machines  in 
which  steam  was  the  active  principle,  pumps  and  syringes  had  been  too 
common,  and  experiments  with  them  too  frequent,  for  such  a  device  to 
have  been  unknown.  Such  men  as  Aristotle  and  Archimedes,  Ctesibius, 
Heron,  Roger  Bacon  and  their  successors,  were  all  aware  that  a  syringe 
presented  the  same  phenomenon  as  Guerricke’s  apparatus,  when  the  pis¬ 
ton  was  drawn  up  while  the  discharging  orifice  was  closed  :  the  same 
thing  was  also  observed  with  common  pumps  when  the  suction-pipes  were 
•either  closed  or  choked.  Experiments  therefore  to  illustrate  the  force 
thus  excited  were  in  all  probability  made,  and  with  apparatus  similar  to 
that  of  the  Prussian  philosopher,  long  before  his  time,  although  no  account 
of  them  is  extant.  But  if  even  such  had  been  made,  they  would  not  lessen 
in  any  degree  the  merit  of  Guerricke,  since  his  experiment  undoubtedly 
originated  with  himself,  and  all  knowledge  of  similar  ones  had  been  lost. 

In  this  device  we  behold  the  same  moving  force,  and  the  same  mecha¬ 
nism  for  applying  it,  as  were  subsequently  adopted  in  steam-engines,  which 
at  first  were  little  more  than  copies  of  this  :  for  example,  had  a  loaded 
pump-rod  been  suspended  to  the  rope  instead  of  the  scale  and  weights, 
the  apparatus  would  have  differed  from  Newcomen’s  engine  only  in  the 
mode  of  exciting  the  atmospheric  pressure.  To  Guerricke,  therefore,  is 
due  the  credit  of  having  not  only  pointed  out  the  power  which  alone  gave 
efficiency  to  the  first  steam-machines,  but  also  of  devising  the  most  effec* 


Chap.  6.]  Old  Inventors  concealed  their  Discoveries. 


427 


tual  means  of  employing  it.  No  one  could,  we  think,  claim  an  equal  de¬ 
gree  of  merit  for  simply  applying  (not  inventing)  another  mode  of  produ¬ 
cing  a  vacuum  under  the  piston;  but  without  insisting  on  this,  it  may  be 
observed  that  even  at  present,  in  all  low-pressure  engines,  the  vacuum  is 
made  just  as  Guerricke  made  it,  viz.  by  an  air-pump ;  so  that  the  impress 
of  his  genius  on  the  steam-engine  is  no  more  obliterated  in  this  respect 
than  it  is  in  others.  Every  unbiassed  mind  will  therefore  admit,  that  an 
honorable  place  in  its  history  should  be  assigned  to  the  philosopher  of 
Magdeburg. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Reasons  of  old  Inventors  for  concealing  their  discoveries — Century  of  Inventions — Marquis  of  Wor¬ 
cester — His  Inventions  matured  before  the  Civil  Wars — Several  revived  since  his  death — Problems  in 

the  “Century”  in  older  authors — Bird  roasting  itself— Imprisoning  Chair — Portable  Fortifications 

Flying — Diving— Drebble’s  Submarine  Ship — The  68th  Problem — This  remarkably  explicit — The  device 
consisted  of  one  boiler  and  two  receivers — The  receivers  charged  by  atmospheric  pressure — Three  and 
four-way  cocks — An  hydraulic  machine  of  Worcester  mentioned  by  Cosmo  de  Medicis — Worcester’s 

machine  superior  to  preceding  ones,  and  similar  to  Savery’s — Piston  Steam-Engine  also  made  by  him _ 

Copy  of  the  last  three  Problems  in  the  Century — Ingenious  mode  of  stating  them — Forcing-Pumps  work¬ 
ed  by  Steam-Engines  intended — Ancient  Riddle — Steam-Boat  invented  by  Worcester — Projectors  des¬ 
pised  in  his  time — Patentees  caricatured  in  a  public  procession — Neglect  of  Worcester — His  death 

Persecutionof  his  widow — Worcester  one  of  the  greatest  Mechanicians  of  any  age  or  nation — Glauber. 


As  yet  we  have  not  met  with  any  definite  description  of  a  steam-engine 
in  actual  use.  This  can  only  be  accounted  for  from  the  fact  that  old  in¬ 
ventors  were  all  jealous  of  the  printing-press.  They  believed  their  inte¬ 
rest  required  concealment  on  their  part,  that  pirates  might  not  rob  them 
of  their  labors.  They  have  been  blamed  for  this,  and  so  have  some  mo¬ 
dern  mechanics,  but  we  think  without  reason  ;  for,  to  obtain  satisfaction 
at  law  in  such  cases,  was  formerly  as  difficult  as  it  is  now  in  most  cases. 
To  have  to  purchase  justice,  as  in  a  lottery,  with  money,  is  bad  in  itself, 
and  worse  because  those  without  money  cannot  obtain  it ;  but  to  have  to 
give  more  for  it  than  it  is  worth,  if  perchance  it  be  awarded,  is  a  disgrace 
to  enlightened  nations — an  evil  that  savages  would  not  for  a  moment  en¬ 
dure.  It  is  thus  that  law,  though  ordained  to  promote  justice,  is  so  pros¬ 
tituted  as  not  only  to  defeat  the  object  for  which  it  was  designed,  but  to 
cherish  the  grossest  injustice.  It  has  always  been  a  bar  to  the  progress  of 
the  arts.  The  difficulty  and  expense  of  obtaining  and  preserving  an  ex- 
elusive  right  to  their  inventions — that  is,  to  their  own  property — have  in¬ 
duced  inventors  more  or  less,  in  every  age,  to  conceal  their  discoveries  till 
death,  and  even  then  to  destroy  all  records  respecting  them. 

When  old  inventors  were  solicitous  of  public  patronage,  instead  of  es¬ 
tablishing  their  claims  to  it  by  explaining  the  principles  and  operations  of 
their  machines,  they  contented  themselves  with  enumerating  their  uses 
and  good  qualities  merely.  They  proclaimed  the  great  things  that  could 
be  done,  but  studiously  concealed  the  modes  and  means  of  doing  them: 
hence  new  inventions  were  sometimes  announced  enigmatically,  the  mov¬ 
ing  or  constituent  principles  being  so  obscurely  hinted  at  that  few  readers 


428 


[Book  IV, 


Marquis  of  Worcester. 

could  apprehend  them.  Of  this  mode  of  exciting  public  attention,  the 
account  of  the  engine  of  motion  in  the  last  chapter  is  an  example  ;  and 
several  more  may  be  seen  in  the  pamphlet  published  by  the  Marquis  of 
Worcester,  in  1663,  entitled  “  A  Century  of  the  Names  and  Scantlings 
[outlines  or  hints]  of  such  Inventions  as  at  present  I  can  call  to  mind  to 
have  tiied  and  perfected;  which,  my  former  notes  being  lost,  I  have,  at 
the  instance  of  a  powerful  friend,  endeavored,  now  in  the  year  1655,  to 
to  set  down  in  such  a  way  as  may  sufficiently  instruct  me  to  put  any  of 
them  in  practice.”  This  book  is  made  up  of  one  hundred  inventions, 
numbered  from  one  upwards.  It  contains  a  distinct  reference  to  a  work¬ 
ing  steam-machine  for  raising  water,  and  also  hints  by  which  its  nature 
and  construction  are  pretty  clearly  ascertained.  There  is  some  reason  to 
believe  that  the  modern  high-pressure  engine  is  also  referred  to.  From 
the  circumstanee  of  the  author  having  figured  largely  in  the  civil  wars,  he 
having  been  an  enthusiastic  adherent  of  Charles  I.  and  of  monarchy,  his 
character  and  that  of  his  book  have  been  represented  in  the  best  and  worst 
of  lights.  By  his  enemies  he  was  held  up  as  false  and  unprincipled  in 
the  highest  degree ;  by  his  friends,  as  chivalrous  and  of  unspotted  honor. 
The  “  Century”  has  been  denounced  as  a  scheme  to  impose  on  the  cre¬ 
dulity  of  mankind — the  dream  of  a  visionary — and  Hume,  in  his  History, 
goes  so  far  as  to  name  it  “  a  ridiculous  compound  of  lies,  chimeras,  and 
impossibilities.”  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  been  received  by  many  (and 
generally  by  practical  men)  in  the  light  in  which  the  author  represents  it, 
viz.  as  a  memorial  of  inventions  actually  put  in  practice  by  him — such  as 
he  had  really  “  tried  and  perfected.” 

With  the  political  conduct  of  Worcester  we  have  nothing  to  do.  He 
naturally  enough  supported  that  system  by  which  he  and  the  rest  of  the 
Lords  acquired  and  entailed  their  exclusive  privileges ;  among  which  the 
abominable  one  of  being  legislators  by  birth  was  perhaps  the  most  odious 
and  unnatural.  On  the  fall  of  the  king  he  retired  to  the  continent,  but,  at 
the  request  of  Charles  II,  ventured  to  visit  London  in  disguise  in  1656. 
Being  discovered,  he  was  arrested,  and  confined  in  the  Tower  until  the 
reestablishment  of  monarchy  in  1660.  He  died  in  1667. 

We  have  no  positive  information  respecting  the  time  when  he  com¬ 
menced  his  mechanical  researches.  There  is  however  reason  to  believe 
that  most,  if  not  all,  the  inventions  enumerated  in  the  “  Century  ”  were 
matured  before  the  civil  wars  broke  out,  and  consequently  that  the  account 
of  them  was  drawn  up,  as  he  declares,  in  1655.a  No.  56  he  observes  was 
tried  before  Charles  I,  Sir  William  Balfour,  and  the  Dukes  of  Richmond 
and  Hamilton ;  and  this  could  not  have  been  later  than  1641,  for  Balfour 
was  dismissed  that  year.  In  addressing  the  Century  to  Parliament,  he 
mentions  having  had  “  the  unparalleled  workman,  Caspar  Kaltoff,”  in  his 
employment  “  these  five  and  thirty  years,”  and  who  was  at  that  time 
(1663)  engaged  in  his  service.  This  carries  back  his  experiments  to  1628. 
Some  of  his  “  water- works  ”  were  in  operation  in  his  father’s  castle  (at 
Ragland,  in  Wales)  at  the  commencement  of  the  Long  Parliament,  (1640) 
for  by  their  sudden  movements  he  is  said  to  have  frightened  certain  adhe¬ 
rents  of  the  Parliament,  who  went  to  search  the  castle  for  arms.  The  na¬ 
ture  of  these  works  is  not  indicated,  except  that  they  consisted  of ‘‘several 
engines  and  wheels,”  and  that  large  quantities  of  water  were  contained  in 
reservoirs  on  the  top  of  a  high  tower.  Whether  steam  was  the  agent  em¬ 
ployed  to  raise  this  water  is  unknown.  It  could  not  have  been  if  the  tra¬ 
dition,  credited  by  some  writers,  was  true,  viz.  that  his  attention  was  first 


a  The  Century  is  copied  in  vol.  xiii  of  Tilloch’s  Phil.  Mag. ;  and  the  editor  remarks, 
“  this  little  tract  was  first  published  in  1655.” 


429 


Chap.  6.]  Century  of  Inventions. 

drawn  to  the  employment  of  steam  by  observing,  while  a  prisoner  in  the 
Tower,  a  pot-lid  raised  or  thrown  off  by  it.  If  this  was  the  case,  then  no 
dependence  can  be  placed  on  Worcester’s  assertion,  that  the  whole  Cen¬ 
tury  was  written  in  1655 ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  question  his  veracity 
in  this  respect.  On  the  contrary,  the  tradition  is  obviously  a  fable ;  one 
that  has  been  applied  to  others  as  well  as  to  him. 

Although  many  of  the  devices  in  the  Century  appear  at  first  sight  ex¬ 
tremely  absurd,  and  others  impossible,  yet  every  year  is  producing  a  solu¬ 
tion  of  one  or  more  of  them.  One  half,  at  least,  of  the  number  have  been 
realized;  among  which  are  telegraphs,  floating  baths,  short-hand,  combi¬ 
nation  locks,  keys,  escutcheons  and  seals,  rasping  mills,  candle-moulds, 
engines  for  deepening  harbors  and  docks,  contrivances  for  releasing  unruly 
horses  from  carriages,  torpedoes,  diving  apparatus,  floating  gardens,  bucket 
engines,  (see  page  64  of  this  volume)  universal  lever,  repeating  guns  and 
pistols,  double  water  screws  (p.  140  of  this  vol.)  abacus,  portable  bridges, 
floating  batteries  &c.  besides  his  applications  of  steam,  which  will  be  no¬ 
ticed  more  at  large  farther  on. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Worcester  was  the  first  projector  of  every 
problem  in  the  Century,  although  his  solutions  may  have  been  peculiar  to 
himself.  The  greater  part  may  be  found  in  the  works  of  Porta,  Fludd, 
Wilkins,  and  others  of  his  predecessors  and  contemporaries ;  so  that  the 
charges  of  absurdity  brought  against  many  of  them  are  not  attributable  to 
him  alone.  Indeed,  the  Century  is  in  a  great  measure  free-  from  those 
puerile  conceits  that  abound  in  old  authors*  No.  3  he  names  “a  one-line 
cypher,”  that  is,  a  character  composed  of  a  single  line,  which  by  its  posi¬ 
tion  was  made  to  represent  each  and  every  letter  of  the  alphabet.  (Now 
used  in  short-hand.)  No.  4  is  an  improvement,  and  consists  in  substituting 
points  or  dots  in  place  of  lines.  No.  5,  “a  way  by  circular  motion,  either 
along  a  rule  or  ringwise,  to  vary  any  alphabet,  even  this  of  points,”  &c. 
Now  these  three  systems  were  explained  and  illustrated  by  diagrams  in 
detail,  twenty -two  years  before  the  publication  of  Worcester’s  book,  by 
Bishop  Wilkins,  in  his  “  Mercury,  or  secret  and  swift  Messenger,”  a  tract 
printed  in  1641.  The  eleventh  chapter  treats  “  of  writing  by  invented 
characters  ” — “  how  to  express  any  sense  either  by  lines,  points  or  figures.” 
The  last  was  by  arranging  the  points  or  dots  in  the  forms  of  circles, 
squares,  triangles,  &c.  Wilkins  speaks  of  the  whole  as  an  old  device. 
Another  problem  in  the  Century  is  “  a  universal  character.”  This  had 
been  often  attempted,  and  Wilkins  wrote  also  upon  it.  Another,  “a  water- 
ball,”  to  show  the  hour  of  the  day.  There  were  some  singular  specimens 
of  these  clocks  in  Serviere’s  museum,  which  was  celebrated  for  its  col¬ 
lection  of  mechanical  devices,  and  which  doubtless  Worcester  had  often 
visited.  (See  page  285,  and  note  foot  of  page  63.)  The  universal  lever, 
No.  26  of  the  Century,  he  admits  having  seen  at  Venice,  and  the  bucket 
engine  (No.  21)  at  Rome.  It  is  probable  he  derived  his  “  imprisoning 
chair”  from  the  same  place ;  for  there  was  in  his  time,  as  well  as  since,  a 


3  's  a  singular  one  in  book  xiv  of  Porta’s  Magic,  “  Of  a  bird  which  roasts  it¬ 

self  which,  had  Worcester  mentioned,  few  would  have  credited  without  the  explana¬ 
tion.  '‘Take  a  wren  and  spit  it  on  a  hazel  stick,  and  lay  it  down  before  the  fire,  the  two 
ends  of  the  hazel  spit  being  supported  by  something  that  is  firm;  and  you’ll  see  with 
admiration  the  spit  and  the  bird  turn  by  little  and  little,  without  discontinuing,  till  ’tis 
quite  roasted.”  This,  says  Ozanum,  was  first  found  out  by  Cardinal  Paloti,  at  Rome. 
The  motion  may  be  accounted  for  on  a  similar  principle  as  the  rotation  of  glass  tubes 
when  supported  at  each  end  before  a  fire,  and  even  when  inclined  against  the  fire-place 
with  one  end  on  the  hearth,  viz.  :  the  heat,  being  applied  to  one  side  only,  causes  the 
tubes  to  bend,  and  consequently  to  preponderate  and  thus  turn  round.  See  Phil.  Trans, 
vol.  xxx — Abridg.  vol.  x  551. 


430 


Century  of  Inventions. 


[Book  IV. 


famous  machine  of  the  kind  exhibited  in  the  Borghese  villa,  which  could 
not  have  escaped  his  notice.  It  is  described  by  Blainville  as  “  very  art¬ 
fully  contrived;  and  strangers,  who  are  not  acquainted  with  the  trick,  are 
infallibly  caught  as  in  a  trap  when  they  are  prevailed  upon  to  sit  in  it.” 
Travels,  vol.  ii,  p.  35.  We  shall  notice  a  few  more:  “A  little  engine 
portable  in  one’s  pocket,  which  placed  to  any  door,  without  any  noise  but 
one  crack,  openeth  any  door  or  gate.”  A  similar  device  is  quoted  by 
Wilkins  from  Ramelli,  thus  :  “  A  little  pocket  engine  wherewith  a  man 
may  break  or  wrench  open  any  door.”  (Math.  Magic,  book  i,  chap.  13, 
first  published  in  1648.)  Again — “  An  instrument  whereby  an  ignorant 
person  may  take  any  thing  in  perspective  as  justly  and  more  than  the  skil- 
fullest  painter  can  do  by  the  eye.”  Probably  the  camera  obscura,  which 
Baptist  Porta  had  described,  about  a  century  before,  in  his  Natural  Magic. 
See  page  364  of  the  English  translation  of  165S,  and  also  Fludd’s  Natural 
Simia  seu  Tcchnica,  1618,  page  308,  for  another  mode.  No.  29  of  the 
Century  relates  to  “A  moveable  fortification — as  complete  as  a  regular  one, 
with  half-moons  and  counterscarps.”  Such  a  one  is  figured  in  Fludd’s 
Simia.  It  is  of  a  triangular  form,  with  breast  works  and  cannon  ranged 
along  two  sides.  The  whole  is  made  of  thick  timber  clamped  together, 
and  moved  by  horses,  which  are  yoked  to  a  long  pole  or  mast,  also  sup¬ 
ported  on  wheels  and  attached  to  the  rear  or  base  of  the  triangle,  so  as 
to  be  out  of  the  reach  of  shot  from  the  enemy.  The  horses  have  their 
faces  to  the  fortification,  just  as  if  yoked  to  the  pole  of  a  common  carriage 
and  fronting  it — or,  according  to  the  old  saying,  “the  cart  is  put  before 
the  horse.” 

His  modes  of  discoursing  by  knotted  strings,  gloves,  sieves,  lanterns, 
&c.  are  similar  to  others  mentioned  in  the  Natural  Magic  of  Porta,  and  in 
other  works.  Wilkins’s  Secret  and  Swift  Messenger  also  contains  much 
curious  information  on  such  subjects.  Several  numbers  of  the  Century 
relate  to  repeating  guns.  These,  as  is  well  known,  exercised  the  wits  of 
inventors  long  before  his  time.  Porta,  in  his  Magic,  book  xii,  speaks  of 
“  great  and  hand  guns,  discharged  ten  times”  although  loaded  but  once. 
They  are  even  of  much  older  date.  Sometimes  several  barrels  were  joined 
together.  The  “  arithmetical  instrument,  whereby  persons  ignorant  of 
arithmetic  may  perfectly  observe  numerations  and  subtractions  of  all  sums 
and  fractions,”  was  in  all  probability  the  abacus,  or  Chinese  swan-pan ,  now 
used  in  schools. 

Flying  and  diving,  also  mentioned  by  him,  have  occupied  the  ingenuity 
of  inventors  in  every  age.  Cornelius  Drebble  constructed  a  diving-vessel 
which  was  propelled  by  oars  worked  through  openings  in  the  sides.  Short 
conical  tubes  of  leather,  through  which  the  oars  were  passed,  were  con¬ 
nected  to  the  openings  so  as  to  exclude  the  water ;  hence  the  joints  some¬ 
what  resembled  those  of  the  feet  of  a  tortoise  when  protruded  from  the 
shell.  The  vessel  was  lowered  by  admitting  water,  and  raised  by  pump¬ 
ing  it  out.  (The  distance  of  diving- vessels  below  the  surface  is  easily  and 
accurately  ascertained  by  a  curved  tube  containing  a  little  mercury,  one 
end  being  within  the  vessel  and  the  other  without.)  Charles,  Landgrave 
of  Hesse  Cassel,  hearing  of  Drebble’s  diving-ship,  requested  Papin  to 
contrive  one.  Papin’s  machine  is  figured  and  described  in  the  Gentleman’s 
Magazine  for  1747,  page  581.  Drebble’s  vessel  did  not  require  a  constant 
supply  of  fresh  air,  for  he  had,  or  pretended  to  have,  an  elixir  in  a  small 
vial,  a  few  drops  of  which  restored  the  vitiated  air  so  as  to  make  it  again 
fit  for  respiration.  Something  of  this  kind  was  known  even  before  Dreb¬ 
ble’s  time,  if  we  may  judge  from  one  of  several  illustrations  of  diving  in 
the  old  German  translation  of  Vegetius,  A.  D.  1511.  A  man  clothed  in 


431 


Chap.  6.]  Worcester's  68 th  Proposition. 

a  dress  of  thin  skin  or  oiled  silk  fitted  close  to  his  body,  and  covering  every 
part  except  his  head  and  hands,  is  represented  walking  on  the  bottom  of 
a  river.  In  his  left  hand  he  holds  a  leathern  flask,  through  the  contracted 
neck  of  which  he  is  drawing  a  portion  of  the  contents  with  his  mouth. 
Wilkins  devoted  a  chapter  of  his  Math.  Magic  to  diving.  He  notices 
Drebble  s  machine,  and  many  other  curious  devices  ;  so  that  on  this  sub¬ 
ject  Worcester  had  an  abundance  of  materials  and  hints  to  work  upon. 

No.  50  of  the  Century  relates  to  portable  ladders.  A  variety  of  these 
are  figured  in  the  old  translation  of  Vegetius  just  referred  to.  There  are 
several  other  things  named  in  the  Century  which  might  be  traced  to  older 
sources,  but  it  is  not  necessary ;  for  Worcester  has  not,  that  we  are  aware 
of,  ever  claimed  all  the  devices  he  has  named.  He  mentions  two  whose 
authors  he  recollected,  but  as  the  account  was  drawn  up  from  memory,  he 
could  hardly  recall  to  mind  the  sources  whence  all  were  derived.  He 
says  they  were  such  as  he  could  call  to  mind  to  have  tried  and  perfected: 
he  does  not  say  invented.  While  many  originated  with  himself,  others 
were  such  as  he  improved  only.  That  he  had  sources  of  information 
which  have  not  been  discovered,  there  can  be  little  doubt.  Of  the  thou¬ 
sands  of  old  treatises  on  the  “  Mysteries  of  Nature  and  Art,”  a  staple  sub¬ 
ject,  and  title  too,  from  Roger  Bacon  to  Moxon,  how  few  are  extant ! 
But  some  will  perhaps  yet  be  met  with  on  the  shelves  of  antiquaries  and 
the  lovers  of  old  books  in  Europe. 

Those  numbers  of  the  Century  which  relate  to  steam  are  68,  98,  99  and 
100 ;  but  it  is  in  68  only  that  steam  is  clearly  indicated.  The  device  is 
named  “a  fire  water  work,”  and  is  described  in  the  following  manner  : 
“An  admirable  and  most  forcible  way  to  drive  up  water  by  fire,  not  by 
drawing  or  sucking  it  upwards,  for  that  must  be,  as  the  philosopher  calleth 
it,  Infra  sphasram  activitatis,  which  is  but  at  such  a  distance.  But  this 
way  hath  no  bounder,  if  the  vessels  be  strong  enough ;  for  I  have  taken  a 
piece  of  a  whole  cannon,  whereof  the  end  was  burst,  and  filled  it  three 
quarters  full  of  water,  stopping  and  screwing  up  the  broken  end,  as  also 
the  touch-hole ;  and  making  a  constant  fire  under  it,  within  twenty-four 
hours  it  burst,  and  made  a  great  crack  : — So  that  having  a  way  to  make 
my  vessels,  so  that  they  are  strengthened  by  the  force  within  them,  and 
the  one  to  fill  after  the  other,  I  have  seen  the  water  run  like  a  constant 
fountain  stream  forty  feet  high.  One  vessel  of  water  rarefied  by  fire 
driveth  up  forty  of  cold  water ;  and  a  man  that  tends  the  work  is  but  to 
turn  two  cocks,  that,  one  vessel  of  water  being  consumed,  another  begins 
to  force  and  refill  with  cold  water,  and  so  successively,  the  fire  being 
tended  and  kept  constant,  which  the  self  same  person  may  likewise  abun¬ 
dantly  perform  in  the  interim,  between  the  necessity  of  turning  the  said 
cocks.” 

We  here  see  clearly  what  was  meant  by  Ramseye  and  others  when 
they  spoke  of  raising  water  by  fire ,  viz.  that  it  was  by  steam,  which  the 
fire  was  employed  to  produce.  Tt  will  be  perceived  that  Worcester  does 
not  here  claim  to  be  the  first  to  raise  water  in  large  quantities  in  this  man¬ 
ner,  thus  tacitly  admitting  that  he  was  aware  of  previous  applications  of 
steam  for  the  purpose.  Had  he  indeed  made  such  a  claim,  little  reliance 
could  have  been  placed  on  his  statements ;  but,  notwithstanding  all  that 
has  been  said  to  the  contrary,  we  have  seen  nothing  in  the  whole  tenor  of 
his  conduct  with  regard  to  his  inventions  to  shake  our  confidence  in  his 
sincerity.  In  one  respect  No.  68  differs  from  the  rest,  viz.  in  the  detail 
with  which  the  device  is  described  ;  but  this  was  most  likely  designedly 
done,  in  order  to  show  its  superiority  over  other  “  fire  water- works,”  and 
to  point  out  where  it  differed  from  them.  Had  it  been  an  original  idea, 


432 


Worcester's  68 th  proposition. 


[Book  IV. 


there  could  have  been  no  more  inducement  to  be  thus  explicit  than  with 
the  rest ;  but  being  of  the  same  nature  as  others,  he  would  naturally  be 
led  to  notice  the  difference.  Some  writers  are  incredulous  of  his  having 
ever  put  it  in  practice,  notwithstanding  his  assertions,  and  the  particulars 
he  has  specified ;  and  they  further  contend  that  his  description  was  not 
sufficiently  perspicuous  to  enable  a  person  to  make  such  a  machine  in  his 
own  time,  and  is  not  now.  To  neither  of  these  positions  can  we  assent ; 
and  the  latter,  if  true,  does  not  affect  the  character  of  Worcester,  either 
for  veracity  or  ingenuity,  since  the  avowed  design  of  the  Century  was 
rather  to  enable  himself  than  others  to  realize  the  inventions  named. 

The  description  appears  not  only  that  of  a  machine  in  actual  use,  and 
from  which  a  similar  one  might  have  been  made,  but,  as  just  intimated, 
some  particulars  are  mentioned  apparently  with  the  sole  view  of  distin¬ 
guishing  it  from  other  devices  of  the  same  kind.  Had  he  given  a  figure 
we  should  have  learnt  more  of  the  details,  but  not  of  the  general  plan. 
The  nature  of  the  force  employed  (the  expansive  power  of  steam)  he 
shows  in  the  clearest  light ;  and  its  irresistible  energy  is  admirably  illus¬ 
trated  by  bursting  the  cannon  :  indeed,  he  could  not  possibly  have  se¬ 
lected  any  thing  better  adapted  for  the  purpose.  Few  writers  however 
believe  the  experiment  was  ever  made,  from  the  seeming  difficulty  of 
closing  the  broken  end — a  circumstance  which,  perhaps  more  than  any 
other,  has  led  people  to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  other  of  his  statements  :  and 
it  must  be  admitted  that  if  he  is  not  to  be  believed  in  this,  his  assertions  in 
general  must  be  received  with  great  caution.  But  what  great  difficulty 
after  all  was  there  in  driving  a  plug  tight  into  the  smoothly  bored  although 
broken  end  of  a  cannon,  and  securing  the  plug  effectually  in  its  place,  by 
iron  straps  and  screws  round  the  trunnions  1  Lest  the  idea  of  danger 
should  be  connected  with  his  apparatus  in  the  public  mind,  he  remarks 
that  he  had  a  way  of  preventing  his  vessels  from  being  exploded.  He 
mentions  at  least  three  vessels ;  one,  a  boiler  in  which  to  generate  steam, 
the  others,  to  receive  the  water  previously  to  its  being  raised.  A  separate 
boiler  shows  that  the  apparatus  was  a  modification  of  Porta’s  and  Kircher’s, 
(Nos.  1S7,  190) — and  lest  any  one  should  suppose  that  the  water  was  re¬ 
quired  to  be  heated  before  it  was  elevated,  he  states  distinctly  that  it  was 
not :  hence  his  device  bore  no  resemblance  to  that  of  Decaus,  (No.  188) — 
so  far  from  it  that  the  boiler,  or  “  one  vessel  rarefied  by  fire,”  forced  up 
forty  times  its  contents  “  of  cold  water.”  It  appears  that  the  water  was 
raised  forty  feet  only  ;  perhaps  being  limited  to  that  height  by  local  cir¬ 
cumstances,  or  by  the  building  i-n  which  the  apparatus  was  erected.  The 
pressure  of  steam  in  his  boiler  did  not  therefore  much  exceed  301bs.  on 
the  inch.  As  the  elevation  exceeded  that  to  which  the  liquid  could  be 
raised  by  atmospheric  pressure,  he  also  takes  occasion  to  notice  distinctly 
that  it  was  not  done  by  sucking ;  and  in  this  he  possibly  may  allude  to 
some  such  modes  of  raising  water,  viz.  by  using  the  steam  only  to  produce 
a  vacuum,  and  to  show  the  difference  ;  for,  by  employing  its  elastic  force, 
he  could  raise  water  at  one  lift  to  any  height,  and  his  apparatus,  instead 
of  a  limited  application,  was  adapted  to  mines  and  pits  of  every  depth, 
and  hence  he  appropriately  names  it  “  a  most  forcible  way.”  The  receiving 
vessels  were  charged  or  filled  “  one  after  another,”  and  the  stream  dis¬ 
charged  from  them  was  uninterrupted.  One  person  only  was  required  to 
attend  to  the  fire  under  the  boiler  and  “  to  turn  two  cocks,”  i.  e.  to  admit 
steam  alternately  into  each  receiver,  so  that  when  one  was  “  consumed  ” 
or  emptied,  the  contents  of  the  other  began  to  “  force  ”  or  be  forced  up, 
and  the  empty  one  to  “  fill  ”  or  be  refilled  with  cold  water,  “  and  so  suc¬ 
cessively.”  The  vessels  were  large,  or  it  took  a  long  time  to  fill  them. 


433 


Chap.  6.]  Three  and  four  way  Cocks. 

since  the  man  had  abundant  time  to  attend  the  fire  in  the  intervals  of  turn¬ 
ing'  the  cocks. 

Notwithstanding  the  comprehensive  sketch  that  Worcester  has  given 
of  this  machine,  a  variety  of  opinions  prevails  respecting  some  of  its  parts, 
and  the  arrangement  of  the  whole.  In  these  respects  scarcely  two  writers 
agree,  while  some  differ  widely.  Some  have  supposed  it  to  have  consisted 
of  two  eolipiles,  like  those  of  Heron  or  Decaus,  (Nos.  179  and  188)  con¬ 
nected  to  one  ascending  pipe,  (see  Galloway  on  the  Steam-Engine) _ an 

idea,  we  think,  entirely  out  of  the  way,  since  such  a  plan  would  possess 
neither  “  merit  ”  nor  “  originality,”  which  the  writer  just  named  accords 
to  Worcester’s  device.  It  is  moreover  opposed  to  the  description  given, 
which  expressly  states  that  the  contents  of  one  vessel  rarefied  by  fire| 
driveth  up  forty  of  cold  water;  whereas,  by  the  supposed  construction, 
all  the  water  must  have  been  heated  to  the  boiling  point  before  it  could 
have  been  elevated  at  all,  and  to  a  temperature  still  higher  before  it  was 
raised  forty  feet. 

The  principal  point  undetermined  is  the  mode  by  which  the  receivers 
were  charged.  Were  they  so  placed  that  the  water  flowed  into  them 
through  a  pipe  and  cock  1  Or,  were  they  wholly  immersed  in  the  tank, 
well  or  pond,  and  furnished  with  valves  opening  inwards  for  the  admis¬ 
sion  of  the  liquid,  and  to  prevent  its  return  when  the  steam  was  turned 
on  ?  Or,  were  they  placed  above  the  water,  and  charged  by  atmospheric- 
pressure  I  The  first  and  second  modes  have  been  suggested,  because 
Worcester  says  he  did  not  raise  the  liquid  by  “  sucking  ;”°  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  he  meant  any  thing  more  than  that  the  contents  of  the  receivers 
were  not  expelled  from  them  in  this  way.  As  the  elevation  to  which 
water  could  be  raised  at  one  lift  by  his  machine  was  only  limited  by  the 
strength  of  the  vessels,  he  very  naturally  observed,  to  remove  an  objection 
which  he  foresaw  might  be  made  to  his  assertion,  that  this  was  not  effected 
by  sucking,  but  by  forcing  the  liquid  up.  His  plan  bears  the  same  relation 
to  a  forcing  pump,  as  using  steam  to  produce  a  vacuum  in  a  receiver  does 
to  a  sucking  one ;  and  in  distinguishing  between  the  two  applications  of 
the  vapor  to  raise  water,  viz.  by  its  condensation  and  its  expansion,  he 
uses  the  same  terms  that  we  do  to  show  the  difference  between  the  two 
instruments  just  named.  Of  a  forcing  pump  we  say,  it  does  not  raise 
water  by  atmospheric  pressure,  but  in  opposition  to  it ;  and  that  the  ele¬ 
vation  is  only  limited  by  the  strength  of  the  materials  and  the  power  em¬ 
ployed  :  now  every  person  acquainted  with  the  subject  knows,  that  it  is 
the  expulsion  of  the  water  from  the  cylinder  that  is  referred  to,  not  the 
mode  of  filling  it ;  for  almost  invariably  are  the  vessels  or  cylinders  of 
forcing  pumps  charged  by  sucking,  and  so  they  were  in  Worcester’s  time. 

If  the  receivers  were  placed  below  the  reservoir  that  supplied  them, 
and  were  fed  from  it  by  a  pipe,  then  as  there  were  but  two  cocks  used, 
they  must  have  been  such  as  are  known  by  the  term  “  three-way,” — one 
passage  to  supply  steam  to  each  of  the  receivers,  and  the  other  water. 
There  is  no  difficulty  in  admitting  this,  for  both  three  and  four  way  cocks 
were  in  use  ages  before  Worcester’s  days.  They  are  described  in  the 
Spiritalia,  (problem  31)  in  Besson’s  Theatre,  Fludd’s  Simia,  (see  our  160th 
illustration,  page  354)  Ozanam’s  Recreations,  and  in  several  other  old  au¬ 
thors.  One  form  of  them  is  seen  at  page  421.  Tavernier  found,  in  baths 
of  the  east,  cocks  which  at  the  same  mouth  supplied  “  either  hot  water  or 
cold,’  (Relation  of  the  Seraglio)  and  they  are  described  and  figured  in  the 
Forcible  Movements  of  Decaus  :  thus  prop,  xix  of  Leak’s  translation  is 
“  Of  the  cock  with  four  vents,”  and  its  application  is  shown  in  a  self-acting 
“  Phneumatique  Engine.”  M.  Arago  is  therefore  greatly  mistaken,  in  his 

55 


434 


Worcester’s  Machine  seen  by  Cosmo  dc  Medicis.  [Book  IV 

r 

History  of  the  Steam-Engine,  in  attributing  the  invention  of  the  four-way 
cock  to  Papin.  In  his  zeal  to  confer  honor  on  the  philosopher  of  Blois, 
he  inadvertently  overlooked  the  old  engineer  of  Normandy. 

This  plan  of  supplying  Worcester’s  receivers  is  certainly  far  more 
probable  than  that  of  burying  them  in  the  water  they  were  to  raise.  In¬ 
deed,  we  cannot  perceive  how  the  latter  could  answer  at  all,  as  the  steam 
would  be  condensed  by  the  surrounding  medium  almost  as  fast  as  it  en¬ 
tered  the  receivers ;  so  that  instead  of  “  one  vessel  of  water  rarefied  by 
fire  ”  driving  up  forty  of  cold  water,  it  would  hardly  be  able  to  drive  up 
any.  It  appears  to  us  impossible  for  ingenuity  to  suggest  a  worse  plan, 
and  yet  several  writers  have  adopted  it.a  As  a  proof  that  Worcester  had 
an  engine  at  work  somewhat  similar  to  the  one  referred  to  in  his  68th 
proposition,  the  following  extract  from  the  Journal  of  Cosmo  de  Medicis, 
who  visited  England  in  the  17th  century,  has  been  adduced  :  “  His  high¬ 
ness,  that  he  might  not  lose  the  day  uselessly,  went  again,  after  dinner,  to 
the  other  side  of  the  city,  extending  his  excursion  as  far  as  Vauxhall,  be¬ 
yond  the  palace  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  see  an  hydraulic 
machine  invented  by  my  Lord  Somerset,  Marquis  of  Worcester.  It  raises 
water  more  than  forty  geometrical  feet,  by  the  power  of  one  man  only ; 
and  in  a  very  short  space  of  time  will  draw  up  four  vessels  of  water 
through  a  tube  or  channel  not  more  than  a  span  in  width ;  on  which  ac¬ 
count  it  is  considered  to  be  of  greater  service  to  the  public  than  the  other 
machine  near  Somerset-House.”  Now  if  this  engine  for  raising  water 
from  the  Thames,  and  which  was  managed  by  one  man,  was  moved  by 
steam — and  it  probably  was — we  may  rest  assured  that  Worcester  knew 
better  how  ,to  charge  his  receivers  than  by  immersing  them  in  the  river, 
or  in  any  tank  supplied  from  it.  Had  he  done  so,  the  machine  would 
never  have  been  “considered  of  greater  service  to  the 'public  ”  than  the 
engine  at  Somerset-House,  which  was  worked  by  horses,  and  distributed 
water  over  “  a  great  part  of  the  city.”  (This  last  engine  most  likely  con¬ 
sisted  of  pumps,  such  as  were  erected  by  Bulmer  in  1594.  See  page  296.) 
As  four  vessels  are  here  mentioned,  there  were  probably  that  number  of 
receivers  employed. 

It  would  be  strange  if  Worcester’s  receiving  vessels  were  not  charged 
by  atmospheric  pressure,  considering  the  examples  he  had  before  him. 
To  say  nothing  of  this  well  known  mode  of  charging  eolipiles,  and  other 
vessels  represented  in  the  Spiritalia,  (see  173  and  177  of  our  illustrations) 
both  Porta  and  Fludd  exhibited  experiments  expressly  to  show  how  water 
is  raised  into  a  vacuum  formed  by  the  condensation  of  vapor,  (page  407) 
and  Decaus  gives  such  striking  applications  of  it  (page  3S0)  that  Worcester 
never  could,  with  a  knowledge  of  these,  have  plunged  his  receivers  under 
water.  But  was  he  acquainted  with  the  writings  of  these  men  1  Unques¬ 
tionably  he  was.  There  is  evidence  in  the  Century  that  he  examined 
every  source  of  information,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  with  an  eager¬ 
ness  that  has  perhaps  seldom  been  equalled;  and  then  no  person  had  greater 
facilities  for  ascertaining  what  had  been  accomplished.  He  was  not  a  man 
to  set  about  devising  new  modes  of  raising  water  while  ignorant  of  old 
ones,  or  without  perusing  those  writings  which  treated  directly  or  indi¬ 
rectly  upon  the  subject.  Of  all  his  researches,  this  of  raising  water  was 


a  See  Millington’s  Epitome  of  Philosophy,  and  Stuart’s  Descriptive  History  of  the 
Steam-Engine.  The  last  named  writer  speaks  however  very  differently  in  his  valuable 
“  Anecdotes  of  the  Steam-Engine.”  Further  reflection  convinced  him  that  Worcester 
was  something  more  than  a  charlatan,  and  the  machine  in  question  very  unlike  the  one 
represented  in  his  previous  work. 


Cnap.  6.]  Opinions  respecting  the  68 th  Proposition.  435 

among  the  earliest  and  most  favorite,  as  it  was  the  last  and  most  important  • 
and  it  was  impossible  for  him  and  Kaltoffto  have  spent  so  many  years  as 
they  did  on  this  and  other  subjects,  without  improving  old  devices  and 
introducing  new  ones.  Then  he  was  most  likely  acquainted  with  the  ma- 
chines  of  Bacon,  and  with  those  of  Ramseye,  and  with  Ramseye  himself 

;.;'  nfUShf  t0v^  \  a,nd  als°  With  the  eng)ne  of  motion  noticed  in  the  last 
chapter,  of  which  he  was  possibly  both  the  inventor  and  describer.  So 
far  therefore  from  Worcester’s  machine  being  imperfect,  as  some  writers 
a\e  supposed,  we  are  justified  in  believing  it  was  superior  in  its  general 
plan,  and  in  the  arrangement  and  execution  of  its  several  parts,  So  any 
thing  then  extant,  or  previously  proposed.  *  ^ 

It  would  be  easy  to  devise  a  machine  corresponding  with  these  remarks 
and  coinciding  with  the  Marquis’s  account;  but  the  intelligent  reader  is 
aware  that  it  would  be  substantially  the  same  as  Savery’s.  It  is  surprising 
that  some  authors  have  supposed  Worcester  could  not  have  filled  his  ves 
sels  by  atmospheric  pressure,  because,  say  they,  the  production  of  a  vacuum 
by  the  condensation  of  steam  was  not  then  known,  “  nor  even  thought 
of .  But  such  writers  were  not  aware  of  the  experiments  of  Porta  a&nd 
they  forgot  the  employment  of  eolipiles.  It  has  also  been  said  that  a  ma¬ 
chine  as  perfect  as  feavery  s,  and  one  m  which  steam  acted  on  a  piston 
was  beyond  the  state  of  the  arts  in  Worcester’s  days.  The  Century  of 
Inventions  is  a  proof  to  the  contrary,  and  so  is  the  Collection  of  Serviere 
Ii< very  problem  in  the  one  and  every  device  in  the  other,  indicates  great 
excellence  of  design  and  ability  of  execution;  and  both  are  replete  with 
proofs  of  mechanical  skill  as  well  as  fertility  of  invention. 

lo  realize  Worcester’s  machine,  it  is  contended  that  we  must  depend 
upon  what  he  has  said,  and  on  nothing  more.  But  those  who  prescribe 
this  rule  do  not  themselves  adhere  to  it;  and  by  following  it,  posterity 
could  hardly  comprehend  a  modern  device  from  its  modern  description 
As  Worcester  has  not  mentioned  pipes  or  valves,  neither  of  these  essential 
elements  of  his  apparatus  could,  by  such  a  rule,  be  admitted  :  and  if  his 
words  are  to  be  construed  literally,  he  employed  two  score  of  receivers  • 
and  these  were  also  elevated  as  well  as  the  water  within  them  :  “  one 
vessel  of  water  rarefied  by  fire  driveth  up  forty  [vessels]  of  cold  water.” 
By  the  same  rule  it  was  the  boiler,  not  the  steam  within  it,  (he  never  men¬ 
tions  steam)  that  drove  them  up.  Then  there  is  the  condensation  of  the 
steam  in  a  receiver,  after  expelling  the  liquid,  which  is  also  not  mentioned; 
and  of  course  the  vessel  could  not  again  be  filled  until  this  had  taken  place. 
Un  the  same  ground,  a  cock,  tunnel  and  pipe  or  pump  to  feed  the  boiler 
and  a  furnace  door  and  g rate  bars,  might  be  considered  gratuitous  addi¬ 
tions,  since  none  of  them  are  mentioned. 

Perhaps  the  most  obscure  part  of  the  68th  problem,  is  that  which  relates 
to  strengthening  the  vessels  “  by  the  force  within  them.”  Some  persons 
smppose  this  refers  to  the  figure  of  the  vessels — others,  to  interior  braces. 

1  he  latter  is  the  most  reasonable,  but  seems  hardly  reconcilable  with  the 
the  text,  since  the  same  term  {force)  is  used  as  that  by  which  the  active. 
power  which  rent  the  gun  is  designated. 

Notwithstanding  the  ambiguous  manner  in  which  Worcester  drew  up 
his  Century  of  Inventions,  there  are  strong  indications  of  his  having  im¬ 
parted  motion  to  a  piston  by  steam,  and  that  upon  this  he  depended  for 
being  known  to  posterity.  This  was  the  crown  of  his  glory  as  an  inventor 
the  primary  element  in  the  “  semi-omnipotent  engine, ”  which  supported 
him  under  the  contumely  and  neglect  that  he  met  with.  Unfortunately 
lor  his  fame,  the  state  of  the  arts  was  not  sufficiently  advanced  to  convince 
his  contemporaries  of  the  importance  of  “  the  great  machine,”  and  it  was 

53 


436 


Last  three  Propositions  in  the  Century  of  Inventions .  [Book  IV 

left  for  a  future  age  to  adopt.  It  does  not  appear  equally  clear  that  he 
was  the  first  thus  to  use  steam.  F/om  the  description  of  the  engine  of 
motion  mentioned  at  page  423,  and  the  third  and  fifth  devices  in  Ramseye’s 
patent,  it  would  seem  that  a  working  cylinder  had  been  in  previous  use  ; 
nor  do  we  see  how  the  experimenters  of  the  17th  and  previous  centuries, 
when  seeking  for  modes  of  employing  steam  as  a  motive  agent,  could  miss  it 
any  more  than  their  successors.  It  is  one  of  those  devices  that  would  be 
detected  by  such  men  in  every  age,  just  as  it  has  been  by  the  makers  of 
pumps  and  piston  bellows.  Fludd,  Hoell,  Belidor  and  Westgarth,  all 
employed  a  piston  and  cylinder  in  pressure  engines ;  and  some  of  them 
were  not  aware  of  their  having  been  employed  before  in  such  machines. 
Guerricke,  Papin  and  Newcomen  at  once  adopted  them  in  atmospheric  en¬ 
gines,  Hautefeuillein  explosive  engines,  and  Watt  and  others  in  those  moved 
by  steam;  and  why  not  Garay,  Ramseye  and  Worcester?  And  even  the 
troublesome  neighbor  of  Zeno  also  1  It  required  no  great  sagacity  in 
Worcester  to  apply  steam  to  move  the  loaded  piston  in  Fludd’s  pressure 
engine,  (page  354)  and  so  simple  an  idea  could  hardly  escape  him  after 
he  had  turned  his  attention  to  impart  motion  by  steam.  Indeed,  he  uses 
an  expression  which  implies  that  it  was  a  loaded  piston  to  which  he  gave 
motion.  But  even  if  this  idea  escaped  both  Ramseye  and  Worcester,  the 
apparatus  of  Guerricke  so  clearly  exhibited  the  mode  of  applying  6team 
to  move  a  piston,  that  the  latter  could  not  possibly  have  remained  any 
longer  ignorant  of  it. 

When  the  three  following  propositions  in  the  Century  are  duly  consider¬ 
ed,  every  candid  mind  will,  we  think,  admit  that  he  was  really  in  possession 
of  an  engine  similar  to  Leopold’s,  or  to  Newcomen’s,  or  to  the  single 
acting  one  of  Watt : — 

“  98.  An  engine,  so  contrived,  that  working  the  primum  mobile  forward 
or  backward,  upward  or  downward,  circularly  or  cornerwise,  to  and  fro, 
streight,  upright,  or  downright,  yet  the  pretended  operation  continued], 
and  advanceth,  none  of  the  motions  above-mentioned  hindering,  much  less 
stopping,  the  other ;  but  unanimously  and  with  harmony  agreeing,  they 
all  augment  and  contribute  strength  unto  the  intended  work  and  opera¬ 
tion  ;  and,  therefore,  I  call  this  a  semi-omnipotent  engine ,  and  do  intend 
that  a  model  thereof  be  buried  with  me. 

“99.  How  to  make  one  pound  weight  to  raise  an  hundred  as  high  as 
one  pound  falleth,  and  yet  the  hundred  pound  descending  doth  what  no¬ 
thing  less  than  one  hundred  pound  can  effect. 

“  100.  Upon  so  potent  a  help,  as  these  two  last-mentioned  inventions,  a 
water-work  is,  by  many  years  experience  and  labor,  so  advantageously 
by  me  contrived,  that  a  child’s  force  bringeth  up,  an  hundred  foot  high, 
an  incredible  quantity  of  water,  even  two  foot  diameter,  so  naturally,  that 
the  work  will  not  be  heard,  even  into  the  next  room ;  and  with  so  great 
ease  and  geometrical  symmetry,  that  though  it  work  day  and  night,  from 
one  end  of  the  year  to  the  other,  it  will  not  require  forty  shillings  repara¬ 
tion  to  the  whole  engine,  nor  hinder  one  day’s  work ;  and  I  may  boldly 
call  it  the  most  stupendous  work  in  the  whole  world  :  not  only,  with  little 
charge,  to  drain  all  sorts  of  mines,  and  furnish  cities  with  water,  though 
never  so  high  seated,  as  well  as  to  keep  them  sweet,  running  through 
several  streets,  and  so  performing  the  work  of  scavengers,  as  well  as  fur¬ 
nishing  the  inhabitants  with  sufficient  water  for  their  private  occasions ; 
but  likewise  supplying  rivers  with  sufficient  to  maintain  and  make  them 
portable  from  town  to  town,  and  for  the  bettering  of  lands  all  the  way  it 
runs ;  with  many  more  advantageous  and  yet  greater  effects  of  profit  ad¬ 
mirable  and  consequence.  So  that  deservedly  I  deem  this  invention  to 


437 


Chap.  6.]  Piston  Steam-Engine  described  by  Worcester. 

crown  my  labours,  to  reward  my  expences,  and  make  my  thoughts  acqui- 
e&ce  in  way  of  further  inventions ;  this  making  up  the  whole  century,  and 
preventing  any  further  trouble  to  the  reader  for  the  present,  meaning  to 
leave  to  posterity  a  book,  wherein,  under  each  of  these  heads,  the  means  to 
put  in  execution,  and  visible  trial,  all  and  every  of  these  inventions,  with 

brass' plates”  f°im  °f  ^  thinos  belonging  to  them,  shall  be  printed  by 

To  an  ordinary  reader  all  this  appears  preposterous,  nor  without  the 
key  can  any  satisfactory  interpretation  be  given.  The  first  seems  incre¬ 
dible,  the  second  impossible,  and  the  third  a  proof  of  mental  alienation, 
iiut  in  considering  them  it  should  be  kept  in  mind,  that  Worcester’s  design 
was  to  explain  the  effects  and  uses  of  the  mechanism  he  here  refers  to, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  conceal  the  moving  principle.  This  he  has  accom¬ 
plished  in  the  happiest  manner;  and  in  doing  it,  has  furnished  a  specimen 
o  ingenuity,  and  of  the  fertility  of  his  genius,  almost  equal  to  the  inven¬ 
tions  themselves.  The  three  problems  certainly  refer  to  a  cylindrical 
steam-engine  raising  water  by  means  of  a  pump.  In  No.  98  he  speaks 
ot  steam  only ;  this  was  the  priinum  mobile  whose  effect  was  the  same  in 
whatever  direction  it  was  conveyed  to  the  piston  ;  i.  e.  whether  through 
ascending  descending,  curved,  angular  or  straight  tubes,  or  through  a 
number  of  them  meeting  in  the  cylinder  from  every  imaginable  direction ; 
the  steam  from  one  not  interfering  with,  or  being  counteracted  by,  that 
from  others,  but  the  whole  “  unanimously,  and  with  harmony  agreeing 
they  all  augment  and  contribute  strength  unto  the  intended  work  and 
operation,”  viz.  in  pushing  the  piston  along.  It  seems  impossible  for 
Worcester  to  have  selected  a  feature  of  aeriform  fluids  better  adapted 
for  his  purpose,  or  to  have  made  use  of  it  more  skillfully.  In  concealing 
his  mea-ning  by  riddles,  he  seems  to  have  equalled  the  most  expert  among 
the  ancients*  In  No.  99  he  plays  in  a  similar  style  upon  the  piston,  and 
has  contrived  with  admirable  tact  to  contradict  (apparently)  one  of  the 
most  palpable  maxims  in  mechanics,  and  thus  to  divert  prying  curiosity 
into  a  wrong  track.  The  piston  was  attached  by  its  rod  to  one  end  of  a 
working-beam,  and  a  loaded  pump-rod  to  the  other,  so  that  when  the 
steam  was  turned  on,  the  small  piston  (which  he  compares  to  one  pound) 
was  pushed  down,  and  consequently  the  heavy  pump-rod,  or  the  water 
raised  by  it,  (compared  to  a  hundred  pounds)  elevated  “  as  high  as  the 
one  pound  falleth.”  In  No.  100  he  opens  his  views  still  further  by  stating 
it  to  be  a  water-work ,  for  draining  “  all  sorts  of  mines,  and  furnishing  cities 
with  abundance  of  water,  though  never  so  high  seated,”  and  that  its°action 
depended  upon  the  two  last  mentioned  inventions  (Nos.  98  and  99.)  I11 

other  words,  he  here  contemplates  the  pump  and  steam-engine  as  a  whole; 
but  lest  the  device  should  be  too  easily  apprehended,  he  throws  in  a  dash 
of  the  enigmatical,  declaring  it  was  so  contrived  “  that  a  child's  force 
bringeth  up,  an  hundred  foot  high,  an  incredible  quantity  of  water,  even 
[a  column]  two  foot  diameter  ;”  that  is,  a  child  could  by  a  lever  open  and 
close  the  cocks,  or  valves,  by  which  steam  was  admitted  into  the  cylinder. 

1  he  uniformity  of  the  movements  of  a  steam-engine,  and  the  little  noise 
attending  them, — it6  working  incessantly  night  and  day,  and  the  trifling 
expense  required  to  keep  it  in  repair,  are  now  well  understood. 


•Of  ancient  nddlcs,  that  of  the  Sphynx  is  one  of  the  neatest.  What  animal  is  it  that 
walks  on  four  legs  111  the  morning,  on  two  at  noon,  and  on  three  in  the  evening  ?  CEdipus 
explained  it.  I  he  animal,  he  said,  was  man,  who  in  the  morning  of  life  (in  infancy) 
«-rept  on  his  hands  and  feet,  at  the  noon  of  life  walked  erect,  and  in  the  evening  of  his 
days  supported  himself  with  a  stick. 


433 


Steam  Boat  devised  by  Worcester. 


[Book  IV 


Nothing  more  is  necessary  to  convince  us  that  Worcester  here  speaks 
of  a  steam-engine  working  a  pump.  No  other  solution  can  be  given — no 
other  conclusion  arrived  at.  No  one  could  have  written  and  spoken  as  he 
has  done  without  having  either  seen  or  possessed  a  steam  engine.  Of  its 
value  he  was  fully  aware ;  for  in  the  patent  granted  by  Parliament  in 
1663  to  himself  and  his  heirs  for  the  long  term  of  ninety  years,  those  who 
pirated  the  invention  were  to  forfeit  five  pounds  for  every  hour  they  used 
it.  He  tells  us  that  it  was  the  result  of  “  many  years  experience  and 
labor,”  and  when  it  was  complete,  he  poured  out  his  feelings  in  an  ad¬ 
dress  to  the  Deity,  a  copy  of  which  was  found  among  his  papers,  entitled 
“  The  Lord  Marquis  of  Worcester’s  ejaculatory  and  extemporary  thanks¬ 
giving  prayer,  when  first  with  his  corporeal  eyes  he  did  see  finished  a 
perfect  trial  of  his  water-commanding  engine,  delightful  and  useful  to 
whomsoever  hath  in  recommendation  either  knowledge,  profit  or  pleasure.”- 
Can  any  one  suppose  he  here  was  mocking  his  Creator,  when,  in  the  pri¬ 
vacy  of  his  closet,  he  prayed  that  he  might  not  be  “  puffed  up  ”  with  the 
knowledge  of  this  great  machine,  and  returned  thanks  next  to  his  creation 
and  redemption  “for  an  insight  into  so  great  a  secret  of  nature/’  and  finally 
desired  no  greater  monument  than  to  have  one  buried  with  him  1  Some 
men  have  lost  their  reason  by  the  excitement  attending  their  discoveries. 
Pythagoras  offered  a  hecatomb  to  the  gods,  and  Archimedes  ran  naked 
through  the  streets  of  the  city.  Worcester  acted  more  like  a  philosopher 
and  a  Christian.  Had  he  imitated  the  Syracusan,  he  had  probably  been 
more  successful  in  securing  attention  to  his  discoveries. 

From  the  latter  part  of  the  9<9th  proposition,  we  infer  that  Worcester 
used  a  forcing  pump,  as  he  intimates  that  the  effect  was  produced  by  the 
descent  of  a  weight  (on  the  pump-rod,)  not  by  its  ascent ;  and  this  agrees 
with  the  description  and  figures  of  old  water-engines.  In  “  Art  and  Na¬ 
ture,”  published  as  before  observed  in  1633--4,  they  consist  of  forcing, 
pumps  worked  by  large  tread  and  other  wheels — i.  e.  the  pistons  are  raised 
by  these  but  are  carried  down  by  their  own  weight,  or  that  of  weights 
with  which  they  are  loaded.  These  weights  were  sometimes  attached  to 
the  rod,  at  others  to  the  end  of  the  working-beams  to  which  the  rods  were 
connected ;  and  hence  they  were  named  “  beetle-beams,”  from  their  re¬ 
semblance  to  a  large  hammer.  Loading  the  piston-rod  of  pumps  did  not 
therefore  originate  with  Moreland  or  Newcomen*  since  the  practice 
was  older  even  than  Worcester.  The  piston  in  Fludd’s  pressure 
engine  is  an  example.  Such  pistons  were  named  “  heavie  forcers,”  (a 
solid  piston  being  named  “  a  forger,”  and  the  upper  box  of  a  common 
pump  “  a  sucker.”) 

As  Worcester  is  believed  to  have  applied  steam  to  work  a  pump,  it  will 
be  asked,  did  he  not  perceive  its  application  as  a  mover  of  machinery  in 
general — to  propel  boats,  &c.  ?  Yes  and  he  has  left  a  proof  of  this  also. 
In  a  manuscript  (see  Stuart’s  Anecdotes,  vol.  i,  56)  he  observes,  speaking 
of  the  device  No.  99-,  “  I  can  make  a  vessel  of  as  great  a  burden  as  the 
river  can  bear,  to  go  against  the-  stream,  which  the  more  rapid  it  is,  the 
faster  it  shall  advance,  and  the  moveable  part  that  works  it,  may  be  by 
one  man  still  guided  to  take  advantage  of  the  stream  and  yet  to  steer  the 
boat  to  any  point ;  and  this  engine  is  applicable  to  any  vessel  or  boat 
whatsoever,  without  being  therefore  made  on  purpose;  and  it  worketh 
these  effects  :  it  rovveth,  it  draweth,  it  driveth  (if  need  be)-,  to  pass  London 
Bridge  against  the  stream  at  low  water;  and  a  boat  laying  at  anehor,  the 
engine  may  be  used  for  loading  and  unloading.”  Besides  the  Century* 
Worcester  published  what  he  called  “An  exact  and  true  Definition  of  the 
most  stupendous  Water-commanding  Engine*  invented  by  the  Right  Ho- 


Chap.  6.] 


Old  Patentees  caricatured. 


439 


nourable,  (and  deservedly  to  be  praised  and  admired),  Edward  Somerset, 
Lord  Marquis  of  Worcester,  and  by  his  lordship  himself  presented  to  his 
most  excellent  Majesty  Charles  the  Second,  our  most  gracious  Sovereign.” 
1  his  was  a  tract  of  twenty-two  pages,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  printed 
tor  the  purpose  of  forming  a  company  to  introduce  the  device.  It  is  writ¬ 
ten  in  the  same  style  as  the  Century,  and  instead  of  describing  the  machine 
is  confined  to  an  enumeration  of  its  properties. 

In  Worcester’s  day,  patents  for  useful  inventions  were  often  classed 
with  the  most  unrighteous  monopolies,  and  the  holders  of  them  held  in 
general  contempt.  This  may  serve  to  account  in  some  measure  for  the 
neglect  that  Ramseye  and  Worcester’s  projects  met  with.  The  abomina¬ 
ble  abuse  which  Elizabeth,  James  and  Charles  made  of  the  power  to  sgrant 
patents,  excited  general  disgust.  Courtiers  and  others  obtained  monopo¬ 
lies  for  nearly  all  the  chief  branches  of  trade,  and  sold  rights  in  them  to 
others,  so  that  prices  were  raised  to  an  exorbitant  height.  Had  patents 
been  confined  to  new  inventions,  the  result  would  have  been  beneficial ; 
but  exclusive  grants  were  obtained  to  work  and  sell  the  commonest  articles’, 
as  salt,  iron,  lead,  coals,  and  even  bones  and  rags :  with  the  monopolists 
of  these,  {harpies  and  horseleeches  as  Elizabeth  once  called  them)  the  au¬ 
thors  of  discoveries  and  improvements  in  the  useful  arts  were  confounded. 
In  a  masquerade  got  up  for  the  entertainment  of  Charles  I,  in  1633, 
(among  the  managers  of  which  were  Noy  the  Attorney  General,  Sir  John 
Finch  and  Mr.  Selden)  were  several  flings  at  monopolies,  as  hints  for  the 
king.  In  the  “  Antimasque  of  Projectors,”  says  Maitland,  “  rode  a  fellow 
upon  a  little  horse,  with  a  great  bit  in  his  mouth ;  and  upon  the  man’s 
head  was  a  bit,  with  head-stall  and  reins  fasten’d,  and  signified  a  projector 
who  begged  a  patent,  that  none  in  the  kingdom  might  ride  their  horses,  but 
with  such  bits  as  they  should  buy  of  him.  Then  came  another  fellow 
with  a  bunch  of  carrots  upon  his  head,  and  a  capon  upon  his  fist,  describ- 
ing  [representing]  a  projector  who  begged  a  patent  of  monopoly,  as  the 
first  inventor  of  the  art  to  feed  capons  with  carrots  ;  and  that  none  but 
himself  should  make  use  of  that  invention ;  and  have  the  privilege  for 
fourteen  years,  according  to  the  statute.” 

Putting  out  of  view  his  political  conduct,  the  fate  of  Worcester  resem¬ 
bled  that  of  great  inventors  in  almost  every  age.  In  some  respects  it  was 
peculiarly  severe.  The  heir  of  one  of  the  richest  and  most  powerful  fami¬ 
lies  of  the  land,  he  devoted  his  wealth  and  his  energies,  for  more  than  one 
third  of  a  century,  to  useful  discoveries ;  and  in  his  old  age  be  was  re¬ 
duced  to  borrow  small  sums  to  meet  his  necessities; — and  when  at  last 
the  profligate  Charles  was  restored,  although  Worcester  recovered  his 
demesne,  his  dwellings,  furniture,  papers,  models  and  machines  had  all 
been  destroyed,  and  he  was  overwhelmed  with  debt.  Still  his  energies 
were  stimulated  by  a  consciousness  of  the  importance  of  his  inventions, 
but  which,  alas!  his  contemporaries  were  unable' to  appreciate,  except  by 
insinuations  that  they  were  the  fruits  of  a  partial  insanitv.  Finallv  death 
etept  in  and  closed  his  labors  forever.  Then  it  was  that  his  widow,  who 
was  fully  sensible  of  the  value  of  his  great  machine,  used  her  exertions 
to  introduce  :t ;  but  her  confessor,  a  Roman  Catholic  priest,  expostulated 
with  her  on  the  folly  and  sin  of  her  conduct,  and  solemnly  declared  to 
her  u  on  the  faith  of  a  priest,”  that  if  she  did  not  cease  her  endeavors,  she 
would  not  only  lose  the  favor  of  heaven,  but  the  use  of  her  reason  !  She 
died  in  1681,  and  the  evil  genius  of  Worcester  did  not  even  then  cease 
its  persecutions;  for  posterity,  which  generally  corrects  the  errors  of  con¬ 
temporaries,  has  not  yet  done  justice  to  Ins  memory.  While  a  few  writers 
admit  the  value  and  originality  of  his  inventions,  and  account  him  one  of 


440 


Secret  from  Glauber .  [Book  IV 

the  chief  authors  of  the  steam-engine,  others  condemn  the  Century  ”  as 
a  mass  of  absurdities,  and  deny  his  ever  having  constructed  a  steam-ma¬ 
chine  at  all.  Those  persons  however  who  entertain  the  latter  opinion, 
evince  as  much  credulity  as  others,  for  they  cannot  deny  that  he  has  des¬ 
cribed  the  peculiar  properties  of  the  great  chef  d' oeuvre  of  human  ingenuity 
(a  high-pressure  steam-engine)  with  a  degree  of  accuracy  of  which  history 
affords  no  parallel ;  and  hence,  if  he  lacked  truth  he  possessed  prescience, 
and  while  they  reject  him  as  an  inventor,  they  must  admit  him  as  a 
prophet. 

In  the  annals  of  the  arts,  there  is  not  to  be  found  a  more  singular  exam¬ 
ple  of  devotion  to  their  improvement,  either  as  regards  the  number  of 
years  or  the  amount  of  treasure  spent,  the  importance  of  the  results  or  the 
ardor  with  which  they  were  pursued,  and  the  efforts  made  to  excite  public 
attention  to  them.  Whatever  others  may  have  done  before  him,  they  left 
no  account  of  their  labors.  Worcester  is  the  first  to  communicate  with 
the  public  by  means  of  the  press,  and  to  give  a  tangible  description  (al¬ 
though  an  intentionally  obscure  one)  of  his  discoveries — (for  we  do  not 
reckon  either  the  device  of  Branca  or  Decaus  among  such.)  On  this  ac¬ 
count  alone  he  is  entitled  to  the  praise  of  every  modern  engineer ;  and 
had  he  but  fulfilled  his  promise  of  leaving  detailed  accounts  illustrated 
with  engravings,  his  fame  would  have  endured  as  long  as  the  steam-engine 
itself.  .If  he  were  not  the  great  magician  who  evoked  the  mighty  spirit 
that  lay  dormant  in  steam — who  pointed  out  its  power  and  the  means  of 
employing  it — who  revived  the  project  of  Garay  and  embodied  and  ex¬ 
tended  the  apparatus  of  Porta — it  may  be  asked  who  was  1  And  although 
none  of  his  machines  are  extant,  nor  any  of  his  immediate  successors  have 
had  the  candor  to  acknowledge  their  obligations  to  him,  it  is  not  less  the 
duty  of  historians  to  uphold  his  claims  until  evidence  shall  be  adduced  to 
establish  those  of  another — until  some  older  and  clearer  fountain  than 
his  Century  of  Inventions  shall  be  discovered — from  which  streams 
equally  unacknowledged  have  been  drawn.  We  cannot  but  hope  that 
the  obloquy  and  uncertainty  under  which  his  name  is  yet  shrouded  will 
eventually  be  dispersed,  when  he  will  be  esteemed  one  of  the  most  re¬ 
markable  mechanicians  of  modern  times,  and  be  associated  with  the  Daa- 
daluses  and  Archytases  of  antiquity. 

How  similar  to  Worcester’s  manner  of  announcing  his  discoveries,  is 
the  following  one  from  Glauber,  an  older  writer !  It  appears,  at  the  first 
glance,  as  absurd  as  any  thing  in  the  Century.  “  A  certain  secret  by  the 
help  whereof  wines  are  easily  transported  from  mountainous  places,  re¬ 
mote  from  rivers  and  destitute  of  other  conveniences  of  carriage,  so  that 
the  carrying  of  ten  vessels  is  of  cheaper  price  than,  otherwise,  the  carrying 
of  one.”  This  passage,  he  observes,  offended  many  both  learned  and  un¬ 
learned,  who  “  believed  the  thing  impossible,  and  nothing  but  dreams  and 
fancies.”  He  was  so  much  quizzed  about  it  as  to  regret  having  mentioned 
it  “  Many  judge  this  thing  incredible  because  of  the  want  of  winged  carts, 
that  need  not  horses  !  confirming  one  the  other  in  unbeliefe,  leading  one 
another  after  the  manner  of  the  blind.”  His  plan  was  to  take  the  juice  of 
the  grape  before  fermentation  commenced,  and  concentrate  it  by  boiling 
till  it  became  of  “  the  consistence  of  honey.”  The  water  being  thus  eva¬ 
porated  reduced  the  wine  to  less  than  one  tenth  of  its  former  bulk  and 
weight,  while  it  still  retained  the  strength  and  virtue  of  the  whole ;  for 
“  new  wine  decocted  and  inspissated  before  its  fermentation  loseth  nothing 
of  its  virtues  :”  hence  it  could  be  transported  at  one  tenth  the  expense. 
When  used,  it  was  to  be  diluted  with  the  same  quantity  of  water  as  was 
evaporated  from  it.  (Treatise  on  Philos.  Furnaces  :  Lond.  1651,  p.  353.) 


441 


Chap.  7.]  Anecdote  of  Cromwell. 

The  adoption  of  some  mode  of  concentrating  wines  as  abcve,  would 
produce  an  immense  saving  in  their  freight  and  carriage  over  the  globe, 
and  would  consequently  greatly  reduce  their  cost.  It  would  also  defeat 
the  enormous  frauds  that  are  practiced  in  the  manufacture  of  artificial 
wines — mixtures  in  which  not  a  drop  of  the  juice  of  the  grape  is  said  to 
enter.  Glauber  says,  “  the  new  wine  is  not  to  be  inspissated  in  caul¬ 
drons,”  on  account  of  the  taste  which  it  would  contract  from  the  metal. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Hautefeuille,  Huyghens  and  Ilooke — Moreland — His  table  of  cylinders — His  pumps  worked  by  a 
cylindrical  high-pressure  steam-engine — He  made  no  claim  to  a  steam-engine  in  England — Simple  de¬ 
vice  by  which  he  probably  worked  his  plunger  pumps^-Inventions  of  his  at  Vauxhall — Anecdote  of  him 
from  Evelyn’s  Diary — Early  steam  projectors  courtiers — Ridiculous  origin  of  some  honors — Edict  of 
Nantes — Papin — Digesters — Safety  valve — Papin’s  plan  to  transmit  power  through  pipes  by  means  of 
air — Cause  of  its  failure — Another  plan  by  compressed  air — Papin’s  experiments  to  move  a  piston  by 
gunpowder  and  by  steam — The  latter  abandoned  by  him — The  safety  valve  improved,  not  invented  by 
Papin— Mercurial  safety  valves — Water  lute — Steam  machine  of  Papin  for  raising  water  and  imparting 
motion  to  machinery. 


Towards  the  latter  part  of  Worcester’s  life,  a  young  Frenchman  was 
fast  rising  into  notice.  This  was  John  Hautefeuille,  the  son  of  a  baker  at 
Orleans,  and  one  of  the  most  brilliant  mechanicians  of  the  age.  He  was 
in  his  twentieth  year  when  Worcester  died.  The  device  for  regulating 
the  vibration  of  the  balance  in  watches  by  a  spring,  whence  arose  the 
name  of  pendulum  watches,  was  invented  by  him,  and  was  subsequently 
improved  by  Huyghens.  Hautefeuille  entered  the  church  and  became 
an  abbe.  He  wrote  several  tracts  on  subjects  connected  with  mechanics. 
In  167S  he  proposed  steam  as  a  source  of  power,  and  applied  it  to  give 
motion  to  a  piston.  Instead  of  aqueous  vapor  he  also  proposed  the  alter¬ 
nate  evolution  and  condensation  of  the  vapor  of  alcohol,  in  such  a  manner 
that  none  should  be  wasted ;  and  both  he  and  Huyghens  gave  motion  to 
pistons,  by  exploding  small  charges  of  gunpowder  in  cylinders.  In 
167S,  Dr.  Hooke  proposed  a  steam-engine  on  the  atmospheric  principle, 
but  the  only  information  respecting  it  is  in  a  memorandum  to  that  effect 
found  among  the  papers  of  Dr.  Robison,  the  author  of  the  treatise  on  Me¬ 
chanical  Philosophy. 

These  examples  of  imparting  motion  to  a  piston  by  aeriform  fluids  are 
interesting,  inasmuch  as  they  show  that  the  device  was  not  very  novel  in 
die  middle  of  the  17th  century,  and  that  mechanics  in  different  countries 
were  familiar  with  it. 

We  must  now  refer  to  another  member  of  the  English  court,  a  contem¬ 
porary  of  Worcester,  and  like  him  actively  engaged  in  the  politics  of  the 
times,  but  who  on  the  other  hand  adhered  to  the  commonwealth  until  the 
latter  part  of  Cromwell’s  administration.  We  are  told  that  one  evening, 
near  midnight,  an  interview  took  place  between  Cromwell  and  Thurloe, 

56 


442 


Moreland’'  s 


[Book  IV 

his  secretary,  at  the  house  of  the  latter,  on  some  state  business  that  required 
the  utmost  secrecy.  It  was  not  till  the  matter  had  been  opened  that  the 
Protector  became  aware  of  a  third  person  being  in  the  room,  when  he  is 
said  to  have  drawn  his  dagger,  and  would  have  dispatched  the  supposed 
intruder,  had  not  Thurloe  guaranteed  silence  on  the  part  of  his  sleeping 
attendant.  This  was  Samuel  Moreland,  the  inventor  of  the  plunger  pump. 
He  was  then  employed  by  and  in  the  confidence  of  the  secretary,  and  was 
asleep,  or  affected  to  be  so,  during  the  interview.  On  this  or  some  other 
occasion,  he  overheard  the  discussion  of  a  plan  to  take  off  the  exiled  king; 
to  whom  he  disclosed  the  whole,  and  was  rewarded  with  a  title  at  the 
restoration. 

It  is  not  known  when  Moreland  first  turned  his  attention  to  mechanics: 
probably  not  till  the  restoration.  As  a  favorite  of  Charles  II,  and  a  groom 
of  the  privy  chamber,  he  must  often  have  met  Worcester  at  court;  while 
from  their  congenial  habits  and  pursuits  as  mechanicians,  they  were  most 
likely  on  familiar  terms  with  each  other.  As  master  of  mechanics  to  the 
king,  Moreland  was  no  doubt  one  of  those  who  visited  and  examined  the 
machine  erected  by  Worcester  at  Vauxhall,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  he 
often  perused  the  Century  of  Inventions.  He  has  not  however  had  the 
ingenuousness  to  mention  any  of  these  things  ;  but  notwithstanding  this,  we 
cannot  believe  so  far  as  his  applications  of  steam  are  concerned,  that  he  was 
not  indebted  either  to  the  machine  itself,  to  the  Century,  or  to  personal  in¬ 
tercourse  with  Worcester,  and  probably  to  them  all.  The  first  invention  of 
Moreland  that  we  hear  of  is  the  pump  that  he  patented  in  1675,  and  on  which, 
according  to  one  writer,  he  had  previously  spent  twelve  years.  This  carries 
the  date  back  to  dbout  1663,  the  year  in  which  the  Century  was  published. 
It  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  this  famous  pamphlet  first  induced  Moreland 
(as  well  as  many  others)  to  turn  his  attention  to  mechanical  discoveries, 
and  furnished  him  with  materials  to  work  upon.  In  the  manuscript  volume 
presented  by  him  to  the  French  king  in  1683,  (see  page  273)  and  now 
preserved  in  the  British  museum,  there  is  a  very  short  chapter  on  fire  or 
steam  engines,  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation  : — 


The  Principles  of  the  new  Force  of  Fire,  invented  by  the  Chevalier  More¬ 
land, in  the  year  1682,  and  presented  to  his  most  Christian  Majesty,  1683. 

“  Water  being  evaporated  by  the  force  of  fire,  these  vapors  immediately 
require  a  greater  space  (about  two  thousand  times)  than  the  water  occu¬ 
pied  before,  and  too  forcible  to  be  always  imprisoned,  will  burst  a  piece 
of  cannon.  But  being  governed  according  to  the  rules  of  statics,  and  re¬ 
duced  by  science  to  measure,  weight  and  balance,  then  they  will  peace¬ 
ably  carry  their  burden,  (like  good  horses)  and  thus  become  of  great  use 
to  mankind  ;  particularly  to  raise  water  according  to  the  following  table, 
which  shows  the  number  of  pounds  which  can  be  raised  1800  times  per 
hour  to  six  inches  in  height,  by  cylinders  half  filled  with  water,  as  well 
as  the  different  diameters  and  depths  of  those  cylinders  : — 


CYLINDERS. 

Diameter  in  Feet. 


1  - 
2  - 

3  - 

4  - 

5  - 

6  - 


Length  in  Feet. 

-  2 

-  4 

-  6 
-  8 
-  10 
-  12 


Pounds  weight  to  lie 
raised. 

-  15 

-  120 

-  405 

-  960 

-  1875 

-  3240 


443 


ChaP-  7.]  Tables  of  Cylinders. 

required  to  raise  the  following  numbers  of 
pounds  weight  of  water. 

3,240 
G,4S0 
9,720 
12,960 
16,200 

-  19,440 

-  22,GS0 
25,920 

-  29,160 

-  32,400 

-  64,S00 

-  97,200 

-  129,600 

-  162,000 

-  194,400 

-  226,800 

-  259,200 

-  291,600” 

As  this  is  all  that  Moreland  has  left  on  the  subject,  it  is  difficult  if  not 
impossible  to  ascertain  the  precise  construction  of  his  apparatus.  He  is 
as  silent  respecting  the  manner  and  details  by  which  the  object  was  ac¬ 
complished  as  Worcester  himself,  and  hence  the  steam-engine  of  one  is 
quite  as  much  a  riddle  as  that  of  the  other.  Were  these  “cylinders” 
generators  of  steam — boilers  ]  or  were  they  separate  vessels  for  the  re¬ 
ception  of  water,  and  from  which  it  was  expelled  by  the  vapor,  as  from 
the  receivers  of  Savery  ]  or,  working  cylinders,  whose  pistons  were  moved 
by  the  expansive  force  of  steam]  or,  lastly,  were  they  pump  chambers, 
by  which  the  liquid  was  raised]  We  suppose  they  were  the  last.  Had 
they  acted  on  the  principle  of  Savery’s  receivers,  they  could  never  have 
been  failed  and  discharged  thirty  times  a  minute,  or  1S00  times  an  hour 
1  hen  as  Moreland  speaks  only  of  high  steam,  it  can  hardly  be  imagined 
that  he  used  or  thought  of  using  its  expansive  force  to  move  pistons  in  the 
largest  cylinders  he  has  named,  or  made  calculations  for  the  employment 
ol  ninety  of  them.  Where  could  he  have  got  a  boiler  sufficiently  strong 
and  capacious  to  supply  a  cylinder  twelve  feet  long  and  six  in  diameter*, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  difficulty  of  making  such  cylinders  X  Yet  he  speaks 
of  them  as  nothing  extraordinary.  Now  there  was  no  difficulty  in  making 
them  of  all  the  dimensions  named  for  his  plunger  pumps,  (see  No.  123  of 
our  illustrations)  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  were  not  required  to  be 
bored  ;  as  the  piston  or  plunger  worked  in  contact  only  with  the  collar  of 
leathers  or  stuffing  box  at  the  top.  That  it  is  to  these  he  refers  appears 
also  from  the  terms,  “reduced  by  science  to  measure,  weight  and  balance  ” 
these  being  the  very  same  that  he  used  when  he  claimed,  by  the  invention 
of  this  pump,  to  have  “  reduced  the  raising  of  water  to  weight  and  mea¬ 
sure,  viz  by  comparing  the  weight  of  the  loaded  plunger  to  the  quantity 
of  wrater  displaced  from  the  cylinder  by  its  descent,  (see  page  273) — and 
thence  the  number  of  pounds  raised  by  each  cylinder  in  the  preceding 
table,  would  be  the  sum  of  the  weights  on  each  plunger.  The  term  “six 
inches  probably  arose  from  that  being  the  length  of  stroke  of  his  experi¬ 
mental  plunger;  the  length  of  the  other  cylinders  and  their  effects  being 
calculated  from  it.  The  cylinders  being  only  “  half  filled  with  w'ater,” 
wou  d  then  refer  to  that  quantity,  or  about  that,  being  expelled  at  each 


Number  of  Cylinders,  having  a  diameter 
of  6  feet  aDd  a  length  of  12  feet, 

1  - 

2  - 

3  - 

4  - 

5  - 

6  - 

7  - 

8  - 

9  - 

10  - 
20  - 
30  - 

40  - 

50  - 

60  - 
70  - 

80  - 
90 


444  Moreland’s  Steam-Engine.  [Book  IV. 

stroke,  because  the  plungers  would  occupy  one  half  only  of  the  interior 
capacities  of  the  cylinders.  See  the  figure  of  one  on  page  272. 

If  this  view  of  Moreland’s  project  be  correct,  then  he  merely  used 
steam  to  work  his  plunger  pump  ;  and  therefore  could  not  justly  claim  in 
L6S2  to  have  invented,  hut  only  to  have  applied,  the  “  force  of  fire.” 
That  he  employed  a  simple  form  of  a  high-pressure  engine,  in  other  words 
moved  a  piston  by  the  elasticity  of  the  vapor,  like  Hautefeuille  and  Wor¬ 
cester,  we  have  little  doubt.  His  language  intimates  that  steam  was  then 
rendered  so  manageable  as  to  be  applicable  to  numerous  operations  “  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind,”  of  which  the  raising  of  water  was  the  only  one 
under  his  consideration.  He  obviously  was  in  possession  of  the  means 
of  imparting  motion  to  solids  by  steam,  and  thus  making  it  peaceably 
to  carry  burdens,  or  overcome  resistances,  “  like  good  horses :” — In¬ 
deed,  one  might  almost  suppose  from  his  apparent  carelessness  in  not 
mentioning  the  mode  in  which  the  steam  was  applied,  viz.  in  giving 
motion  to  a  piston,  that  explanation  on  this  point  was  then  no  longer 
necessary. 

It  is  singular  that  Moreland  made  no  claim  for  this  invention  in  England: 
Why  was  this,  if  he  had  any  1  Does  it  not  imply  that  he  did  not  invent 
the  steam  part  of  the  apparatus  1 — else  why  not  have  patented  it  as  well 
as  the  pump '{  for  the  object  deserved  it,  and  the  prospects  of  remunera¬ 
tion  were  as  promising  at  home  as  in  France.  The  fact  is,  he  could  not 
claim  the  piston  steam-engine  where  the  labors  of  Worcester  and  others 
were  still  in  remembrance,  and  where  some  of  their  machines  were  pro¬ 
bably  extant.  As  an  educated  man  and  an  enlightened  mechanic,  More 
land  was  not  ignorant  of  the  labors  of  Ramseye,  Fludd,  Hautefeuille  and 
Worcester.  It  is  pretty  clear  that  he  lit  his  candle  at  the  lamps  of  these 
men,  and  particularly  the  latter ;  for  in  the  short  chapter  on  steam  quoted 
above,  he  has  copied  both  the  ideas  and  the  language  of  the  author  of  the 
Century  of  Inventions.  One  observation  is  highly  creditable  to  him,  if  he 
was  the  author  of  the  experiments  from  which  it  was  deduced,  viz.  the 
relative  volume  of  steam  and  water.  A  quantity  of  the  latter  when  con¬ 
verted  into  the  former  occupies,  he  observes,  2000  times  its  former  space : 
modern  experiments  make  it  between  1800  and  1900  times. 

Of  several  simple  modes  by  which  Moreland  may  have  applied  steam 
to  work  his  pumps,  we  shall  mention  one : — Let  a  small  steam-cylinder, 
open  at  the  top,  be  placed  under  the  same  end  of  a  vibrating  beam  as  the 
plunger  of  the  pump ;  the  piston  rods  of  both  cylinders  being  connected 
to  the  beam  :  then,  by  turning  a  three-way  steam-cock,  the  vapor  would 
rush  into  the  bottom  of  the  steam-cylinder,  and  pushing  up  the  piston, 
would  raise  the  beam  and  the  loaded  plunger  of  the  pump ;  and  by  then 
turning  the  cock  so  as  to  close  the  communication  between  the  cylinder 
and  the  boiler,  and  to  open  one  between  the  former  and  the  external  air, 
the  steam  would  escape,  and  the  weights  on  the  plunger  would  cause  it, 
with  the  beam  and  steam-piston,  to  descend.  By  turning  the  steam-cock 
as  before,  the  stroke  would  be  repeated.  The  only  objection  to  such  a 
device  is,  that  it  is  too  crude  to  be  attributed  to  Moreland ;  for,  from  the 
advantages  he  possessed  in  knowing  all  that  had  been  previously  done, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  was  in  possession  of  a  self-acting  engine, 
and  of  the  knowledge  of  increasing  its  energy  according  to  the  different 
sized  pumps  required  to  be  worked  by  it. 

Moreland  possessed  a  natural  turn  for  mechanics,  and  during  the  latter 
half  of  his  life  devoted  himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  invention  and 
improvement  of  useful  machinery.  Were  a  description  of  his  and  Wor¬ 
cester’s  workshops  now  extant,  it  would  possess  more  real  interest  than 


Chap.  7.]  English  Steam  Machinists  Courtiers.  445 

any  thing  which  history  or  tradition  has  handed  down  about  round-heads 
and  cavaliers.  He  had  a  place  fitted  up  at  the  expense  of  government, 
with  the  requisite  apparatus  for  carrying  on  his  researches,  at  which 
Charles  sometimes  assisted  ;  and  he  speaks  of  having  moreover  expended 
large  sums  of  his  own  in  experiments,  to  please  the  king’s  fancy.  Of  the 
number  of  curious  things  here  contrived,  besides  his  speaking  trumpet, 
capstan,  pumps  and  steam-engines,  we  may  judge  from  what  is  reported 
of  his  dwelling  house  at  Vauxhall,  every  part  of  which  exhibited  proofs 
of  his  inventive  mind  ;  even  the  side  table  in  his  dining  room  was  supplied 
with  a  large  fountain,  and  the  glasses  stood  under  little  streams  of  water. 
His  coach  too  contained  a  portable  kitchen  with  clock-work  machinery, 
by  which  he  could  make  soup,  broil  steaks,  or  roast  a  joint  of  meat. 

Vauxhall  gardens,  as  a  place  of  public  resort,  appear  to  have  originated 
in  the  curious  things  constructed  there  by  Moreland.  Aubrey,  in  his  His¬ 
tory  of  Surrey,  states  that  in  1667,  Sir  Samuel  “  built  a  fine  room  at 
Vauxhall,  the  inside  all  of  looking-glass,  and  fountains  very  pleasant  to 
behold,  which  is  much  visited  by  strangers.  It  stands  in  the  middle  of 
the  garden,  covered  with  Cornish  slate,  on  the  point  whereof  he  placed  a 
punchinello  very  well  carved,  which  held  a  dial ;  but  the  winds  have  de¬ 
molished  it.”  “  The  house  [observes  Sir  John  Hawkins]  seems  to  have 
been  rebuilt  since  the  time  that  Sir  Samuel  Moreland  dwelt  in  it  ;  and 
there  being  a  large  garden  belonging  to  it  planted  with  a  great  number 
of  stately  trees,  and  laid  out  in  shady  walks,  it  obtained  the  name  of  Spring 
Gardens,  and  the  house  being  converted  into  a  tavern  or  place  of  enter¬ 
tainment,  it  was  frequented  by  the  votaries  of  pleasure.” 

Moreland’s  attachment  to  mechanics  continued  unabated  in  his  old  age, 
and  even  after  his  sight  was  lost.  A  pleasing  proof  of  this  is  given  in  the 
diary  of  the  celebrated  John  Evelyn.  “  October  25,  1695.  The  arch¬ 
bishop  and  myselfe  went  to  Hammersmith  to  visite  Sir  Sam.  Moreland, 
who  was  entirely  blind  ;  a  very  mortifying  sight.  He  shewed  us  his  in¬ 
vention  of  writing,  which  was  very  ingenious,  also  his  wooden  kalender 
which  instructed  him  all  by  feeling,  and  other  pretty  and  useful  inventions 
of  mills,  pumps  &c.  and  the  pump  he  had  erected  that  serves  water  to  his 
garden,  and  to  passengers,  with  an  inscription,  and  brings,  from  a  filthy  part 
of  the  Thames  neere  it,  a  most  perfect  and  pure  water.  He  had  newly 
buried  <£200  worth  of  music  books,  six  feet  under  ground,  being,  as 
he  said,  love  songs  and  vanity.  He  plays  himselfe  psalms  and  religious 
hymns  on  the  Theobo.” 

It  is  singular  that  almost  all  the  early  English  steam  machinists  and 
supposed  experimenters  were  courtiers.  Bacon  was  Lord  Chancellor ; 
Ramseye,  groom  of  the  privy  chamber  to  Charles  I;  Worcester,  a  mar¬ 
quis  and  a  general ;  Moreland,  a  knight,  and  groom  of  the  privy  or  bed 
chamber*  to  Charles  II ;  and  Bushell  and  Savery  held  offices  under  the 
government. 


*  It  is  a  natural  inquiry,  what  odd  duties  were  attached  to  such  an  office,  that  gentlemen 
should  desire  to  perform  them?  aud  particularly  to  such  beasts  as  Charles  II  or  George 
IV  ?  An  analysis  of  the  honors  which  monarens  bestow,  would  afford  amusement  and 
instruction  to  American  readers.  It  would  add  to  the  causes  of  honest  exultation  in  the 
founders  of  our  republic,  for  their  excluding  such  fooleries  from  our  shores.  Our  ex¬ 
ample  in  this  respect  as  well  as  in  others,  is  destined  by  Providence  to  exert  a  salutary 
influence  on  the  world.  A  spirit  of  enquiry,  and  ideas  of  self  respect,  are  already  be¬ 
coming  too  prevalent  for  men  to  be  kept  much  longer  in  a  mere  state  of  pupilage,  to  be 
governed  like  children  through  the  medium  of  their  senses,  with  pageants  and  high 
sounding  titles,  costumes  and  ceremonies,  tinsel  and  gewgaws.  Those  persons  who 
have  not  reflected  on  the  subject,  have  need  of  a  large  share  of  faith  to  believe  one  half 
tiie  circumstances  connected  with  the  origin  and  the  conferring  of  titles,  so  truly  pre 


446 


Papm. 


[Book  IV 


The  next  experiments  on  steam  of  which  we  have  any  account  were 
made  by  a  Frenchman,  but  not  in  France.  The  reason  of  this  may  as 
well  be  noticed,  since  it  will  serve  to  show  how  great  the  blessings  are 
which  we  enjoy  over  the  people  of  the  old  world.  Of  all  the  different 
species  of  tyranny  under  which  Europe  has  groaned  and  still  groans,  that 
by  which  the  inhabitants  are  compelled  to  adopt  such  articles  of  religious 
faith  as  their  governors  choose  to  give  them,  is  the  most  diabolical.  This 
may  be  considered  as  the  climax  of  human  degradation,  and  of  human 
oppression.  No  feeling  mind  can  contemplate  without  horror  the  acts  of 
those  despots  who,  not  content  with  consuming  the  substance  and  tyran¬ 
nizing  over  the  bodies  of  their  subjects,  as  they  call  them,  insist  on  sub¬ 
duing  their  minds  and  consciences  also ! — despots  who,  though  covered 
with  crime,  blasphemously  set  themselves  up  as  “  Heads  of  the  Church  !” 
and  “  Defenders  of  the  Faith !”  and  this  too  by  the  “  grace  of  God  !” — 
And  these  Heads  of  the  Church,  in  order  to  defend  “the  Faith,”  have 
harassed,  plundered,  hanged,  shot  and  even  burnt  alive  both  men  and  wo¬ 
men  who  would  not  acknowledge  them  as  such  !  Thus  it  was  when  the 
edict  of  Nantes,  which  Henry  IV  established  to  protect  his  Protestant 
subjects  in  their  civil  and  religious  rights,  was  revoked  by  Louis  XIV,  it 
became  the  signal  for  the  most  violent  persecutions  of  that  people.  Their 
children  were  taken  from  them  and  placed  under  Papist  teachers — they 
were  compelled  by  the  penalty  of  military  execution  to  embrace  the  Ro¬ 
man  faith — a  price  was  set  on  the  heads  of  those  who  refused — a  twentieth 
part  of  their  whole  number  was  butchered — half  a  million  fled  into  other 
lands  (as  the  Pilgrims  did  to  this)  that  they  might  be  at  liberty  to  worship 
God  according  to  their  own  consciences.  In  this  way  the  most  ingenious 
and  avowedly  the  most  industrious  mechanics  of  France  were  driven 
into  exile  ;  and  by  a  righteous  and  retributive  Providence,  the  staple  ma¬ 
nufactures  of  that  kingdom  were  transferred  to  other  nations. 

Of  those  who  took  refuge  in  England  was  Papin,  a  native  of  Blois ;  a 
physician  and  philosopher,  and  one  of  the  most  talented  of  the  early  ex¬ 
perimenters  on  steam  and  air :  a  man  of  whom  any  country  might  have 
been  proud,  and  who,  though  France  then  cast  out  as  a  disgrace,  she 
now  claims  honor  to  herself  for  having  given  him  birth;  and  mourns  that 
the  records  of  his  labors  are  only  to  be  found  in  foreign  archives.  What 
a  commentary  on  religious  persecution,  that  the  only  claims  which  Roman 
Catholic  France  has  or  can  set  up  for  a  share  in  the  invention  of  the 
steam-engine,  are  based  on  the  ingenuity  of  a  Jew  and  a  Protestant ! — on 
Solomon  Decaus  and  Denys  Papin.' 

Through  the  influence  of  the  celebrated  Boyle,  Papin  was  elected  a 
fellow  of  the  British  Royal  Society  in  December,  1680.  He  was  an  ac¬ 
tive  and  useful  member,  and  contributed  several  interesting  papers  to  the 
Society’s  Transactions.  In  1681  he  invented  a  method  of  softening  bones, 
with  a  view  to  extract  nourishing  food  from  them,  viz.  by  submitting  them 
to  the  action  of  steam  at  high  temperatures,  in  close  vessels  named  digesters. 


posterons  are  they.  The  Orders  were  derived  from  all  sorts  of  things,  as  the  moon, 
stars,  dogs,  horses,  swords,  flowers,  stones,  shells,  birds,  pigs,  the  Savior,  angels,  saints, 
women — and  there  was  even  an  order  of  fools ! — elephants,  thistles,  mountains,  blood, 
wool,  a  table — and  who  does  not  know  that  “  the  most  honorable  ”  of  English  Orders  at 
the  present  day  are  those  of  the  bathing  tub,  or  bath!  and  of  the  garter !  The  ceremo¬ 
nies  attending  these  can  only  be  equalled  for  mummeries  and  childish  puerilities  by  the 
old  interludes,  as  those  of  “  The  Bishop  of  Fools"  and  “  The  Abbot  of  Unreason.” 
Such  are  the  things  that  distinguish  “  the  privileged  orders”  of  Europe — that  are 
deemed  necessary  to  maintain  “  the  dignity  of  the  crown,” — and  the  debasement  of  the 
people. 


Chap.  7.] 


Digesters  and  Safety-  Valves. 


447 

There  seems  however  to  be  some  mistake  respecting  the  date  just  men- 
^;1C1  18  *he  °ne  generally  assigned;  for  in  the  second  volume  of 
b°y\e  s  Works  (by  Shaw,  Lon.  1725)  are  details  of  experiments  on  boilin- 
ir?o  i  111  s^ew  d  vessels  or  digestors,”  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
.  thus  :  January  29.  Eight  days  ago  I  fill’d  a  screw’d  vessel  with 
beef  and  water  together,  and  when  it  had  continued  over  a  moderate  lire 
lor  8  or  9  hours  m  balnea  maria  [a  water  bath]  stopp’d  also  with  a  screw, 
I  took  the  flesh  out,”  &c.  “  Feb.  10.  I  boil’d  a  cow  heel  after  the  same 
manner  as  I  had  done  the  flesh  above  mention’d,  but  left  it  for  four  hours 
or  more  upon  a  moderate  fire ;  then  the  vessels  being  unstopp’d,  we  found 
the  flesh  exceedingly  well  boiled,  and  the  bones  so  soft  that  they  mmht  be 
easily  cut  with  a  knife  and  eaten.”  “  Feb.  12.  I  repeated  the  experiment 
and  let  the  vessel  remain  exposed  to  the  fire  for  12  hours,”  <fcc. . 

Hence  it  appears  that  many  bones  and  hard  tendons,  which  we  daily 
throw  away  as  unprofitable,  may,  by  the  help  of  a  balnea  maria  stopp’d 
with  a  screw,  be  converted  into  good  nourishment.”  pp.  550,  551. 

1  apin’s  first  digesters  were  as  liable  to  be  rent  asunder’  as  eolipiles 
placed  on  a  fire  with  their  orifices  stopped.  They  are  figured  in  detail  in 
1  olmiere  s  Experiences  de  Physique,  2d  ed.  Paris  1718.  Each  consisted 
of  a  short  but  very  thick  tube,  of  bell-metal,  about  a  foot  in  length  and 
hve  inches  in  diameter,  with  one  end  closed.  The  open  end  had  a  collar 
cast  on  it,  to  which  the  cap  or  cover  was  secured  by  clamps  and  a  screw. 
..  he  cover  and  end  of  the  tube  were  ground  together  so  as  to  fit  air-tio-ht 
like  a  valve  to  its  seat.  A  few  bones  and  a  little  water  were  put  in  and 
the  cover  screwed  down  ;  the  vessel  was  then  laid  in  a  horizontal  position 
on  a  bed  of  charcoal  in -a  long  iron  grate.  The  almost  unavoidable  rup- 
f.ure  of  these  vessels,  led  Papin  to  the  invention  of  the  lever  safety-valve 

which  he  first  applied  to  them,  and  afterwards  to  machines  for  raisirm 
water  by  steam.  & 

Notwithstanding  the  practical  knowledge  of  the  properties  of  steam 
acquired  by  the  employment  of  digesters,  Papin  does  not  appear  to  have 
had  any  idea  of  using  it  as  a  mechanical  agent  till  some  years  after.  His 
first  paper  on  the  subject  of  raising  water  is  dated  July,  1685,  (Phil.  Trans, 
vol.  xv,  page  1093;  Abridgment,  vol.  i,  page  539)  entitled  “A  New  Way 
of  Raising  Water,  enigmatically  proposed.”  Three  different  solutions 
wore  sent  in,  after  which  he  explained.  The  device  was  a  small  fountain, 
in  which  the  liquid  was  raised  by  a  piston  bellows  “  put  in  some  secret 
place  where  a  body  may  play  the  same.”  The  application  of  the  device 
was  then  pointed  out,  viz.  to  draw  water  from  mines,  by  means  of  a  run¬ 
ning  stream  located  “  far  distant  ”  from  them  :  in  other  words,  to  transmit 
power  to  a  considerable  distance  by  means  of  air. 

His  plan  was  this  :  a  series  of  air-tight  receivers  were  to  be  placed,  12 
feet  above  each  other,  in  the  shaft;  the  highest  on  a  level  with  the  ground, 
and  the  lowest  12  feet  above  the  bottom  of  the  pit.  The  water  was  to  be 
transferred  by  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  from  one  receiver  to  ano¬ 
ther,  till  it  was  discharged  above.  For  this  purpose  a  pipe  extended  from 
the  water  to  the  bottom  of  the  lowest  vessel ;  another  pipe  from  the  lower 
part  of  this  to  the  next  one,  and  so  on  to  the  top ;  and  to  prevent  the  water 
from  running  back,  the  upper  orifice  of  each  pipe  was  covered  by  a  valve. 

1  he  mode  by  which  he  alternately  withdrew  air  from  and  admitted  it  into 
the  receivers,  constitutes  the  main  feature  of  the  plan.  The  upper  parts 
of  every  two  receivers  were  connected  by  branch  pipes  to  a  long  one  at¬ 
tached  to  the  bottom  of  a  separate  air-pump,  which  was  to  be  placed  near  a 
\\  atei-u  heel  impelled  by  the  current ;  and  the  piston  was  to  be  worked  by 
a  crank  formed  on  the  shaft  of  the  wheel.  The  operation  or  two  pumps 


448 


Papin's  Air  Machines.  [Book  IV. 

and  four  receivers  will  be  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  illustration.  The 
pump  cylinders  were  open  at  the  top.  They  had  no  valves,  and  but  one 
small  opening  at  the  bottom  of  each  where  the  long  air-pipe  was  united  ; 
and  the  capacity  of  each  cylinder  was  equal  to  that  of  two  receivers.  The 
cranks  were  so  arranged  that  as  one  piston  ascended  the  other  descended. 
It  was  not  two  adjoining  receivers  that  were  connected  to  the  same  pump, 
.  but  the  lowest  and  the  next  but  one  above  it,  i.  e.  Nos.  1  and  3,  while  to 
Nos.  2  and  4  the  pipe  of  the  other  pump  was  attached.  Then  as  the 
piston  of  the  first  mentioned  pump  was  raised,  the  air  in  Nos.  1  and  3 
would  be  rarefied  by  rushing  into  the  pump  cylinder,  and  water  would  be 
forced  into  them  by  the  atmosphere  :  in  the  mean  time  the  other  piston 
would  produce  a  partial  vacuum  in  Nos.  2  and  4,  and  they  would  become 
filled  with  the  liquid  contents  of  Nos.  1  and  3,  in  consequence  of  the  air 
previously  in  these  being  driven  back  by  the  descent  of  the  piston  ;  so 
that  as  the  wheel  revolved,  water  would  constantly  be  entering  one  half 
of  the  receivers,  and  the  contents  of  the  other  half  be  discharging.  How 
the  water  was  to  be  delivered  from  the  highest  receiver  Papin  has  not 
informed  us — probably  through  an  orifice  covered  by  a  valve  opening 
outwards. 

This  project  was  ingenious,  but  of  no  practical  value  ;  and  it  failed  even 
in  an  experiment.  In  consequence  of  the  extreme  elasticity  of  air,  and 
the  great  facility  with  which  it  dilates  and  is  compressed,  little  or  no  effect 
was  produced  by  the  action  of  the  pumps.  When  a  piston  descended,  the 
air  in  the  long  pipe  readily  yielded  to  its  impulse  without  imparting  any 
very  sensible  compression  in  the  receivers ;  and  on  the  piston’s  ascent,  the 
air  in  the  pipe  again  dilated  and  no  sufficient  rarefaction  took  place,  in 
consequence  of  the  great  distance  of  the  receiver  from  the  exhausting 
apparatus. 

On  the  failure  of  this  he  devised  another  plan.  Suppose,  for  example, 
that  it  was  required  to  raise  water  out  of  a  mine,  and  that  there  was  no 
river  to  turn  a  wheel  to  work  the  pumps  nearer  than  a  mile.  Papin  pro¬ 
posed  to  place  two  air-pump  cylinders  fitted  with  pistons  near  the  water¬ 
wheel,  and  other  two  at  the  mouth  of  the  mine.  These  were  to  be  con¬ 
nected  by  a  pipe.  The  action  of  the  pistons  moved  by  the  wheel  was  to 
compress  the  air  in  the  cylinders,  and  in  the  pipe  throughout  its  whole 
length,  under  the  idea  that  when  the  pistons  at  one  end  of  the  pipe  were 
depressed,  those  at  the  other  would,  by  the  communication  of  pressure, 
be  elevated ;  but  although  the  pistons  moved  by  the  water-wheel  con¬ 
densed  the  air,  those  at  the  mine  stood  still.  The  same  cause  that  led 
Tapin  to  abandon  the  first  device,  also  rendered  this  one  useless.  If  air 
were  incompressible,  the  plan  would  have  answered :  had  he  employed 
water  instead  of  air,  the  machine  would  have  performed.  Nothing  daunted 
however,  he  tried  again  in  1686,  and  with  a  somewhat  similar  apparatus, 
but  one  whose  action  depended  upon  the  rarefaction  of  air.  Two  large 
air  cylinders,  open  at  top,  were  placed  a  short  distance  apart  at  the  mouth 
of  the  mine,  and  directly  over  them  a  cylindrical  shaft  or  axle,  supported 
on  journals  at  each  end.  Instead  of  rods  being  attached  to  the  pistons,  a 
strong  rope  was  fastened  to  the  centre  of  each,  and  coiled  three  or  four 
times  round  the  axle  in  opposite  directions,  and  fastened  to  it.  Between 
the  cylinders  a  large  drum  or  wheel  was  fixed  upon  the  axle,  having  a 
long  rope  wound  round  it,  and  the  two  ends  (of  the  rope)  suspended  from 
opposite  sides  reached  half  way  down  the  mine.  To  these  ends  two  large 
buckets  were  attached,  in  which  to  raise  the  water.  As  the  drum  turned 
first  one  way  and  then  the  other,  one  bucket  would  be  raised  and  the  other 
lowered,  like  two  buckets  suspended  over  a  pulley  in  a  well.  The  design 


449 


Chap.  7.]  Air  Machine — Four-way  Cock. 

of  the  air  cylinders  was  therefore  to  impart  an  alternate  movement  to  the 
axle  and  drum,  and  consequently  to  the  buckets,  by  the  descent  of  the 
pistons.  (  ihe  power  that  forced  these  down  was  the  pressure  of  the  at¬ 
mosphere,  and  the  manner  of  exciting  it  will  presently  be  noticed.)  Hence 
as  one  piston  descended,  the  rope  secured  to  it  necessarily  drew  round 
the  axle,  and  raised  the  other;  and  when  this  one  in  its  turn  was  forced 
down,  the  movement  was  reversed  and  the  first  one  raised. 

A  communication  was  made  between  the  under  side  of  the  two  cylinders 
by  a  pipe,  and  to  this  another  long  one  was  attached  at  right  angles.  This 
last  pipe  was  to  be  of  such  a  length  as  to  reach  to  the  place  where  an 
under  or  overshot  wheel  could  be  applied  to  work  two  air-pumps.  These 
were  to  be  furnished  with  valves  and  suckers  like  common  sucking  pumps 
and  to  the  lower  part  of  each  the  exhausting  pipe  was  to  be  connected  by 
a  branch.  Ihese  pumps  would  therefore  draw  the  air  out  of  the  cylinders 
at  the  mine,  and  consequently  cause  the  pistons  in  them  to  descend.  For 
this  purpose,  however,  some  device  for  alternately  opening  and  closing 
the  communication  of  each  cylinder  with  the  exhausting  pipe  was  required  • 
because  if  a  vacuum  were  made  in  both  cylinders  at  the  same  time,  the 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on  both  pistons  would  be  the  same,  and  neither 
of  them  wpuld  move.  To  avoid  this,  Papin  introduced  at  the  intersection 
of  the  exhausting  pipe  with  the  one  that  connected  the  cylinders,  a  four¬ 
way  cock— three  of-its  passages  being  joined  to  the  three  branches  formed 
by  the  intersection  of  the  pipes,  while  the  fourth  one  opened  to  the  air. 
1  hus,  supposing  the  pumps  to  be  constantly  at  work,  and  the  plug  of  the 
cock  so  turned  that  the  air  in  one  cylinder  at  the  mine  might  be&  drawn 
out,  the  atmosphere  would  then  push  down  the  piston,  provided  the  ex¬ 
ternal  air  had  access  to  the  under  side  of  the  other  piston.  This  was  that 
which  the  fourth  passage  of  the  cock  was  designed  to  accomplish ;  for 
whenever  one  cylinder  was  in  communication  with  the  exhausting  pipe  the 
other  was  in  communication  with  this  passage,  and  hence  by  turning  the 
cock  a  constant  reciprocating  motion  was  imparted  to  the  axle,  drum  and 
buckets. 

A  project  something  like  this,  Papin  thought,  might  be  applied  to  work 
the  pumps  of  the  great  machine  at  Marli,  (see  page  296) — the  power  of 
the  water-wheels  on  the  Seine  being  transmitted  by  air  instead  of  chains 
&c.  The  device  is  creditable  to  his  ingenuity,  but  he  was  doomed  to 
experience  further  disappointment ;  for,  on  trial,  the  air  was  so  slowly 
drawn  from  the  cylinders,  and  the  difficulties  of  making  the  pistons  work 
air-tight  were  so  great,  that  no  practical  benefit  could  be  derived  by  its 
adoption.  He  enlarged  his  pumps  and  diminished  the  bore  of  the  pipes 
m  order  to  accelerate  the  movement  of  the  pistons,  but  without  success. 
Had  he  placed  a  close  vessel,  several  times  larger  than  his  cylinders,  in 
communication  with  the  farther  end  of  the  exhausting  pipe,  and  in  which 
a  constant  vacuum  was  maintained,  then,  on  turning  the  cock,  the  air  in 
the  cylinder  would  have  rushed  into  this  vessel,  and  the  piston  would  im¬ 
mediately  begin  to  descend.  This  mode  of  transmitting  power  is  capable 
of  some  useful  applications.  See  an  account  of  a  proposed  pneumatic 
rail-way  in  the  current  journals  of  the  day. 

Although  these  attempts  to  raise  water  and  transmit  power  by  means 
of  air  were  unsuccessful,  they  are  interesting  for  the  ingenuity  displayed, 
and  also  because  their  failure  led  Papin  to  the  employment  of  other  agents. 
Having  been  invited  by  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  to  accept  the  professor 
ship  of  mathematics  in  the  university  of  Marpurg,  in  Germany,  he  left 
P ngland  in  1687;  but  shortly  before  his  departure,  he  exhibited  to  the 
oya  k  ociety  some  experiments  on  the  application  of  gunpowder  to  pro 

57 


450 


[Book  IV. 


Papin's  Experiments  on  Steam. 

duce  a  vacuum.  His  apparatus  consisted  of  a  small  cylinder,  in  which  a 
piston  like  that  of  a  common  pump-sucker  (viz.  with  an  aperture  covered 
by  a  valve)  was  fitted  to  move.  The  bottom  of  the  cylinder  was  closed, 
and  when  the  piston  was  near  the  top  he  exploded  a  small  charge  of 
powder  below  it,  with  the  hope  that  the  sudden  blast  of  flame  would  expel 
all  the  air  through  the  valve,  which  instantly  closing  would  prevent  its 
return.  A  vacuum  being  thus  formed,  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere 
would  be  excited  and  might  be  used  as  a  source  of  power.  He  could 
not  however  succeed  in  driving  out  all  the  air  by  the  explosion,  and 
the  pressure  on  the  piston,  (ascertained  by  attaching  weights  to  a  rope 
passed  over  a  pulley  and  connected  to  the  piston  rod)  instead  of  being 
13  or  14  pounds  on  the  square  inch,  seldom  exceeded  six  or  seven.  He 
published  an  account  of  these  experiments  the  following  year  in  the  Acta 
Eruditorum,  a  journal  published  at  Leipsic,and  which  was  to  Germany  what 
the  Journal  des  Savans  was  to  France  and  the  Philosophical  Transactions 
to  England.  It  was  commenced  in  1682,  and  both  the  latter  in  1665. 

In  1690,  Papin,  unable  to  obtain  a  sufficient  vacuum  with  gunpowder, 
turned  his  attention  to  steam.  In  one  of  his  first  essavs  he  raised  the 
piston  by  its  expansive  force  ;  and  then  allowing  it  time  to  cool  and  return 
to  its  former  bulk  as  a  liquid,  the  pressure  of  the  air  forced  the  piston  back. 
His  cylinder  was  2\  inches  diameter,  and  closed  at  the  bottom.  A  small 
quantity  of  water  was  introduced  through  a  hole  in  the  piston,  which  was 
pushed  down  to  exclude  the  air  below  it,  and  the  hole  then  stopped  by  a 
plus'.  A  brasier  of  burning  coals  was  now  applied  to  the  bottom  of  the 
cylinder,  and  the  piston  consequently  raised  by  the  accumulating  vapor. 
When  the  piston  reached  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  cylinder,  it  was  retained 
there  by  a  latch  slipped  into  a  notch  in  the  piston  rod  :  the  fire  was  now 
removed,  and  the  steam  quickly  condensed  by  the  lower  temperature  of 
the  surrounding  air :  the  latch  was  removed,  and  the  atmosphere  pressed 
the  piston  down  and  raised  a  load  of  60  pounds,  which  was  attached  by  a 
rope  and  pulley  to  the  piston  rod,  being  an  effective  force  of  12J  pounds 
upon  every  square  inch  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  piston.*  A  device  of 
this  kind  Papin  thought  was  applicable  to  draw  water  from  mines,  and  to 
row  boats  against  wind  and  tide. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Papin  made  any  essential  improvement  on  the 
apparatus  during  the  four  following  years ;  for  when  he  published  his 
“  Recueil  des  diverse  Pieces  touchant  quelques  Nouvelles  Machines,  et 
autres  Sujets  Philosophiques,  par  M.  D.  Papin,  Dr.en  Med.  ACasel,  1695,” 
he  still  contemplated  generating  the  steam  in  the  cylinders;  and  at  every 
stroke  these  were  either  moved  from  the  fire,  or  the  fire  from  them.  It.  is 
astonishing  that  the  idea  of  a  fixed  and  separate  boiler  did  not  occur  to  him. 
His  plan  was  never  tried  except  as  an  experiment ;  and  he  subsequently 
abandoned  the  use  of  cylinders  and  pistons,  and  applied  steam  to  raise 
water  on  the  plan  of  Worcester’s  6Sth  proposition.  This  was  unfortunate 
for  his  fame  ;  for  in  his  experiments  with  the  piston  and  cylinder  he  was 
in  possession  of  every  principle  of  the  low-pressure  steam-engine,  and  had 
he  followed  up  the  device  he  would  have  borne  off  the  palm  from  all  his 
contemporaries.  Even  the  high-pressure  engine,  and  all  the  glory  of  its 
development,  was  then  within  his  reach ;  but  he  was  no  practical  me¬ 
chanic,  and  his  thoughts  became  diverted  into  other  channels.  One  of  the 


a  It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  the  various  attempts  of  Papin  to  move  a  piston  by 
atmospheric  pressure,  without  noticing  the  analogy  between  his  contrivances  and  that  of 
(jiierricke,  and  without  thinking  that  the  apparatus  of  this  philosopher  was  present 
to  his  mind. 


45J 


Chap,  7.] 


Water  Lute-Safety  Valves. 


szsrr-n^it  we  tw“7  7 

£-.-d£Sa!S 

aggE&ES  SSSfW?  w*ta 
aft s?.-SS  Sri~ 

LS°cTvW  “  oW„t:  t°onps  of  bll  “tt  PlUSS  °r  VaWeS  r  ■•  toed 

In  the  **  Maitw  Rustfqve  de jLs^a  CWIm  Lti^’  /t"'",  .lo“ded' 
Doc, ears  e„  Medecine,”  Paris  574  f„H„ ,9t  Lle].’auh’ 

close  boilers  in  which’ the  distilling  ve  els  wte  heated  0^7  T 

iTnpwaerd0stheTheVsaPOr  ^  b  °?  ^ 

in^t  ^  t:rT.t,rb,esS“‘d  r 

glass  retorts  or  stills  from  beino-  burst  by  the  vapor''  !u  ^  pieV^nted 
conical  valve  was  fitted  to  the  neck  of  h 

^  oaded  w^  a  “  cap  of  lead,”  so  that  when  the  steam  became  too 
gh  it  slightly  raised  the  valve  and  a  portion  escaped  •  the  valve  ther 

stop  Close  (English  translation,  Lond.  1651,  p.  306.)  The  valve  on 
Newcomen  s  first  engine  was  of  this  description.  In  the  same  work  Glau 
ber  describes  the  most  philosophical  of  all  safety-valves,  viz  a  column  of 
mercury  enclosed  in  a  bent  tube  which  communicates  with  the  boTer  or 

belutSemodaific  f  thefm°tern  mercurial  gauge.  He  also  describes  that 
utitul  modification  of  it  known  among  chemists  as  the  water  lute  or 

quicksilver  lute  :  that  is,  around  the  mouth  or  neck  of  a  vessel  a  deep 
cavity  is  formed  and  partly  filled  with  water  or  mercury,  as  the  case  mat 
.  A  cylindrical  vessel,  open  at  top  and  closed  at  bottom  forms  the 
over.,  it  is  inverted,  the  open  end  being  placed  in  the  cavity  and  dipping 
f  “fP  t.he  Il(luld  as  the  internal  pressure  may  require.  In  “  The Ar 
of  Dtstdlatton,  or  a  Treatise  of  the  choisest  Spagyricri  Experi intern  ”  & 
by  John  French.  Doctor  of  Physio,  Lond.  1651°,  the  author  describes  the 

bymGlaabereS  Sn  exPlosio?  of  vessels  >s  *ose  mentioned 

by  Glaubei.  Speaking  of  the  action  of  such  safety-valves  he  observes 

hLTthit  ifth”  -!T  °f  a  St0pple  Hve]  there  may  be  fastened  some 
1  tt  i  h  Spi.nt  be  to°  stron g>  Jt  will  only  heave  up  the  stonole  an,l 
le  I  fall  down  agatn.”  Papin's  claim  therefore  is  not  toAe  v2T itself 

u  izrr' or  rth7 to  ?e  moje  °f 

being blown !S  Tf fi  '7rebJ  "«  only  preventing  the  valve  from 

and  rendering  the  device  of  universal  appSon.”5  'he  “  Wi"' 

that  Panin  nronosn^lf^n9^^  ^aver^  bad  introduced  his  steam  machine 

entitled  “  Nouvelle  m  '°  owln&  one>  wbich  he  announced  in  a  work 

lZ Ire  na,  M  D  rmereT,P°Ur  leVer  i’6aU  par  la  d”  p-i,  mise  en 
umiere,  pai  M  D.  Panin,  Docteur  en  Med.  Prof,  en  Mathem.  a  Case!. 


452  Steam  Machine  by  Papin.  [Book  IV 

1707.”  It  is  inserted  here  out  of  chronological  order,  to  keen  this  notice 
of  his  labors  unbroken. 


No.  192.  Papin.  A.  D.  1707. 


A  copper  boiler,  A,  is  set  in  brick  work  and  furnished  with  a  safety- 
valve,  B,  whose  lever  is  loaded  with  the  weight  C.  The  steam  pipe  and 
cock  D  connect  the  boiler  with  the  receiving  cylinder  F.  A  hollow  float 
or  piston  is  made  to  move  easily  in  F,  to  prevent  the  steam  from  coming 
in  contact  with  the  water.  A  cavity  is  made  in  this  float  for  the  reception 
of  an  iron  heater,  Z,  designed  to  keep  up  the  temperature  of  the  steam 
when  the  latter  is  admitted  into  F.  The  heater  is  admitted  through  the 
opening  on  the  top  of  F,  which  is  closed  by  the  valve  G.  X,  a  funnel 
through  which  the  water  to  be  raised  is  introduced,  which  is  kept  from  re¬ 
turning  by  closing  the  cock  or  valve  H.  The  lower  part  of  F  is  connected 
with  the  rising  main  K  by  a  curved  and  tapered  tube.  The  pipe  K  ter¬ 
minates  in  a  reservoir  or  air  chamber,  whence  the  water  is  discharged  by 
the  pipe  O  upon  an  overshot  wheel,  or  conveyed  to  the  place  where  it  may 
be  required.  If  the  receiver  be  charged  from  below,  a  suction  pipe  (im¬ 
perfectly  represented  by  the  pipe  I)  was  continued  to  it  from  the  under 
side  of  the  curved  pipe.  The  steam  flowing  through  the  pipe  D  presses 
down  the  piston,  and  the  water  beneath  it  is  forced  up  the  pipe  K,  (the 
valve  at  the  lower  part  of  K  preventing  its  return.)  When  the  piston  has 
reached  the  bottom  of  F,  the  cock  D  is  shut  and  the  one  marked  E  is 
opened.  H  is  then  opened,  and  the  water  rushes  in  and  drives  up  the 
piston  as  before,  when  the  operation  is  repeated.  Water  was  raised  by 
one  of  these  machines  to  an  elevation  of  70  feet,  whence  it  descended  and 
formed  a  jet  d’eau  in  the  court  of  the  Hessian  Academy  of  Arts. 

Belidor  inserted  a  figure  and  description  of  this  machine  in  the  second 
volume  of  his  Architecture  Hydraulique,  p.  328. 


Chap.  8.] 


Thomas  Savery. 


453 


\ 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Experimenters  contemporary  with  Papin-Savery-This  engineer  publishes  his  inventions-His 
project  for  propelling  vessels— Ridicules  the  Surveyor  of  the  Navy  for  opposing  it-His  first  experiments 
on  steam  made  in  a  tavern-Account  of  them  by  Desaguliers  and  Switzer-Savery’s  first  engine-Its 
operation  Engine  with  a  single  receiver— Savery’s  improved  engine  described— Gauge  cocks— Excel¬ 
lent  features  of  his  improved  engine-Its  various  parts  connected  by  coupling  screws-Had  no  safety- 
valve  Rejected  by  miners  on  account  of  the  danger  from  the  boilers  exploding-Solder  melted  by 
steam-Opinions  respecting  the  origin  of  Savery’s  engine-It  bears  no  relation  to  the  piston  engine 
-Modifications  of  Savery’s  engine  by  Desaguliers,  Leopold,  Blakey  and  others-Rivatz-Engines  by 
Gensanne— De  Moura— De  Rigny— Francois  and  others— Amonton’s  fire  mill— Newcomen  and  Cawley— 
Their  engine  superior  to  Savery’s— Newcomen  acquainted  with  the  previous  experiments  of  Papin— 
Circumstances  favorable  to  the  introduction  of  Newcomen’s  engine— Description  of  it— Condensation  by 
injection  discovered  by  chance— Chains  and  Sectors— Savery’s  claim  to  a  share  in  Newcomen’s  patent  an 
unjust  one — Merits  of  Newcomen  and  Cawley. 


Both  philosophers  and  mechanics  were  engaged  in  experiments  on  air 
and  steam  machines  about  the  same  time  as  Papin.  Of  these,  Savery, 
Amontons,  Newcomen  and  Cawley  were  the  most  successful.  The  two 
last  named  have  not  generally  been  considered  so  early  in  the  field  ;  but, 
from  an  observation  of  Switzer,  such  appears  to  have  been  the  case.  As 
weekly  and  monthly  ‘Journals  of  Arts’  and  ‘  Mechanics’  Magazines"’  had 
not  then  been  introduced,  those  who  were  disposed  to  communicate  their 
discoveries  to  the  public  had  no  appropriate  medium  for  doing  so,  except 
by  a  separate  publication,  and  this  mode  but  an  exceedingly  small  number 
of  inventors  ever  adopted  :  hence  it  is  that  not  only  the  dates  of  several 
modern  inventions  are  uncertain,  but  numerous  devices  and  valuable 
floating  thoughts  have,  with  their  authors,  been  constantly  passing  into 
utter  oblivion.  The  history  of  steam  as  a  mechanical  agent  affords  signal 
proofs  of  the  advantages  of  inventors  recording  their  ideas  :  thus  the  name 
of  Decaus  had  long  been  forgotten,  when  an  old  tract  of  his  was  disco¬ 
vered  containing  the  device  we  have  figured  at  page  410.  This  he  pro¬ 
bably  considered  the  most  trifling  thing  in  his  book,  yet  on  account  of  it 
a  place  has  been  claimed  for  him  among  the  immortal  authors  of  the  steam- 

engine.  .  Moreland,  of  whose  speaking  trumpet  an  account  was  inserted 
in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  and  his  ideas  of  the 
power  required  to  force  water  to  different  elevations  in  the  ninth,  omitted 
to  publish  through  the  same  or  any  other  medium  a  description  of  his 
steam-engine ;  and  by  this  neglect  has  lost  a  large  portion  of  honor  that 
might  have  been  attached  to  his  name.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Garay, 
Ramsey e  and  Worcester.  Savery,  however,  knew  better,  for  he  laid  his 
machine  before  the  Royal  Society  and  got  it  noticed  in  their  Transactions; 
and  when  he  had  subsequently  improved  it,  he  published  a  separate  ac¬ 
count  with  illustrations;  in  consequence  of  which  he  has  sometimes  been 
considered  the  author  as  well  as  describer  of  the  first  working  steam- 
engine.  b 

Of  Savery’s  personal  history,  less  has  transpired  than  of  either  More- 
land  s  or  Worcester  s.  He  evidently  was  a  man  of  great  energy,  who 
raised  himself  from  obscurity  by  his  talents — a  self-made  man.  According 
to  a  tradition  he  commenced  life  as  a  working  miner,  and  in  process  of  time 


454 


Savery' s  Project  for  propelling  Boats.  [Book  IV. 

became  an  engineer  and  tlius  acquired  the  title  of  Captain,  agreeably  to 
a  custom  which  is  said  still  to  prevail  among  the  Cornish  miners.  He 
seems  to  have  acquired  a  competence,  if  not  wealth,  previous  to  the  com¬ 
mencement  of  his  experiments  on  steam,  and  we  shall  find  that  he  was  as 
independent  in  his  spirit  as  in  his  purse.  Switzer,  who  was  intimately 
acquainted  with  him,  says  he  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  commissioners 
for  the  sick  and  wounded  ;  but  this  was  probably  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life,  and  subsequent  to  the  introduction  of  his  steam  machines. 

The  first  invention  of  Savery  that  we  meet  with  is  in  a  pamphlet  pub¬ 
lished  by  him  in  1698,  on  the  propulsion  of  ships  in  a  calm.  His  plan 
consisted  of  paddle-wheels  to  be  worked  by  the  crew.  In  the  first  edition 
of  Harris’s  Lexicon  Technicum,  A.  D.  1704,  there  is  a  description,  and  in 
the  second,  1710,  a  figure  of  Savery’s  “  engine  for  rowing  ships.”  A 
horizontal  shaft  passes  through  the  vessel  between  decks,  and  to  each  end 
a  paddle-wheel  is  attached.  On  the  middle  of  the  shaft  is  a  pinion  or 
trundle  wheel,  and  underneath  a  capstan  upon  which  a  cog  wheel  is  fixed, 
whose  teeth  are  made  to  work  between  those  of  the  pinion.  A  number 
of  bars  are  arranged  in  the  capstan,  and  the  crew  were  to  apply  their 
strength  to  these  as  in  raising  an  anchor.  As  the  officers  of  the  admiralty 
after  examination  declined  to  adopt  it,  Savery  tells  them  he  had  two  other 
important  inventions,  which  he  would  not  disclose  until  they  did  him  jus¬ 
tice  in  this  !  He  even  held  up  his  opponents  to  ridicule.  On  the  Surveyor 
of  the  Navy,  who  reported  against  the  adoption  of  his  plan  as  one  neither 
new  nor  useful,  he  was  very  severe.  At  that  time  large  wigs  were  com¬ 
monly  worn,  and  Savery  gave  a  smart  rap  on  that  which  covered  the 
head  of  his  official  adversary.  “  It  is  [he  observed]  as  common  for  lies 
and  nonsense  to  be  disguised  by  a  jingle  of  words,  as  for  a  blockhead  to  be 
hid  by  abundance  of  peruke.”  Had  Savery  been  of  a  timid  disposition, 
we  should  probably  never  have  heard  of  him.  After  enduring  one  or 
two  rebuffs  in  attempting  to  introduce  his  inventions,  he  would  have  re¬ 
tired  and  sunk  unknown  into  the  grave,  like  thousands  of  inventors  before 
him. 

Of  the  few  incidents  preserved  respecting  his  private  life,  there  are  two 
from  which  it  seems  that  he  loved  a  glass  of  good  wine  and  a  pipe  of  to¬ 
bacco  ;  and  that,  to  obtain  them,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  a  tavern. 
Let  not  those  who  eschew  such  things  complain  of  us  for  unnecessarily 
mentioning  them,  for  Savery’s  first  experiments  on  steam  were  made  in  a 
bar-room,  with  a  wine  flask  and  a  tobacco  pipe.  At  such  a  place  and  with 
such  implements  he  is  said  to  have  become  acquainted  with  the  principles 
of  his  famous  machine.  The  circumstance  has  not  been  commonly  known, 
or  some  scientific  Boniface  would,  long  ere  now,  have  adopted  Savery’s 
head  for  a  sign ;  and  artists  would  have  made  him,  in  the  act  of  experi¬ 
menting,  the  subject  of  a  picture.  There  is  a  rich  but  neglected  field  for 
historical  painters  in  the  facts  and  incidents  connected  with  the  origin  and 
development  of  useful  mechanism. 

According  to  Desaguliers,  Savery  declared  that  he  found  out  the  power 
of  steam  by  chance,  and  in  the  following  manner:  “  Having  drank  a  flask 
of  Florence  [wine]  at  a  tavern,  and  thrown  the  empty  flask  upon  the  fire, 
he  call’d  for  a  bason  of  water  to  wash  his  hands,  and  perceiving  that  the 
little  wine  left  in  the  flask  had  filled  up  the  flask  with  steam,  he  took  the 
flask  by  the  neck  and  plunged  the  mouth  of  it  under  the  surface  of  the 
watef  in  the  bason;  and  the  water  of  the  bason  was  immediately  driven 
up  into  the  flask  by  the  pressure  of  the  air.”*  This  illustration  of  the  ascent 


*  Exper.  Philosophy,  edition  of  1744,  vol.  ii,  page  4G6. 


Chap.  8.]  His  first  Steam-Engine.  455 

of  water  into  a  vessel  from  which  the  air  had  been  expelled  by  steam,  was 
of  course^not  new  in  Savery’s  time,  although  it  appears  to  have  been  so 
to  him.  Switzer  gives  a  different  account.  “  The  first  hint  from  which 
u  is  said  he  took  this  engine  was  from  a  tobacco  pipe,  which  he  immers’d 
to.  wash  cool  it,  as  is  sometimes  done  :  he  discover’d  by  the  rarefaction 
of  the  air  in  the  tube,  by  the  heat  or  steam  of  the  water  and  the  gravitation 
or  impulse  of  the.  exterior  air,  that  the  water  was  made  to  spring  through 
the  tube  of  the  pipe  in  a  wonderful  surprising  manner.”®  It  was  an  old 
practice  of  veteran  smokers,  when  their  (clay)  pipes  became  blackened 
through  use,  and  more  particularly  when  choked  or  furred  up,  to  place 
them  in  a  bright  fire  till  they  became  red  hot,  then  to  remove  and  allow 
them  to  cool.  By  this  operation  they  were  whitened  and  purified  like  the 
incombustible  cloth  of  the  ancients,  which  was  cleansed  in  the  same  way 
But  frequently  when  taken  from  the  fire  the  mouths  of  the  pipes  were 
plunged  slowly  into  water;  steam  was  thus  formed,  and  rushing  through 
the  tubes,  was  sometimes  preceded,  often  accompanied,  and  sometimes 
followed  by  jets  of  water.  There  are  however  different  causes,  and  far 
from  obvious  ones,  for  the  liquid  issuing  through  tobacco  pipes  under  such 
circumstances,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  what  inference  Savery  drew 
from  the  experiment. 

But  whatever  may  have  led  Savery  to  the  subject  of  steam,  he  had  so 
far  matured  his  ideas  respecting  its  application  to  raise  water  as  to  erect 

several  engines,  and  to  secure  a 
patent  as  early  as  1698.  In  June 
of  the  following  year  he  submitted 
a  working  model  to  the  Royal  So¬ 
ciety,  and  made  successful  experi¬ 
ments  with  it  at  the  same  time.  A 
figure  of  this  engine  was  published 
in  the  Transactions  of  that  year,  and 
may  also  be  found  in  the  first  volume 
of  Lowthorp’s  Abridgment.  No.  x 
193  is  a  copy.  It  consisted  of  a 
close  boiler,  B,  set  in  a  brick  furnace 
A,  and  two  receivers  D  D  support¬ 
ed  on  a  stand,  and  made  of  strong 
copper  and  air-tight.  A  suction  pipe 
whose  lower  end  descends  into  a 
well,  or  other  place  whence  water 
is  to  be  raised,  (which  may  be  about 
24  feet  below  D  D)  and  whose  up¬ 
per  part,  divided  into  two  branches, 
communicates  with  the  top  of  the 
receivers.  Each  branch  is  furnished 
with  a  valve  at  E  E,  opening  up 
wards,  to  prevent  the  water  from 
returning  when  once  raised.  The 
lower  part  of  the  forcing  pipe  G  has 
also  two  branches,  F  F,  which  communicate  with  the  bottom,  of  the  receivers, 
and  these  branches  have  also  valves,  E  E,  like  the  others  opening  upwards. 
Each  receiver  has  a  communication  with  the  upper  part  of  the  boiler  by 
6team  pipes  and  cocks  C  C. 

I  he  operation  was  as  follows: — The  boiler  was  two  thirds  filled  witn 


No.  193.  Savery’*  First  Engine.  A.  D.  1698. 


a  Hydrostatics,  edition  ofJ729,  page  325. 


456 


Savery' s  Single  Engine. 


[Book  IV. 


water,  a  firs  made  under  it  and  the  steam  raised.  One  of  the  cocks  was 
then  opened,  and  the  steam  passing  through  filled  the  receiver  by  driving 
the  air  previously  within  it  into  the  forcing  pipe  :  the  cock  was  then  closed, 
and  the  steam  within  the  receiver  soon  became  condensed  by  the  cold  air 
in  contact  with  its  exterior  surface,  or  by  pouring  cold  water  upon  it  ; 
hence  a  vacuum  was  produced  within,  and  consequently  the  water  in  which 
the  lower  end  of  the  suction  pipe  was  immersed  was  driven  up  by  the 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere  so  as  to  fill  the  void.  When  this  had  taken 
place  the  same  cock  was  again  opened,  and  the  steam  rushing  in  urged  by 
its  expansive  force  the  contents  of  the  receiver  up  the  forcing  pipe.  In 
this  manner  water  was  alternately  raised  into  and  expelled  from  both 
vessels. 

As  a  practical  miner,  and  consequently  conversant  with  the  subject  of 
raising  water  on  a  large  scale,  Savery  was  better  qualified  to  carry  his 
views  into  operation  than  a  mere  philosopher.  His  first  essay  in  employing 
steam  was  a  proof  of  this.  “  I  have  heard  him  say  myself  [observes  Switzer] 
that  the  very  first  time  he  play’d,  it  was  in  a  potter’s  house  at  Lambeth, 
where  tho’  it  was  a  small  engine,  yet  it  [the  water]  forc’d  its  way  through 
the  roof,  and  struck  up  the  tiles  in  a  manner  that  surpris’d  all  the  spectators.” 


No.  194.  Savery’s  Single  Engine. 

Sometimes  Savery  employed  but  one  receiver.  No.  194  represents  an 
engine  of  this  kind,  erected  by  him  at  Kensington.  A  description  of  it 
was  first  published  by  Mr.  Bradley  in  his  “  New  Improvements  of  Planting 
and  Gardening.”  It  is  also  figured  and  described  by  Switzer,  who  exa¬ 
mined  it  and  thought  it  “  the  plainest  and  best  proportion’d  of  any  ”  he  had 
seen.  Its  effects  were  considered  proportionally  greater  than  those  with 
two  receivers.  C,  a  spherical  boiler  of  the  capacity  of  forty  gallons,  and 
charged  through  the  tunnel.  B,  the  receiver,  which  held  thirteen  gallons 
A,  the  suction  pipe,  sixteen  feet  long  and  three  inches  bore.  D,  the  forc- 
ing  pipe,  of  the  same  bore  and  forty  two  feet  long.  A  valve  opening 
upwards  was  placed  in  A,  and  another  at  the  lower  part  of  D,  at  H.  E, 
the  steam  pipe,  an  inch  in  diameter.  G,  a  sliding  valve  or  cock,  furnished 
with  a  lever  handle.  F,  a  cock  in  the  forcing  pipe,  to  admit  cold  water 


457 


Chap.  8.]  'Publication  of  the  Miner's  Friend. 

to  flow  upon  the  receiver.  A  pipe  attached  to  the  tunnel  descended  into 
the  boiler  and  served  the  purpose  of  a  gauge  cock. 

The  operation  will  be  understood  from  the  description  of  figure  No.  193. 
By  turning  the  handle  of  G  steam  is  admitted  into  B,  and  as  soon  as  the 
air  is  expelled  from  the  latter,  G  is  closed  and  F  opened;  the  affusion  of 
cold  water  (see  the  figure)  quickly  condenses  the  contained  vapor,  and 
hence  the  receiver  becomes  charged  with  water  by  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  through  the  suction  pipe  A.  F  is  then  shut  and  G  opened, 
when  the  steam  issuing  from  the  boiler  displaces  the  water  from  the  re¬ 
ceiver,  and  having  no  other  way  to  escape  the  liquid  is  driven  up  the  pipe 
D  into  the  reservoir  prepared  to  receive  it.  As  soon  as  all  the  water  is 
expelled  from  the  receiver,  (which  was  known  by  applying  the  hand  to 
the  lower  part,  for  it  would  be  hot)  G  is  shut  and  F  again  opened,  when 
the  operation  is  repeated  as  before. 

“  When  this  engine  begins  to  work  [says  Switzer]  you  may  raise  four  of 
the  receivers  full  in  one  minute,  which  is  fifty  two  gallons,  [less  the  quan¬ 
tities  drawn  from  F  for  the  purposes  of  condensation] — and  at  that  rate  in 
an  hour’s  time  may  be  flung  up  3120  gallons.  The  prime  cost  of  such 
an  engine  is  about  fifty  pound,  as  I  myself  have  had  it  from  the  ingenious 
author’s  own  mouth.  It  must  be  noted  that  this  engine  is  but  a  small  one, 
in  comparison  of  many  others  of  this  kind  that  are  made  for  coal-works  ; 
but  this  is  sufficient  for  any  reasonable  family,  and  other  uses  required  for 
it  in  watering  all  middling  gardens.” 

Here  is  no  provision  made  to  replenish  the  boiler  with  water  except 
through  the  tunnel :  hence  the  working  of  the  machine  had  to  be  stopped, 
and  the  steam  within  the  boiler  allowed  to  escape,  before  a  fresh  supply 
could  be  admitted.  Under  such  circumstances  the  boilers  were  very 
liable  to  become  injured  by  the  fire  when  the  water  became  low.  Thev 
were  also  exposed  to  destruction  from  another  cause,  the  force  of  the 
steam;  for  they  had  no  safety-valves  to  regulate  it,  and  hence  the  necessity 
of  the  following  instructions  :  “  When  you  have  rais’d  water  enough,  and 
you  design  to  leave  off  working  the  engine,  take  away  all  the  fire  from 
under  the  boiler,  and  open  the  cock  [connected  to  the  tunnel]  to  let  out 
the  steam,  which  would  otherwise,  was  it  to  remain  confin’d,  perhaps 
burst  the  engine .” 

Savery,  from  his  profession,  was  aware  of  the  want  of  an  improved 
mode  of  draining  mines.  The  influence  of  the  useful  arts  in  enriching  a 
nation  was  then  beginning  to  be  understood.  A  stimulus  was  imparted  to 
manufactures,  and  the  demand  for  coal  and  the  ores  of  England  rapidly 
increased.  As  a  necessary  consequence  the  depth  of  the  mines  increased 
also ;  and  hence  proprietors  became  anxious  to  possess  some  device  for 
clearing  them  of  water,  and  by  which  the  old,  inefficient  and  excessively 
expensive  horse-gins  and  buckets  might  be  dispensed  with.  The  cost  of 
drainage  was  so  great  in  some  mines,  that  their  produce  hardly  equalled 
the  cost  of  working  them  :  in  one  mine  five  hundred  horses  were  constantly 
employed.  Numerous  novel  projects  had  been  tried  and  abandoned : 
what  they  were  we  are  not  informed,  but  as  Ramseye  and  Worcester  and 
probably  others  had  proposed  fire  machines  for  the  purpose,  steam  had 
probably  been  tried  in  some  way  or  other  and  had  failed.  Having  greatly 
improved  his  machine,  Savery  published  an  account  of  it,  illustrated  with 
engravings,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  The  Miner's  Friend;  or  a  Description 
of  an  Engine  for  Raising  Water  by  Fire,  with  an  Answer  to  the  Objections 
against  it.  London,  printed  for  S.  Crouch,  1702.  In  his  address  he  begs 
proprietors  not  to  let  the  failure  of  other  plans  prejudice  them  against  the 
trial  of  his.  “  Its  power  [he  observes]  is  in  a  manner  infinite  and  unlimited, 

58 


453 


Savery’s  Double  'Engine. 


[Book  IV 


and  will  draw  you  water  500  or  a  1000  feet  high,  were  any  pit  so  deep. 

. I  dare  undertake  that  this  engine  shall  raise  you  as  much  water 

for  eight-pence,  as  will  cost  you  a  shilling  to  raise  the  like  with  your  old 
engines.”  The  original  figures  in  the  Miner’s  Friend  were  inserted  in 
Harris’s  Lexicon  Technicum,  in  1704,  and  copied  into  Switzer’s  Hydro¬ 
statics  in  1729,  and  by  Desaguliers  in  his  Experimental  Philosophy  in  1744, 
(which  works  are  before  us)  and  subsequently  into  almost  every  treatise 
on  the  steam-engine.  No.  195  is  a  reduced  copy  :  the  figure  of  the  firo 
man  is  an  addition. 


No.  195.  Sayery’s  Double  Engine.  A.  D.  1702. 

A  detailed  description  of  this  elegant  apparatus  is  not  necessary,  since 
its  operation  will  be  understood  from  the  explanation  of  the  two  preceding 
machines.  .  It  is  substantially  the  same  as  No.  193,  except  that  this  one 
has  two  boilers,  which  are  heated  by  separate  furnaces,  G  H.  The  addi 
tional  boiler  G  was  designed  merely  to  supply  the  other  with  hot  water, 
and  need  not  therefore  divert  the  attention  of  the  reader  in  realizing  the 
working  of  the  essential  parts.  The  upper  end  of  the  suction  pipe  shown 
at  the  mouth  of  the  pit  consists  of  two  branches,  which  are  connected  to 
similar  branches  on  the  lower  part  of  the  forcing  pipe  N.  The  suction 
valves  are  at  B  A,  and  the  forcing  ones  at  E  F,  all  opening  upwards. 


Chap.  8.]  Its  excellent  features — Coupling  Screws.  459 

Between  these  valves  two  short  curved  tubes  connect  the  bottoms  of  the 
receivers  I  M  with  the  branches,  as  represented,  and  two  other  bent  tubes, 
P  Q.,  unite  the  top  of  the  receivers  with  the  boiler  H.  On  the  top  of  this 
ooiler,  and  forming  a  part  of  it,  is  a  stout  round  plate,  having  two  openings 
of  the  same  size  as  the  bore  of  the  tubes  last  mentioned.  In  these  open¬ 
ings  the  two  steam  tubes  P  Q,  terminate.  Between  the  openings,  and 
on  the  under  side  of  the  plate,  is  a  moveable  disk,  which  by  a  short  arm 
is  connected  to  an  axle  and  moved  by  the  long  lever  shown  on  the  top  of 
the  boiler;  so  that  by  moving  this  lever  the  disk  can  be  made  to  close 
either  opening,  so  as  to  admit  or  exclude  steam  from  the  receivers,  and 
answering  every  purpose  of  a  three-way  cock.  It  is  made  somewhat  on 
the  plan  of  the  one  in  No.  189,  page  421.  The  face  of  the  disk  is  ground 
smooth,  so  as  to  fit  close  to  the  under  side  of  the  plate,  against  which  it  is 
pressed  by  the  steam.  The  perpendicular  axle  by  which  the  disk  is  turned 
passes  through  the  plate,  and  the  opening  is  made  tight  by  a  stuffing  box. 
(The  plate  and  moveable  disk  are  represented  in  the  small  figure  at  the  top, 
one  of  the  openings  being  covered  by  the  disk  and  the  other  exposed.) 
A  small  cistern,  U,  is  placed  over  the  receivers,  and  kept  supplied  with 
cold  water  from  the  forcing  pipe  by  means  of  a  ball  cock,  viz.  a  cock 
that  is  opened  and  shut  by  a  ball  floating  in  the  cistern.  From  the  bottom 
of  this  cistern  a  short  pipe,  T,  proceeds;  and  to  it  is  connected,  by  a  swivel 
joint  or  stuffing  box,  another  one  at  right  angles.  This  pipe  furnishes 
water  to  condense  the  steam  in  the  receivers,  over  both  of  which  it  can  be 
moved  by  the  rod  attached  to  the  plug  of  the  cock  as  shown  in  the  figure. 
The  upper  cistern  denotes  the  place  where  the  water  raised  by  the  engine 
is  to  be  discharged. , 

A  communication  is  made  between  the  boilers  by  a  siphon  or  bent  tube, 
R,  whose  legs  extend  nearly  to  the  bottom  of  the  boilers.  In  the  leg 
within  the  small  boiler  is  a  valve  opening  upwards,  which  permits  the 
water  of  G  to  pass  into  H,  but  prevents  any  returning  from  the  latter. 
When  the  attendant  wishes  to  inject  into  H  a  fresh  supply  of  water,  he 
increases  the  little  fire  kept  up  under  the  boiler  G,  (which  is  always  kept 
supplied  with  water  by  the  pipe  S,)  and  as  soon  as  the  liquid  boils  and 
the  force  of  the  steam  exceeds  that  in  H,  the  contents  of  G,  both  steam 
and  hot  water,  are  forced  through  the  valve ;  and  thus  H  is  kept  supplied 
without  the  action  of  the  machine  being  stopped.  The  cock  on  the  pipe 
S  is  then  opened,  the  small  boiler  again  charged,  and  the  water  becomes 
gradually  heated;  so  that  by  the  time  it  is  wanted  in  the  other  boiler,  a 
small  addition  to  the  fuel  quickly  raises  its  temperature,  and  it  is  again 
forced  in  as  before. 

The  quantity  of  water  in  the  boilers  was  ascertained  by  gauge  cocks. 
These  were  inserted  at  the  top,  (see  figure)  and  pipes  soldered  to  them 
descended  to  different  depths.  The  principal  boiler  had  two  of  these,  the 
other  but  one. 

The  general  arrangement  of  this  engine  and  the  adaptation  of  its  various 
parts  to  each  other  are  admirable,  and  could  hardly  be  improved.  The 
obviously  good  workmanship — the  improved  form  of  the  receivers — and 
the  connection  of  these  with  the  boilers  and  pipes,  and  the  latter  with  each 
other,  by  coupling  screws,  thus  securing  easy  access  to  the  valves — are 
highly  creditable  to  Savery  and  the  workmen  he  employed.  Every  part 
was  made  of  the  best  materials.  The  cocks,  coupling  screws,  regulator, 
valves,  and  all  the  pipes  immediately  connected  with  them,  were  of  brass ; 
while  the  boilers,  receivers  and  suction  pipes  were  of  “  the  best  hammered 
copper,  of  sufficient  thickness  to  sustain  the  force  of  the  working  engine  : 
in  short,  [continues  the  inventor]  the  engine  is  so  naturally  adapted  to 


460 


Joints  melted  by  Steam — Origin  of  Saver fs  Engine.  [Book  IV 

perform  what  is  required,  that  even  those  of  the  most  ordinary  and  meanest 
capacity  may  work  it  for  some  years  without  injury,  if  not  hired  or  em¬ 
ploy’d  by  some  base  person  on  purpose  to  destroy  it — that  is,  by  inat¬ 
tention  or  design  to  permit  steam  to  accumulate  within  the  boilers  till  they 
were  burst.  Some  device  to  prevent  this  was  wanting,  viz.  a  safety-valve 
or  something  analogous  to  it;  and  it  is  astonishing  that  he  never  thought 
of  such  a  thing,  but  permitted  his  machine  for  lack  of  it  to  fall  into  dis¬ 
repute. 

The  miners  could  not  be  induced  to  adopt  it,  in  consequence  of  the 
danger  of  explosion.  “  Savery  [says  Desaguliers]  made  a  great  many 
experiments  to  bring  this  machine  to  perfection,  and  did  erect  several, 
which  raised  water  very  well  for  gentlemen’s  seats,  but  could  not  succeed 
for  mines,  or  supplying  towns  where  the  water  was  to  be  raised  very  high 
and  in  great  quantities ;  for  then  the  steam  required  being  boiled  up  to 
such  a  strength,  as  to  be  ready  to  tear  all  the  vessels  to  pieces.  ------ 

I  have  known  Captain  Savery  at  York’s  Buildings  make  steam  8  or  10 
times  stronger  than  common  air;  and  then  its  heat  was  so  great,  that  it 
would  melt  common  solder,  and  its  strength  so  great  as  to  blow  open 
several  of  the  joints  of  his  machine;  so  that  he  was  forced  to  be  at* the 
pains  and  charge  to  have  all  his  joints  soldered  with  spelter  or  hard  solder.” 
Ex.  Philos,  ii,  467. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  respecting  the  origin  of  this  famous 
engine  ;  some  writers  contending  that  it  was  wholly  Savery’s  own,  others 
that  he  derived  it  from  one  of  Worcester’s,  or  from  the  Century  of  In¬ 
ventions.  Desaguliers  asserts  that  Savery,  to  conceal  its  origin,  “  bought 
up  all  the  Marquis  of  Worcester’s  books  that  he  could  purchase  in  Pater¬ 
noster  Row,  and  elsewhere,  and  burn’d  ’em  in  the  presence  of  the  gentle¬ 
man  his  friend,  who  told  me  this.”  But  as  Savery  denied  being  indebted 
to  any  one  for  it,  and  as  he  was  certainly  a  man  of  great  mechanical  genius, 
it  is  probable  that  the  doctor  was  imposed  upon  by  his  informant.  It  is 
not  likely  that  Savery  would  have  committed  such  an  act  in  the  presence 
of  a  witness,  when  there  was  not  only  no  necessity  for  one,  but  every 
possible  inducement  for  secrecy.  Many  years  before  the  publication  of 
this  charge  by  Desaguliers  (in  1744)  the  opinion  was  prevalent  that  the 
machine  was  not  original  with  Savery.  In  1729  Switzer  remarks,  “others 
say  that  the  learned  Marquis  of  Worcester,  in  his  Century  of  Inventions, 
which  book  I  have  not  seen,  gave  the  first  hint  for  this  raising  of  water.” 
(Hydr.  325.)  Dr.  Hutton,  in  his  Math.  Dictionary,  asserts,  though  on  what 
authority  we  know  not,  that  Savery  knew  more  of  Moreland’s  experiments 
than  he  was  willing  to  acknowledge;  and  Desaguliers  maintains  that  he 
invented  the  story  of  the  experiment  with  the  wine  flask  “  to  make  people 
believe  that  he  had  not  got  the  idea  from  Worcester’s  Century  of 
Inventions.” 

In  reply  to  the  above  it  may  be  remarked,  that  independently  of  those 
coincidences  of  thought  that  always  have  and  will  happen  to  inventors, 
there  are  circumstances  which  strongly  corroborate  Savery’s  own  account 
In  the  first  place,  the  experiment  with  the  wine  flask  was  one  very  likely 
to  occur  in  the  manner  he  has  mentioned,  and  to  a  mind  like  his  would 
naturally  lead  to  a  practical  application  of  it.  His  thoughts,  we  are  told, 
“  were  always  employed  in  hydrostatics  or  hydraulics,  or  in  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  water-works.”  Then  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  was  much  of 
a  reader  :  had  he  been  conversant  with  books,  he  would  not  have  proposed 
the  propulsion  of  vessels  with  paddle-wheels  as  new.  These  occurred  to 
him  as  they  have  done  to  thousands  in  every  age  when  devising  means  to 
increase  the  speed  of  boats ;  and  so  it  may  have  been  with  his  steam  ma- 


461 


Chap.  8.]  Modifications  of  Savery’s  Engine. 

chine  :  a  device  like  it  would  naturally  be  the  result  of  the  experiment 
with  the  wine  ilask,  and  even  without  it,  when  his  thoughts  were  once 
directed  to  raising  water  by  steam.  Moreover,  Savery  was  ignorant  of 
the  safety-valve,  the  very  thing  wanted  to  remove  the  most  formidable 
objection  to  his  machine  ;  and  yet,  as  we  have  shown,  he  might  have 
found  it  in  some  popular  works  on  chemistry  and  distillation, — besides 
which,  Papin’s  improved  application  of  it  had  been  published  several 
years.  (The  single  machine  figured  No.  194  was  erected  by  Savery 
himself  as  late  as  1711  or  ’12,  and  it  had  no  safety-valve.) 

But  whether  he  derived  the  hint  from  Worcester  or  not,  he  is  entitled 
to  all  the  honor  he  has  received.  He  was  the  first  effectually  to  introduce 
the  device,  and  the  first  to  publish  a  description  of  it  in  detail.  He  con¬ 
cealed  nothing,  but,  like  a  sensible  and  practical  man,  explained  the  whole, 
and  left  it  to  its  own  merits.  No  one’s  claims  to  a  place  in  the  history  of 
the  steam-engine  were  better  earned,  whether  he  be  considered  the  rein 
ventor,  or  improver  only  of  Worcester’s  68th  proposition.  There  are 
several  points  of  resemblance  in  the  characters  of  Savery  and  Oliver  Evans. 
By  their  energy  and  indomitable  perseverance  they  forced  their  inventions 
into  public  notice  in  spite  of  public  apathy,  and  so  worked  their  way  into 
the  temple  of  honorable  fame.  Both  published  curious  pamphlets,  that 
will  preserve  their  names  and  inventions  from  oblivion. 

But  Savery’s  steam-engine  does  not  belong  to  the  same  family  as  the 
modern  one,  nor  can  he  be  said  to  have  contributed  to  the  invention  of  the 
latter,  except  so  far  as  making  his  contemporaries  more  familiar  with  the 
mechanical  properties  of  aqueous  vapor.  ’Tis  true  he  employed  this  fluid 
in  close  vessels,  and  so  far  he  succeeded  ;  but  his  ideas  seem  to  have  been 
wholly  confined  to  its  application  to  raise  water,  and  in  the  most  direct 
manner — hence  he  never  thought  of  pistons.  Had  he  turned  his  attention  to 
impart  motion  to  one  of  these,  he  would  have  left  little  for  his  successors 
to  do  ;  but  as  it  was,  he  did  not  lead  engineers  any  nearer  to  the  piston 
engine.  He  proposed  to  propel  machinery  by  discharging  the  water  he 
raised  upon  an  overshot  wheel ;  hence  his  patent  was  “  for  raising  water, 
and  occasioning  motion  to  all  sorts  of  mill  woi-k.”  But  this  was  obviously 
an  afterthought,  an  accidental  result,  rather  than  one  originally  designed 
or  looked  for.  A  piston  and  cylinder  only  could  have  given  his  machine 
a  permanent  place  in  the  arts,  either  as  a  hydraulic  or  a  motive  one.  He 
accomplished  almost  all  that  could  be  realized  without  them.  The  most 
splendid  talents  of  the  present  times  could  have  done  little  more.  Papin 
abandoned  the  piston  and  cylinder,  and  in  doing  so  quenched  a  halo  of 
glory  that  would  have  shone  round  his  name  for  ever  ;  and  Savery,  for 
want  of  them,  notwithstanding  his  ingenuity,  perseverance  and  partial 
success,  lived  to  see  his  device  in  a  great  measure  laid  aside.  Savery 
died  about  the  year  1716. 

As  Savery’s  engine  became  known,  several  additions  to  and  modifica¬ 
tions  of  it  were  proposed.  A  few  of  these  may  be  noticed  : — 

Drs.  Desaguliers  and  Gravesande,  from  some  experiments,  concluded 
that  single  engines  were  more  economical  than  double  ones — a  single 
receiver  being  “  emptied  three  times  whilst  two  succeeding  ones  [of  a 
double  engine]  could  be  emptied  but  once  a  piece.”  Of  single  engines 
Desaguliers  erected  seven  between  the  years  1717  and  1744.  “The  first 
was  for  the  late  Czar,  Peter  I,  for  his  garden  at  Petersburgh,  where  it 
was  set  up.  The  boiler  of  this  engine  was  spherical,  (as  they  must  all  be 
in  this  way,  when  the  steam  is  much  stronger  than  air)  and  held  between 
five  and  six  hogsheads ;  and  the  receiver  held  one  hogshead,  and  was 
filled  and  emptied  four  times  in  a  minute..  The  water  was  drawn  up  by 


462  Leopold — Blalcey — Rivatz.  [Book  IV. 

auction  or  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  29  feet  high,  out  of  a  well,  and 
then  pressed  up  11  feet  higher.  Another  engine  of  this  sort  which  I  put, 
up  for  a  friend  about  five  and  twenty  years  ago,  [1719]  drew  up  the  water 
29  feet  from  the  well,  and  then  it  was  forced  up  by  the  pressure  of  the 
steam  24  feet  higher,”  &c.  But  these  “  improved  ”  engines  differed  in 
reality  but  little  from  Savery’s  single  one,  No.  194.  Desaguliers  furnished 
his  boiler  with  Papin’s  steelyard  safety-valve;  a  three-way  cock  alternately 
admitted  steam  into  the  receiver  and  water  from  the  forcing  pipe  to  con¬ 
dense  it :  in  other  respects  the  engines  were  much  the  same.  Savery 
made  no  provision  to  secure  his  boilers  from  being  exploded  ;  but  the 
safety-valve  was  not  always  a  preventive  in  former  times,  any  more  than 
at  present.  “  About  three  years  ago  [says  Desaguliers]  a  man  who  was 
entirely  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  the  engine,  and  without  any  instructions, 
undertook  to  work  it ;  and  having  hung  the  weight  at  the  farther  end  of 
the  steel-yard,  in  order  to  collect  more  steam  to  make  his  work  the  quicker, 
he  hung  also  a  very  heavy  plumber’s  iron  upon  the  end  of  the  steel-yard : 
the  consequence  prov’d  fatal,  for  after  some  time  the  steam,  not  being  able 
with  the  safety-clack  to  raise  up  the  steel-yard  loaded  with  all  this  unu¬ 
sual  weight,  burst  the  boiler  with  a  great*  explosion,  and  kill’d  the  poor 
man.”  Exp.  Philos,  ii,  489. 

In  a  double  engine  by  Leopold,  A.  D.  1720,  the  receivers  were  placed 
below  the  water  they  were  to  raise  :  hence  the  principle  of  condensation 
was  not  required — for  as  soon  as  the  steam  expelled  the  contents  of  a  re¬ 
ceiver,  a  communication  was  opened  between  the  upper  part  of  the  latter 
and  the  atmosphere,  so  as  to  allow  the  steam  to  escape  and  a  fresh  supply 
of  water  to  enter  below.  He  produced  a  rotary  movement  by  discharging 
the  water  into  the  buckets  of  a  water-wheel. 

When  steam  is  admitted  into  a  receiver,  a  portion  is  immediately  con 
densed  by  the  low  temperature  of  th6  vessel  and  the  cold  water  within ; 
so  that  not  till  a  film  or  thin  stratum  of  hot  water  is  thus  formed  on  the 
surface,  can  the  full  force  of  the  vapor  be  exerted  in  expelling  the  contents. 
This  waste  of  steam  is  not  however  so  great  as  might  be  imagined,  because 
the  water  with  which  it  comes  in  contact  still  remains  on  the  surface, 
having  become  lighter  than  the  mass  below  by  the  accession  of  heat,  and 
consequently  preventing  the  heat  from  descending :  yet  various  attempts 
were  made  to  interpose  some  non-conducting  substance  between  the  steam 
and  the  water.  Papin,  as  we  have  seen,  used  a  floating  piston.  In  1766, 
Mr.  Blakey,  an  enterprising  English,  mechanic,  took  out  a  patent  for  the 
application  of  a  stratum  of  oil  or  air.  To  use  these  he  made  some  corres¬ 
ponding  alterations  in  the  receiver;  but  the  advantages  were  not  so  great 
as  had  been  expected.  Blakey  also  introduced  a  new  boiler,  consisting 
of  tubes  or  cylinders  completely  filled  with  water  and  imbedded  in  the 
fire.  It  caused  considerable  excitement  among  scientific  men,  but  the 
danger  arising  from  them,  and  the  explosion  of  one  or  more,  caused  them 
to  be  laid  aside.  He  spent  several  years  in  France,  where  he  erected 
some  of  his  engines.  He  wrote  on  several  subjects  connected  with  the 
arts.  There  is  a  copious  and  interesting  extract  from  his  Dissertation  on 
the  Invention  and  Progress  of  Fire  Machinery,  in  the  Gentlemen’s  Maga¬ 
zine  for  1792,  page  502. 

Other  modifications  of  Savery’s  engine  were  made  previous  to  and 
about  Blakey’s  time,  of  which  no  particular  accounts  are  now  extant.  In 
his  Comparisons  of  French  and  English  Arts,  (article  Horology)  Blakey 
says,  “About  1748  another  Swiss,  named  Rivatz,  appeared  in  Paris: 
he  understood  all  the  known  principles  and  methods  for  regulating  time  in 
equal  parts,  to  which  he  added  others  of  his  invention. . And  I 


Chap.  8.]  Gensanne — De  Moura — Amontons ’  Fire  Mill.  463 

can  say  without  pretending  to  prejudice  any  one’s  merit,  that  I  never 
met  with  any  French  or  English  man  who  had  so  much  ingenuity  and 
knowledge  in  mechanical,  hydraulic,  fire  machinery  principles,  &c.  as  Ri 
vatz.”  (Gent.  Mag.  1702,  page  404.) 

In  1734  M.  Gensanne,  a  French  gentleman,  made  some  improvements 
on  Savery’s  engine,  and  by  additional  mechanism  rendered  it  self-acting. 
The  alternate  descent  of  two  vessels  of  water  opened  and  closed  the 
cocks,  on  much  the  same  principle  as  that  exhibited  in  Fludd’s  pressure 
engine,  page  354.  (Machines  Approuvees,  tome  vii,  222.)  In  1740  M. 
De  Moura,  a  P ortuguese,  accomplished  the  same  thing  by  the  ascent  and 
descent  of  a  copper  ball  or  float  within  the  receiver;  but  the  device  was 
too  complicated  for  practical  purposes.  It  is  figured  and  described  by 
Smeaton  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  vol.  xlvii,  437,  in  the  Supple¬ 
ment  to  Harris  s  Dictionary  of  the  Arts,  and  in  other  English  works.  In 
1766,  Cambray  de  Rigny,  an  Italian,  made  some  additions  to  Savery’s 
engine  so  as  to  make  it  in  a  great  measure  independent  of  manual  assistance. 
Professor  Francois,  of  Lausanne,  having  been  consulted  respecting  the 
draining  of  an  extensive  marsh  between  the  lakes  Neuchatel,  Bienne  and 
Morat,  adopted  a  fire  engine  on  Savery’s  plan,  and  which  he  made  self¬ 
acting  by  a  more  simple  device  than  either  of  the  preceding.  A  descrip¬ 
tion  and  good  figure  of  his  machine  may  be  seen  in  the  fourth  volume  of 
the  Repertory  ol  Arts,  (1794)  page  203.  Nuncarrow’s  improvement  on 
Savery’s  is  described  in  the  American  Phil.  Transactions,  vol.  i,  209,  in 
Tilloch’s  Phil.  Mag.  vol.  ix,  300,  and  in  Galloway’s  History  of  the  Steam- 
Engine.  An  English  patent  was  issued  in  1805  to  James  Boaz,  and  an¬ 
other  in  1819  to  Mr.  Pontifex,  both  for  improvements  on  Savery’s  engine. 
For  further  information  see  the  Repertory  of  Arts,  Nicholson’s  Journal, 
vol.  i,  419,  and  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute. 

“  A  commodious  way  of  substituting  the  action  of  fire  instead  of  the 
force  of  men  and  horses  to  move  machines,”  was  proposed  in  1699,  by  M. 
Amontons,  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  useful  members  of  the  French 
Academy  of  Sciences.  He  named  his  machine  a  fire  mill.  It  resembled 
a  large  wheel,  supported  on  a  horizontal  axis,  but  was  composed  of  two 
concentric  hollow  rings,  each  of  which  was  divided  by  partitions  into  a 
dozen  separate  cells.  The  small  or  interior  ring  was  at  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  axis,  and  the  cells  communicated  with  each  other  through 
openings  made  in  the  partitions  and  covered  by  valves  or  clacks.  The 
cells  of  the  exterior  rings  had  no  communication  with  each  other,  but  a 
pipe  from  each  connected  them  with  the  inner  ones.  The  outer  cells 
contained  air,  and  about  one  half  of  the  inner  ones  contained  water.  The 
object  was  to  keep  this  water  always  on  one  side,  that  its  weight  might 
act  tangentially,  and  so  cause  the  wheel  to  revolve,  and  the  machine  con¬ 
nected  to  it.  A  furnace  was  built  close  to  a  portion  of  the  periphery,  and 
the  lower  part  of  the  wheel  was  immersed  in  water,  to  a  depth  equal  to 
that  of  the  exterior  cells.  When  the  fire  was  kindled,  the  air  in  the  cell 
against  which  the  flame  impinged  became  rarefied,  and,  by  means  of  a 
pipe  communicating  with  an  inner  cell  below  the  axle,  forced  the  water 
contained  in  that  cell  into  an  upper  one.  This  caused  that  side  of  the  wheel 
to  preponderate,  which  brought  another  air  cell  in  contact  with  the  fire, 
and  the  fluid  becoming  expanded  by  the  heat  forced  up  the  contents  of 
another  of  the  inner  cells  into  a  higher  one,  as  before  :  in  this  way  every 
part  of  the  periphery  of  the  wheel  was  brought  in  succession  in  contact 
with  the  fire,  and  the  water  in  the  inner  cells  kept  constantly  rising  on 
one  side  of  the  wheel,  thus  causing  the  latter  to  revolve.  The  air  in  the 


464  '  Newcomen  and  Cawley.  [Book  IV. 

outer  cells  was  cooled  as  they  passed  through  the  water  in  which  the 
lower  part  of  the  wheel  dipped. 

This  device  of  Amontons  is  rather  an  air  than  a  steam  machine.  It 
hardly  belongs  to  this  part  of  our  subject ;  but  as  it  may  be  considered 
the  type  of  most  of  the  steam  wheels  subsequently  brought  forward,  we 
have  been  induced  to  notice  it  here.  As  a  theoretical  device,  it  is  highly 
meritorious,  but  as  a  practical  one,  of  little  value.  There  is  in  Martyn  and 
Chambers’s  abridged  History  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris,  Lond. 
1742,  a  full  account  of  this  wheel,  and  of  the  experiments  from  which  it 
was  deduced.  (See  vol.  i,  69.)  It  was  simplified  by  Leopold. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  17th  century  there  lived  in  Dartmouth,  a  small 
seaport  town  on  the  English  channel,  two  mechanics  who  combined  their 
energies  to  devise  a  machine  for  raising  water  by  means  of  steam.  Their 
names  were  Thomas  Newcomen  and  John  Cawley ;  the  first  a  blacksmith, 
but  sometimes  called  an  ironmonger,  the  latter  a  plumber  and  glazier. 
The  circumstances  that  led  them  to  the  subject  have  not  been  recorded, 
nor  have  the  particular  contributions  of  each  been  specified.  Their  efforts 
were  however  eminently  successful,  for  to  them  belongs  the  honor  of 
having  permanently  established  the  employment  of  steam  as  a  mechanical 
agent.  The  date  of  the  commencement  of  their  efforts  is  unknown,  but 
from  the  observation  of  a  contemporary  writer  it  seems  to  have  been  as 
early  as  the  first  attempts  of  Savery. 

The  principal  objection  of  miners  to  Savery’s  machine,  viz.  the  enor¬ 
mous  force  of  the  steam  required,  and  the  consequent  frequent  explosion 
of  the  boilers,  &c.  was  completely  avoided  by  Newcomen  and  Cawley ; 
for  they  used  steam  of  little  or  no  greater  force  than  cooks  do  in  common 
cauldrons — hence  it  could  never  explode  a  boiler  or  endanger  human  life. 
Savery’s  engine  had  other  disadvantages.  It  was  required  to  be  placed 
within  a  mine  or  pit,  and  in  no  case  farther  from  the  bottom  than  25  or  30 
feet ;  whereas  Newcomen  and  Cawley’s  was  erected  on  the  surface,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  shaft.  Moreover,  in  those  mines  which  were  previ¬ 
ously  drained  by  pumps,  it  could  be  used  to  work  these  as  before,  without 
any  additional  cost  for  newpipes  and  pumps;  the  engine  in  such  cases  merely 
superseding  the  horses  and  their  attendants.  Instead  of  applying  steam 
like  Savery  directly  to  the  water  to  be  raised,  these  mechanics  made  use 
of  it  to  give  motion  to  a  piston  and  vibrating  beam,  and  through  these  to 
common  pump  rods ;  hence  the  device  may  be  considered  rather  for  im¬ 
parting  motion  to  machines  proper  for  raising  water,  than  as  one  of  the 
latter. 

It  is  in  evidence  that  Newcomen  had  some  correspondence  respecting 
his  machine  with  Dr.  Hooke,  and  that  he  was  acquainted  with  what  Papin 
had  previously  done.  This  however  might  very  well  consist  with  the 
idea  of  giving  motion  to  a  piston  originating  with  himself  or  partner ;  yet 
as  their  labors  were  subsequent  to  those  of  the  French  philosopher,  their 
claims  to  it,  if  they  ever  made  any,  could  not  be  sustained.  Their  machine 
in  its  essential  features  is  a  copy  of  Guerricke’s,  and  the  mode  of  producing 
a  vacuum  under  the  piston  similar  to  Papin’s ;  but  as  Papin  did  not  suc¬ 
ceed,  the  reintroduction  of  a  device  similar  to  his,  and  its  successful  appli¬ 
cation  to  the  important  purpose  of  draining  mines,  belong  wholly  to  them; 
and  the  merit  of  doing  this  was  certainly  much  greater  than  can  ever  be 
claimed  for  the  abortion  of  Papin.  Fulton  did  not  invent  steam  boats, 
but  he  was  the  first  to  demonstrate  their  utility  and  to  introduce  them  into 
use  here  after  they  had  been  tried  and  abandoned  in  Europe. 

It  should  not  be  supposed  that  the  piston  engine  would  not  have  been 
realized  at  the  close  of  the  17th  or  beginning  of  the  18th  century,  if  Papin 


465 


Chap.  8.]  Their  first  Engine. 

^ewcomen  ^ad  not  lived.  The  spirit  of  inquiry  that  was  abroad  in 
their  days,  and  the  number  of  ingenious  men  engaged  in  devising  means 
to  employ  steam  as  a  motive  agent,  would  assuredly  have  soon  brought  it 
into  use.  Indeed,  every  improvement  in  the  application  of  steam  seems 
to  have  been  always  perceived  by  some  contemporary  projectors,  among 
whom  the  contest  of  maturing  it  was,  as  in  a  race,  one  of  speed.  “  Watt 
[observes  Prof.  Renwick]  found  a  competitor  in  Gainsborough,  and  but  a 
few  weeks  would  have  placed  Stevens  on  the  very  eminence  where  Fulton 
now  stands.”  The  circumstances  of  the  times,  the  increase  of  English 
manufactures,  and  the  general  want  of  some  substitute  for  animal  labor, 
were  all  then  favorable  to  the  introduction  of  the  steam-engine.  “  Had 
the  mines  of  Cornwall  been  still  wrought  near  the  surface,  Savery  or  New¬ 
comen  would  hardly  have  found  a  vent  for  their  engines.  Had  not  the 
manufacturers  of  England  been  wanting  in  labor-saving  machinery,  the 
double-acting  engine  of  Watt  would  have  been  suited  to  no  useful  appli- 
catton.  A  very  few  years  earlier  than  the  voyage  of  Fulton  [to  Albany] 
the  Hudson  could  not  have  furnished  trade  or  travel  to  support  a  steam 
boat,  and  the  Mississippi  was  in  possession  of  dispersed  hordes  of  savages.” 


No.  196.  Newcomen  and  Cawley’s  Engine.  A.  D.  1705. 

The  above  figure  will  sufficiently  explain  the  principles  and  operation 
of  Newcomen  and  Cawley’s  first  engine  ;  and,  when  compared  with  those 

59 


466 


Condensation  by  Injection  discovered  by  chance.  [Book  IV 

already  noticed,  will  enable  the  reader  to  do  justice  to  all  concerned.  It 
will  be  perceived  that  although  steam  is  an  essential  agent,  it  is  not  the 
primum  mobile  of  the  apparatus :  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  is  the 
first  mover,  and  to  excite  this  only  was  steam  employed. 

A,  in  the  figure,  (No.  196)  represents  a  vibrating  beam  with  arched 
ends  or  sectors,  from  one  of  which  the  main  pump  rod  is  suspended  by  a 
chain.  This  rod  descends  into  the  mine  or  pit,  and  is  connected  to  as 
many  other  rods  as  there  are  pumps  to  be  worked.  A  counterpoise  or 
heavy  weight  m  is  fixed  to  the  rod,  so  as  to  depress  it  and  raise  the  other 
end  of  the  beam  in  the  position  represented,  a,  the  steam  cylinder,  open 
at  top,  its  sides  being  surrounded  by  another,  and  the  space  between  them 
containing  water,  r,  the  piston  rod  and  piston,  attached  to  the  beam  by 
a  chain,  b,  the  boiler,  c,  gauge  cock.  N,  safety  valve  with  weights 
placed  directly  upon  it.  d,  a  cock  to  admit  steam  into  the  cylinder,  e,  a 
pipe  and  cock  to  convey  the  water  round  a,  into  the  well  or  tank  o.  f,  a 
pipe  and  cock  to  supply  cold  water  to  condense  steam  in  the  cylinder,  h , 
another  pipe  and  cock  to  furnish  occasionally  a  little  water  to  the  upper 
side  of  the  piston,  to  prevent  air  from  passing  between  the  packing  and 
sides  of  the  cylinder  :  this  water  was  kept  at  the  depth  of  about  two  inches. 
t  t,  a  pipe  proceeding  from  one  of  the  pumps  in  the  pit  to  supply  the  small 
cistern  with  water,  p,  a  pipe  to  convey  the  steam  condensed  within  a 
into  the  tank  o.  to  the  ash  pit.  x  x,  flues  round  the  boiler. 

Fire  being  applied  to  the  boiler  and  steam  generated,  the  cock  d  is 
opened  and  the  cylinder  filled  with  steam,  provision  being  made  for  the 
escape  of  the  air  previously  within,  d  is  then  closed  and  f  opened,  by 
which  cold  water  from  the  cistern  is  admitted  to  flow  round  a :  this  con¬ 
denses  the  vapor  within,  and  a  vacuum  being  thus  formed  under  the  piston, 
the  latter  is  pushed  down  by  the  atmosphere  ;  consequently  the  opposite 
end  of  the  beam  is  raised,  and  with  it  the  pump  rods  and  the  load  of  water 
with  which  they  are  burthened.  f  is  now  closed  and  d  again  opened, 
when  the  counterpoise  m  preponderates,  the  piston  is  raised,  the  cylinder 
again  filled  with  steam,  and  the  operation  repeated.  But  previous  to  the 
admission  of  vapor  the  second  time  into  the  cylinder,  the  cock  f  is  closed 
and  the  one  on  pipe  e  opened,  to  allow  the  water  between  the  cylinders 
to  escape  into  the  tank  o,  this  water  having  become  heated  by  its  contact 
with  a.  As  soon  as  the  cylinder  is  charged  anew  with  steam,  a  fresh 
supply  of  cold  water  to  condense  it  is  admitted  by  again  opening  f. 

The  amount  of  force  thus  excited  depends  upon  the  diameter  of  the 
cylinder  a,  or  the  area  of  its  piston,  and  the  state  of  the  vacuum  made 
under  the  latter.  The  dimensions  of  a  must  therefore  be  proportioned  to 
the  resistance  to  be  overcome — to  the  quantity  of  water  to  be  raised  from 
a  mine,  and  the  height  at  which  it  is  to  be  discharged — and  to  render  an 
engine  of  the  kind  effective,  the  whole  of  the  steam  in  a  should  be  con¬ 
densed,  and  as  quickly  as  possible.  These  conditions  were  not  very  well 
fulfilled  by  the  apparatus  as  figured  above.  Time  was  required  for 
the  cold  water  between  the  cylinders  to  extend  its  influence  from  the  cir¬ 
cumference  to  the  centre  of  the  inner  one,  in  order  completely  to  condense 
the  vapor  ;  hence  the  movements  were  extremely  slow,  the  strokes  seldom 
exceeding  seven  or  eight  per  minute.  An  accidental  circumstance  pointed 
out  the  remedy,  and  greatly  increased  the  effect.  As  the  engine  was  at 
work,  the  attendants  were  one  day  surprised  to  see  it  make  several  strokes 
much  quicker  than  usual ;  and  upon  searching  for  the  cause,  they  found, 
says  Desaguliers,  “  a  hole  in  the  piston  which  let  the  cold  water  [kept 
upon  the  piston  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  air  at  the  packing]  into  the  inside 
of  the  cylinder.”  The  water  falling  through  the  steam  condensed  it  al- 


Chap.  8.]  Savery  claims  a  share  in  Newcomen's  Patent.  4G7 

most  instantaneously,  and  produced  a  vacuum  with  far  less  water  than 
when  applied  to  the  exterior  of  the  cylinder.  This  led  Newcomen  to 
emove  the  outer  cylinder,  and  to  insert  the  lower  end  of  the  pipe  f  into 
the  bottom  of  a.,  so  that  on  opening'  the  cock  f  a  iot  nf  n  ^  ^ 
Pieced  through  the  vapor.  'nifSSj  rf £ 

injection  pipe  still  used  m  low-pressure  engines.  ° 

!e£»7' ^ninni712  engi?e’  “S  ,figUreja  Pa«e  465’  ™>  improved  in 

“raSX  L ’ ,"d  soon.  a^ter.  adopted  as  a  hydraulic  machine  for 
ainin  the  coal  and  iron  mines  m  various  parts  of  Europe  Very 
elaborate  engravings  of  some  used  in  French  mines  may  be  seen  in  the 
folio  edition  of  Arts  et  Metiers.  See  also  Desaguliers’  Ex.  Philos,  vol  ii 
and  Switzer’s  Hydrostatics.  ’ 

The  application  of  sectors  and  chains  to  pump  rods  did  not  originate  with 
Newcomen.  They  are  figured  by  Moxon,  and  were  probab/empWd 
in  working  pumps  m  mines  previous  to  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine. 

e  have  often  thought  the  heaviest  charge  against  Savery  was  to  be 
found  in  his  conduct  towards  Newcomen  and  Cawley.  Their  machine 
was  ecscnua  ly  different  fluu,  his  in  its  principle,  con£ucriJ» 

action  yet  he  insisted  that  it  was  an  infringement  upon  his  patent  He 
employed  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  in  charging  his  receivers  bv 
condensing  with  cold  water  the  steam  within  them  So  far  as  regards 
this  mode  of  forming  a  vacuum,  (he  in  his  receivers  and  they  beneath  a 
piston)  there  is  a  resemblance  between  the  two  machines,  but  no  farther- 
and  this  plan  of  making  a  vacuum  was  not  original  with  him  any  more 
tnan  with  them  It  was  no  more  a  new  device  in  his  time  than  his  paddle 
wheels  were.  The  object  of  Newcomen  and  Cawley  in  forming  a  vacuum 
was  also  quite  different  from  his;  for  they  did  not  raise  water  into  the 
vacuity,  but  employed  it  solely  to  excite  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere 
upon  the  upper  side  of  a  piston,  in  order  to  impart  motion  to  common 
pump  rods.  Again,  he  used  the  expansive  force  of  high  steam  :  this  was 
t  e  prominent  feature  in  his  machine,  and  the  great  power  that  gave  effi¬ 
ciency  to  it ;  but  they  did  not  use  this  power  at  all.  The  weight  of  the 
external  air,  not  the  expansive  force  of  steam,  was  the  primum  mobile  in 
their  machine,  and  it  was  brought  into  action  by  the  vapor  of  water  at  the 
ordinary  boiling  point. 

But  as  they  formed  a  vacuum  in  their  cylinder  by  the  condensation  of 
steam,  he  insisted  on  having  a  share  in  their  patent !  The  fact  was  his 
machines  had  become  m  a  great  measure  laid  aside,  and  he  doubtless  per- 
^eiv,erri  thaJ  they  were  destined  to  be  wholly  superseded.  Desaguliers 
(in  1744)  observes  that  the  progress  and  improvement  of  the  fire  eno-ine 
were  stopped  by  the  difficulties  and  dangers  attending  it,  till  Newcomen 
and  Cawley  “  brought.it  to  the  present  form,  in  which  it  is  now  used  and 
has  been  near  these  thirty  years.”  Unless  his  name  was  included  as  a 
joint  patentee,  Savery  threatened  an  appeal  to  the  law;  and  it  is  said  his 
influence  at  court,  as  commissioner  for  the  sick  and  wounded,  gave  weight 
to  this  ungenerous  and  unjust  demand.  Newcomen  we  are  informed  was 
a  (Quaker,  or  like  Cawley  a  Baptist,  and  therefore  on  principle  averse  to 
legal  controversy  :  he  was  moreover  a  man  of  “  a  great  deal  of  modesty,” 
and  so  yielded  the  point.  The  patent  was  consequently  issued  (in  1705) 
to  ihomas  Newcomen  and  John  Cawley  of  Dartmouth,  and  Thomas 
Savery  of  London.” 

Another  point  has  been  generally  overlooked  :  so  far  from  Newcomen’s 
mac  me  eing  an  infringement  or  improvement  upon  Savery’s,  it  was  really 
invented  as  early  if  not  earlier  than  the  latter.  Switzer  (Savery’s  friend) 
says,  it  [r  ewcomen  s  engine]  is  indeed  generally  said  to  be  an  improve 


468 


Extensive  adoption  of  Newcomen's  Engine.  [Book  IV. 

ment  to  Savery ’s  engine,  but  I  am  well  inform'd  that  Mr.  Newcomen  was 
as  early  in  his  invention,  as  Mr.  Savery  was  in  his,  only  the  latter  being 
nearer  the  court,  had  obtain’d  his  patent  before  the  other  knew  of  it ;  on 
which  account  Mr.  Newcomen  was  glad  to  come  in  as  a  partner  to  it.” 
(Hydrostatics,  342.)  That  is,  as  a  partner  to  his  own  invention. 

To  Newcomen  and  his  associate  belongs  the  honor  of  laying  the  found¬ 
ation  for  the  modern  engine.  The  piston  engine  of  Worcester  had  been 
forgotten,  Papin’s  was  an  abortion,  and  Savery  probably  never  thought  of 
one ;  hence,  whether  the  Dartmouth  mechanicians  were  aware  of  its  pre¬ 
vious  employment  or  not,  to  them  a  large  share  of  merit  is  justly  due. 
They  were  moreover  amiable  and  unassuming  in  their  manners,  and  seem 
to  have  passed  through  life  without  exciting  much  of  that  envy  that  em¬ 
bitters  more  or  less  the  nights  and  days  of  successful  inventors.  From 
such  men,  who  can  withhold  expressions  of  approbation  and  esteem  %  Had 
they  been  members  of  the  Roman  church,  they  should  have  been  canonized 
— could  we  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  prayers  for  the  dead,  we  would  have 
masses  performed  for  the  repose  of  their  spirits — and  had  we  the  power, 
every  contributor  to  useful  mechanism  should  be  commemorated  by  an 
apotheosis. 

Cawley  died  in  1717,  but  the  date  of  Newcomen's  decease  has  not 
been  ascertained. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


General  adoption  of  Newcomen  and  Cawley’s  engine — Leopold’s  machine — Steam  applied  as  a  mover 

of  general  machinery — Wooden  and  granite  boilers — Generating  steam  by  the  heat  of  the  sun — Floats _ 

Green-houses  and  dwellings  heated  by  steam — Cooking  by  steam — Explosive  engines _ Vapor  engines _ 

English,  French  and  American  motive  engines — Woisard’s  air  machine — Vapor  of  mercury _ Liquefied 

gases — Decomposition  and  recomposition  of  water. 


Newcomen  and  Cawley’s  engines  were  found  to  answer  the  purpose 
of  raising  water  so  well,  that  in  a  few  years  they  were  introduced  into 
Russia,  Sweden,  France  and  Hungary ;  and  about  1760,  one  was  imported 
by  the  proprietors  of  the  old  copper  mine  near  Belleville,  New  Jersey. 
They  in  fact  imparted  a  new  and  very  beneficial  impulse  to  mining  opera¬ 
tions,  and  quickly  raised  the  value  of  mining  stock.  Deluged  works  were 
recovered,  old  mines  deepened,  and  new  ones  opened,  in  various  districts, 
both  in  Great  Britain  and  continental  Europe :  nor  were  they  confined  to 
draining  mines,  but  were  employed  to  raise  water  for  the  use  of  towns 
and  cities,  and  even  to  supply  water-wheels  of  mills.  By  exciting  the 
attention  of  ingenious  men  to  their  improvement,  they  became  the  means 
of  extending  manufactures  generally,  and  introduced  one  which  had  never 
before  been  known  in  the  world,  viz.  the  fabrication  of  motive  engines — a 
manufacture  upon  which  the  wealth,  power  and  happiness  of  nations  are 
destined  in  a  great  degree  hereafter  to  depend. 


Chap.  9.] 


Leopold’s  Engine. 


469 


Leopold,  to  whom  we  have  frequently  referred,  reflecting  on  Papin’s 

expenments,  suggested  the  following  application  of  steam  to  move  pistons 
and  to  raise  water : —  * 


No.  197.  Leopold’^  Kigli  Pressure  Engine.  A.  D.  1720. 

Two  steam  cylinders,  open  at  top  and  provided  with  pistons  a  b,  were 
placed  over  the  boiler  c,  from  the  upper  part  of  which  a  four-way  cock  d 
admitted  steam  alternately  into  the  bottom  of  each.  The  pistons  were 
connected  by  inflexible  rods  to  the  ends  of  two  working  beams,  and  to  the 
opposite  extremities  of  the  beams  were  connected,  by  similar  rods,  the 
pistons/^  of  two  forcing  pumps,  whose  lower  parts  were  placed  in  the 
water  to  be  raised..  An  attendant  turned  the  plug  of  the  cock  to  admit 
steam  under  one  piston,  which  was  pushed  up  by  the  expansive  force  of 
the  fluid,  and  consequently  the  piston  of  the  pump  connected  to  the  same 
beam  was  foreed  down,  and  the  water  in  its  chamber  driven  up  the  rising 
main  i.  .  The  cock  was  then  turned  to  admit  steam  into  the  other  cylinder, 
whose  piston  was  raised  in  like  manner;  at  the  same  time  one  passage  of 
the  cock  opened  a  communication  with  the  interior  of  the  first  cylinder 
and  the  external  air,  60  as  to  allow  the  steam  within  to  escape. — (See  the 
figure.)  v 

This  is  the  first  high-pressure  piston  engine  figured  in  books.  It  has  been 
greatly  admired,  and  yet  as  represented  it  is  useless  and  impracticable; 
for  when  the  steam  pistons  were  once  raised  the  whole  would  remain  im¬ 
moveable,  there  being  no  means  for  causing  them  to  descend.  Had  Leo¬ 
pold  used  one  beam  instead  of  two,  and  placed  a  pump  and  steam  cylinder 
under  each  end,  the  device  would  have  been  complete  and  very  effective. 

It  is  singular  that  the  researches  of  Leopold  had  not  made  him  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  fact  that  four-way  eoeke  were  used  long  before  Papin, 
to  whom  he  attributes  them. 

With  this  device  of  Leopold,  we  take  leave  of  steam  machines.  Hitherto 
t  icy  a  een  employed  only  to  raise  water,  but  the  period  was  now  ap- 
pioacung  \\  len  the  agency  of  .  this  fluid  as  a  first  mover  of  machinery  in 
gener  ,  was  to  become  indefinitely  extended.  The  engines  of  Newcomen 


470 


Wooden  and  Granite  Boilers. 


[Book  IV. 

and  Leopold  were  the  links  which#  connected  the  labors  of  Heron,  Garay, 
Porta,  Worcester,  Moreland,  Papin  and  Savery  with  those  of  Watt.  They 
opened  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  the  crank  and  fly-wheel,  which 
changed  completely  the  character  of  the  old  engines.  Like  Worcester’s 
and  Savery’s,  Newcomen’s  engine  required  the  constant  attention  of  an 
attendant  to  open  and  close  the  cocks ;  but  a  boy  named  Potter  employed 
in  this  service,  stimulated  by  the  love  of  play,  ingeniously  added  cords  to 
the  levers  by  which  the  cocks  were  turned,  and  connecting  the  other  ends 
of  the  cords  to  the  moving  beam,  rendered  the  machine  self-acting,  and 
thus  acquired  opportunities  of  joining  his  sportive  companions  unknown 
to  his  employers.  Iron  rods  were  soon  after  substituted  for  the  cords  by 
Beighton,  and  finally  Watt  and  Gainsborough,  Hornblower,  Evans  and 
Trevithick,  See.  appeared  and  made  the  steam-engine  the  great  prime 
mover  of  man. 


A  few  subordinate  devices  relating  to  steam  and  steam-engines  may  here 
be  noticed.  There  is  in  Stuart’s  Anecdotes  an  historical  note  respecting 
wooden  boilers,  in  which  water  is  heated  by  furnaces  or  flues  within 
them.  They  are  traced  back  to  1663.  It  may  be  interesting  to  some 
readers  to  state,  that  they  were  in  use  in  the  preceding  century,  and  that 
the  device  in  all  probability  dates  from  even  a  more  remote  period.  They 
are  described  in  Gesner’s  “  Secrets  of  Phisicke  and  Philosophic.”  In  the 
English  translation  of  1599,  by  Baker,  to  which  we  have  already  had  re¬ 
course,  they  are  twice  figured,  and  thus  described  :  “  A  wooden  bowle  or 
tubbe  of  a  sufficient  compasse  and  largnesse  over:  in  the  middes  of  which 
tubbe  erect  and  set  from  the  bottom  unto  the  edge  or  brinke  of  the  same, 
or  rather  above  it,  a  great  copper  vessel,  in  the  forme  of  a  hollow  pype. 
Let  a  parte  of  the  copper  pype  descende,  in  such  sort  and  manner,  that 
the  water  be  contained  betweene  the  outward  bored  wall  of  the  pype  and  the 
parte  within  of  the  tubbe  :  But  within  that  parte  of  the  pype  which  de- 
scendeth  by  the  bottome  of  the  tubbe,  let  the  fire  be  put  and  kindled,  for  the 
heating  of  the  water.”  Folio  25.  The  third  part  of  Glauber’s  Treatise  on 
Philosophical  Furnaces  also  relates  to  wooden  boilers,  in  which  liquids 
were  heated  by  a  copper  retort  placed  in  a  fire,  and  whose  neck  was  in¬ 
serted  in  the  lower  part  of  the  boiler,  the  liquid  circulating  through  the 
retort.  Eng.  Trans,  by  Dr.  French,  London,  1652. 

We  have  been  informed  that  an  enormous  steam  boiler  for  an  atmos¬ 
pheric  engine  was  in  use  many  years  ago  at  a  copper  mine  near  Redruth, 
in  Cornwall,  England,  which  was  composed  entirely  of  large  blocks  of 
granite,  or  “  moor  stone.”  The  water  was  heated  by  a  furnace,  from 
which  iron  pipes  traversed  backwards  and  forwards  in  the  water. 

The  old  chemists  often  boiled  liquids  by  the  sun’s  heat,  and  a  writer  in 
the  London  Magazine  for  1750  proposed  to  substitute  the  solar  rays  for 
common  fires  in  heating  steam-engine  boilers,  viz.  by  collecting  the  rays  in 
a  focus  “by  means  of  a  common  burning  glass,  or  a  large  concave  reflecting 
mirror  of  polished  metal,  or  perhaps  more  conveniently  by  the  newly  re¬ 
vived  method  of  Archimedes,  which  by  throwing  the  focal  point  to  a  greater 
distance  may  be  capable  of  many  advantages  that  the  others  have  not.” 
He  anticipates  three  objections  : — 1.  “  The  focus  will  vary  with  the  motion 
of  the  sun.”  To  obviate  this  he  proposes  to  make  the  mirror  moveable 
by  machinery  attached  to  the  engine  itself.  2.  “  The  extreme  heat  of  the 
focal  point.”  If  this  should  be  too  intense,  it  may  be  moderated  by  en¬ 
larging  the  focus.  3.  “  The  sun  does  not  constantly  shine” — therefore  the 
engine  must  stop.  This  objection,  he  remarks,  is  common  to  wind,  tide 


Chap.  9.]  Explosive  Engines.  47  j 

and  other  mills ;  and  he  thinks  in  the  hot  months,  at  least,  a  steam-engine 
might  be  made  to  raise  by  the  sun’s  heat  water  enough  from  a  well  to 
replenish  fish  ponds  &c.  as  opportunity  served.  We  have  long  thought 
that  solar  heat  will  yet  supersede  artificial  fires  to  a  limited  extendn  raisins 
steam,  as  well  as  in  numerous  other  operations  in  the  arts,  especially  in 
places  where  fuel  is  scarce.  It  is  a  more  legitimate  object  of  research 
than  one  half  of  the  new  projects  daily  brought  forward. 

The  mode  adopted  by  Watt  for  supplying  water  to  his  boilers  by  means 
of  a  float  attached  to  a  lever,  and  so  arranged  as  to  open  and  close  a  valve 
m  an  adjoining  cistern,  was  not  invented  by  him.  It  was  employed  by 
Mr.  Tnewald,  the  Swedish  engineer,  in  1745,  in  his  apparatus  for  commu¬ 
nicating  heat  to  green-houses  by  steam,  and  is  described,  with  a  figure,  in 
the  London  Magazine  for  1755,  p.  18 — 21. 

Heating  green-houses  by  steam  is  mentioned  by  an  English  writer  in 
1660.  Rivius,  in  1548,  speaks  of  eolipiles  being  employed  to  impart  an 
agreeable  temperature  to  apartments  in  dwellings.  Col.  Wm.  Cook’s 
“  Method  to  warm  rooms  by  the  steam  of  boiling  water,”  is  described, 
with  a  cut,  in  the  Gentleman’s  Magazine  for  1747,  p.  171.  A  boiler  was 
to  be  heated  by  the  kitchen  fire,  and  the  steam  pipe  to  ascend  through  one 
tier  of  rooms,  and  descend  through  another,  traversing  backwards  and 
forwards  in  each  room  according  to  the  temperature  required ;  the  escape 
of  the  condensed  and  waste  steam  being  regulated  by  a  cock. 

A  patent  for  cooking  by  steam  was  taken  out  in  England  by  Mr.  How¬ 
ard  in  1793.  He  named  his  apparatus  “a  pneumatic  kitchen.”  Repertory 
of  Arts,  vol.  x,  147. 


There  are  two  other  classes  of  motive  machines  that  we  intended  here 
to  notice  in  some  detail ;  but  as  they  have  not  come  into  general  use,  and 
this  volume  having  already  nearly  reached  its  prescribed  limits,  a  brief 
sketch  may  suffice.  The  origin  of  most  of  them  may  be  traced  to  attempts 
to  supersede  steam  by  more  portable  fluids,  or  such  as  require  less  fuel  to 
generate.  We  allude  to  explosive  and  to  vapor  engines.  Of  all  the  devices 
to  which  the  steam-engine  has  given  birth,  none  possess  greater  interest 
than  these.  Some  were  designed  to  raise  water  directly,  and  all  of  them 
indirectly.  The  first  class  are  named  from  the  force  by  which  they  act 
being  developed  by  the  firing  (generally  under  pistons)  of  explosive  com¬ 
pounds.  These  are  either  concrete  or  aeriform  substances,  as  gunpowder, 
a  mixture  of  hydrogen  gas  and  common  air,  &c.  Those  of  the  second 
class  are  similar  to  steam-engines,  except  that  they  are  worked  by  elastic 
fluids  evolved  from  volatile  liquids,  or  such  as  pass  easily  and  at  low  tem¬ 
peratures  into  the  aeriform  state,  as  alcohol,  ether,  &c. 

Explosive  like  steam  engines  have  been  made  to  act  in  two  different 
ways,  according  to  two  opposite  properties  or  effects  of  the  exploded  sub¬ 
stance — the  expansive  force  developed,  and  the  vacuum  or  partial  vacuum 
which  succeeds.  For  the  purpose  of  explanation,  suppose  two  large  re¬ 
peating  guns  or  muskets,  provided  with  small  charges  of  powder  only,  to 
be  secured  by  a  frame  in  a  perpendicular  position,  with  their  muzzles  up¬ 
wards,  and  three  or  four  feet  apart.  Directly  over  them  let  there  be 
adapted  a  working  beam,  somewhat  as  in  the  last  figure,  suspended  on  a 
fulcrum  at  an  equal  distance  from  each.  Suppose  the  ramrods  placed  in 
the  barrels  with  their  buttons  or  plugs  so  made  as  to  fill  the  bore,  and 
work. air-tight  like  the  piston  of  a  syringe  or  pump.  Let  the  upper  ends 
of  these  rods  then  be  connected  by  a  bolt  to  the  ends  of  the  beam,  which 
should  be  at  such  a  distance  above  the  muzzles  that  when  the  plug  of  one 
rod  is  at  the  bottom  of  its  barrel,  that  of  the  other  may  be  just  within  the 


472 


Gunpowder  and  Vapor  Engines.  [Book  IV. 

muzzle  of  the  other  barrel.  Now  let  that  musket  with  whose  breech  the 
plug  of  its  ramrod  is  in  contact  be  first  fired,  and  the  rod  will  instantly  be 
forced  like  a  bullet  up  the  barrel,  and  by  its  connection  with  the  beam 
will  cause  the  other  rod  to  descend.  The  musket  in  which  this  last  rod 
moves  is  then  in  its  turn  to  be  fired  and  the  rod  forced  up  in  the  same  way. 
Thus  the  operation  is  continued.  The  reciprocating  motion  of  the  beam 
is  converted,  if  required,  into  a  continuous  rotary  one  by  means  of  a  crank 
or  some  analogous  device. 

Engines  on  this  plan  have  not  succeeded,  nor  is  there  any  probability 
of  their  success.  There  are  apparently  insuperable  objections  to  them, 
but  which  need  not  here  be  detailed.  The  explosion  of  gunpowder  has 
therefore  been  more  frequently  employed  to  produce  a  partial  vacuum  in 
a  cylinder  when  its  piston  is  raised,  in  order  to  excite  the  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  to  force  it  down.  Suppose  one  or  more  openings,  covered  by 
valves  or  flaps,  were  made  near  the  upper  ends  of  the  muskets  mentioned 
above,  i.  e.  just  beneath  the  pistons  or  plugs  of  the  ramrods  when  at  the 
highest  point  in  the  barrels,  and  the  powder  exploded  when  they  are  in 
that  position  :  the  sudden  expansion  would  drive  out  through  the  valves 
most  of  the  air  previously  in  the  barrel,  the  valves  would  instantly  close, 
and  the  atmosphere  would  push  down  the  rod  and  thus  raise  the  other ; 
which  in  its  turn  might  be  caused  to  descend  by  exploding  the  charge 
under  it,  and  so  on  continually.  Instead  of  openings  in  the  cylinders  for 
the  escape  of  the  air,  some  experimenters  have  made  large  openings  in 
the  pistons  and  covered  them  with  flaps,  (like  the  suckers  of  common 
pumps)  so  that  when  the  explosion  ceased  the  flaps  closed  and  prevented 
the  air’s  return.  Others  have  used  solid  pistons  and  removed  the  bottoms 
of  their  cylinders,  and  covered  the  openings  with  leather  flaps  so  as  to 
operate  as  valves  and  give  a  freer  exit  to  the  air  and  heated  gases.  This 
was  the  plan  adopted  by  Mr.  Morey.  Papin  used  hollow  pistons.  The 
vacuum  produced  in  this  manner  by  gunpowder  has  always  been  very 
imperfect.  Instead  of  obtaining  a  pressure  of  14  or  15  pounds  on  the  inch, 
Papin  could  not  realize  more  than  six  or  seven. 

Gunpowder  has  also  been  applied  to  raise  water  directly,  by  exploding 
it  in  close  vessels  like  the  receivers  of  Savery,  with  a  view  to  expel  their 
contents  by  its  expansive  force,  and  also  to  produce  a  vacuum  in  order  to 
charge  them — but  with  no  useful  result. 

Explosive  mixtures,  formed  of  certain  proportions  of  an  inflammable 
gas  and  common  air,  have  been  found  to  produce  a  better  vacuum  than 
gunpowder ;  for  a  volume  of  air  equal  to  that  of  the  gas  used  is  displaced 
from  the  cylinder  by  the  entrance  of  the  gas  previous  to  every  explosion, 
and  when  this  takes  place  nearly  the  whole  of  the  remaining  air  is  expelled. 
As  yet,  however,  the  best  of  explosive  engines  have  had  but  an  ephemeral 
existence.  Besides  other  disadvantages,  the  heat  generated  by  the  flame 
attending  the  explosion  expands  the  air  that  remains,  so  as  to  diminish 
considerably  the  effect. 

Of  vapor  engines,  the  most  promising  at  one  time  were  those  in  which 
the  moving  force  was  derived  from  ether  and  alcohol.  The  former  boils 
at  about  blood  heat,  or  9S°  of  Fahrenheit’s  scale,  and  the  latter  at  174°, 
while  water  requires  212°.  The  vapor  of  alcohol,  it  has  been  stated, 
exerts  double  the  force  of  steam  at  the  same  temperature ;  and  if  to  this  it 
be  conceded  that  the  same  quantity  of  fuel  produces  equal  temperatures 
on  both  alcohol  and  water,  then  the  former  would  seem  to  be  more  econo¬ 
mical  than  than  the  latter.  Moreover,  in  consequence  of  the  different  spe¬ 
cific  gravities  of  water,  alcohol  and  ether,  the  cost  of  vaporizing  equal 
volumes  of  each  varies  in  a  still  greater  ratio  than  their  boiling  points — 


473 


Chap.  9  ]  Vapor  Engines —  Woisard’s  Machine. 

tins  cost  being  as  the  numbers  11,  4,  2 — thus  making  the  scale  preponde¬ 
rate  still  more  in  favor  of  alcohol  and  ether.  Why  then,  it  may  be  asked 
have  they  not  superseded  water  1  Principally  because  the  different  vo¬ 
lumes  of  vapor  from  equal  quantities  of  the  three  liquids  turn  back  the 
scale  in  favor  of  steam.  _  A  cubic  inch  of  water  affords  1800  cubic  inches 
of  steam,  while  a  cubic  inch  of  alcohol  produces  about  600  and  ether  only 
300  inches;  hence  the  expense  of  producing  equal  volumes  of  vapor  (and 
that  is  the  main  point)  is  actually  in  favor  of  steam.  It  has  therefore  been 
deemed  more  economical  to  use  this  fluid  than  the  others,  even  if  they 
were  equally  cheap— to  say  nothing  of  the  danger  arising  from  such  an 
employment  of  highly  inflammable  liquids,  and  the  practical  difficulties 
attending  their  application. 

In  1791,  Mr.  John  Barber  obtained  a  patent  for  an  explosive  motive 
engine:  he  used  gas  or  vapor  from  “coal,  wood,  oil,  or  any  other  com¬ 
bustible  matter,”  which  he  distilled  in  a  retort,  and  “  mixed  with  a  proper 
quantity  of  atmospheric  or  common  air.”  See  Repertory  of  Arts,  vol.  viii, 
371.  Another  patent  was  issued  in  1794  to  Robert  Street,  for  an  “in¬ 
flammable  vapor  force,”  or  explosive  engine.  He  exploded  spirits  of 
tar  or  turpentine  mixed  with  common  air  under  a  piston,  and  forced  it 
entirely  out  of  the  cylinder,  into  which  it  was  again  returned  (by  its  own 
weight)  and  guided  by  grooves  in  the  frame  work.  Repertory  of  Arts, 
vol.  i,  154.  In  1807,  a  patent  was  granted  in  France  to  M.  De  Rivaz,  for 
another,  in  which  hydrogen  and  common  air  were  mixed  and  exploded. 
De  Rivaz  moved  a  locomotive  carriage  by  the  power  he  thus  derived. 
He  also  inflamed  the  gaseous  mixture  by  the  electric  spark.  Dr.  Jones, 
in  1814,  made  experiments  on  another.  See  Journal  of  the  Franklin  In¬ 
stitute,  vol.  i,  2d  series,  page  18.  Mr.  Cecil,  in  1820,  published  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society,  (Eng.)  a  description 
of  an  explosivef  engine  of  considerable  merit. 

In  1825,  Mr.  Brown,  of  London,  patented  his  pneumatic  or  gas  vacuum 
engine.  The  very  sanguine  expectations  it  excited  have  now  died  away. 
It  is  figured  and  described  in  too  many  works,  both  English  and  Ameri¬ 
can,  to  require  insertion  here.  In  1826,  Mr.  Morey,  of  New  Hampshire, 
patented  an  explosive  engine,  and  soon  after  exhibited  a  large  working 
model  in  this  city,  (New  York)  which  we  took  several  opportunities  to 
examine.  The  piston  rods  of  two  vertical  and  open  cylinders  were  con¬ 
nected  to  the  opposite  ends  of  a  vibrating  beam.  The  pistons  were  made 
of  sheet  copper,  in  the  form  of  plungers,  about  nine  inches  diameter,  and 
were  made  to  work  air-tight  by  means  of  a  strip  of  oiled  listing  or  cloth 
tied  round  the  upper  ends  of  the  cylinders.  This  was  all  the  packing. 
Mr.  Morey  employed  the  vapor  of  spirits  of  turpentine  and  common  air. 
A  small  tin  dish  contained  the  spirits,  and  the  only  heat  he  used  was  from 
a  common  table  lamp.  By  means  of  a  crank  and  fly-wheel  a  rotary  move¬ 
ment  was  obtained,  as  in  the  steam-engine. 

A  singular  device  for  making  the  atmospheric  changes  of  temperature 
a  means  for  raising  water,  was  devised  by  M.  Woisard.  It  consisted  of 
two  vessels,  one  above  the  other,  connected  by  a  tube.  The  lower  one, 
having  a  valve  in  its  bottom,  was  placed  in  the  water  to  be  raised.  The 
upper  vessel  was  exposed  to  the  sun’s  heat,  and  within  it  was  a  bag  or 
small  balloon  containing  air,  and  a  little  ether,  or  other  volatile  liquid. 

“  As  the  atmospheric  temperature  falls,  the  balloon  will  diminish  in  bulk, 
the  surrounding  air  will  become  rarer,  and  the  water  will  introduce  itself 
into  the  machine  through  the  valve ;  and  when  the  temperature  again 
rises,  the  pressure  exerted  within  the  machine  by  the  increasing  volume 

of  the  bal’oon,  will  cause  the  excess  of  water  to  flow  out.”  With  the  ex- 

*  «  *> 


474 


Decomposition  and  recomposition  of  Water.  [Book  IV. 

ception  of  the  ether,  this  device  is  a  modification  of  the  air  machines  Nos. 
174  and  175,  figured  at  page  380. 

The  vapor  of  mercury  has  been  tried  as  a  substitute  for  steam,  but 
without  much  success.  This  metal  boils  at  660°. 

Another  source  of  power  has  been  sought  in  the  tremendous  force  with 
which  the  liquefied  and  solidified  gases  expand  at  common  temperatures. 
Liquid  carbonic  acid,  at  the  low  temperature  of  32°,  has  been  found  to 
exert  a  force  equivalent  to  thirty  five  atmospheres  !  and  every  increment 
of  heat  adds  to  its  energy.  No  very  practical  mode  of  employing  this 
force  as  a  mechanical  agent  has  yet  been  matured. 

The  alternate  decomposition  and  recomposition  of  water  has  also  been 
suggested.  By  decomposing  this  liquid  by  galvanic  electricity,  oxygen 
and  hydrogen  gases  are  produced  in  the  exact  proportions  in  which  they 
combine  in  water.  If  these  gases  be  made  to  occupy  the  interior  of  a 
cylinder  when  the  piston  is  raised,  and  the  electric  spark  be  then  passed 
through  them,  they  instantly  become  condensed  into  a  few  drops  of  water, 
and  an  almost  perfect  vacuum  is  the  result,  when  the  atmosphere  acts  on 
the  piston.  The  water  is  then  to  be  reconverted  into  its  constituent  gases, 
and  the  operation  repeated.  See  “  The  Chemist,”  for  1825.  For  further 
and  more  recent  information  respecting  motive  engines,  consult  the  Re¬ 
pertory  of  Arts,  Hebert’s  Register  of  Arts,  London  Mechanics’  Magazine, 
and  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute.  • 


END  OP  THE  FOURTH  BOOK. 


t 


BOOK  V . 

NOVEL  DEVICES  FOR  RAISING  WATER,  WITH  AN  ACCOUNT  OF 
SIPHONS,  COCKS,  VALVES,  CLEPSYDRAE,  &c.  &c. 


CHAPTER  I. 


SuDjects  treated  in  the  fifth  book— Lateral  communication  of  motion— This  observed  by  the  ancients— 
Wind  at  the  Falls  of  Niagara-The  trombe  described-Natural  trombes-Tasting  hot  liquids- Water¬ 
spouts— Various  operations  of  the  human  mouth-Currents  of  water— Gulf  Stream-Large  rivers-Ad 
ventures  of  a  bottle-LUperiments  of  Venturi-Expenditure  of  water  from  various  formed  ajutages- 
Contracled  vein— Cause  of  increased  discharge  from  conical  tubes— Sale  of  a  water  power— Regulation 
of  the  ancient  Romans  to  prevent  an  excess  of  water  from  being  drawn  by  pipes  from  the  aqueducts. 


In  this  book  we  propose  to  notice  some  devices  for  raising  water  that 
are  either  practically  useful,  or  interesting  from  their  novelty  or  the  prin¬ 
ciples  upon  which  they  act.  An  account  of  siphons  is  added,  and  also 
remarks  on  cocks,  pipes,  valves,  and  other  devices  connected  with  practical 
hydraulics.  r 

A  fluid  moving  in  contact  with  another  that  is  comparatively  at  rest 
drags  along  those  particles  which  it  touches,  and  these  by  their  mutual 
adhesion  carry  their  neighbors  with  them;  the  latter  also  communicate 
the  impulse  to  others,  and  these  to  more  distant  ones,  until  a  large  mass 
of  the  fluid  on  both  sides  of  the  motive  current  is  put  in  motion.  Whatever 
may  be  the  process  by  which  this  is  effected,  or  by  whatever  name  the 
principle  involved  may  be  called,  (lateral  communication  of  motion  or  any 
other)  there  is  no  question  of  the  fact.  The  operation  moreover  is  not 
confined  to  any  particular  fluid,  nor  is  it  necessary  that  the  one  moved 
should  be  of  the  same  nature  as  the  mover :  thus  air  in  motion  moves 
water  and  other  liquids  as  well  as  air,  and  aqueous  currents  impart  motion 
to  aeriform  fluids  as  well  as  to  standing  waters.  A  stream  of  wind  from 
a  bellows  bears  with  it  the  atmospheric  particles  which  it  touches  in  its 
passage  to  the  fire — i.  e.  it  sweeps  along  with  it  the  lining  of  the  aerial 
tube  through  which  it  is  urged.  Blowing  on  a  letter  sheet  to  dry  the  ink, 
or  on  scalding  food  to  cool  it,  brings  in  contact  with  these  substances 
streams  of  other  air  than  what  issues  from  the  thorax.®  The  operations 
by  which  the  man  in  the  fable  blew  hot  and  cold  “out  of  the  same  mouth  ” 


Does  not  the  same  principle  perform  an  important  part  in  respiration  ?— the  lungs 
not  being  wholly  inflated  by  air  directly  in  front  of  the  lips,  where  particles  of  that 
previously  exhaled  might  still  linger,  but  also  by  currents  flowing  in  from  all  sides  of 
the  mouth  or  nostrils.  %  s 


476 


The  Trombe. 


[Book  V. 

may  here  be  explained  :  in  the  first  case  the  hollow  hands  closely  encom¬ 
passed  the  mouth  and  received  the  warm  air  from  his  chest ;  in  the  latter, 
his  food  was  at  a  distance  from  his  lips,  and  consequently  the  heat  of  his 
breath  was  absorbed  by  the  surrounding  air  and  that  which  was  carried 
along  with  it  to  his  soup. 

A  blast  of  wind  directed  over  the  surface  of  a  placid  pond  or  lake  not 
only  creates  a  current  on  the  latter,  but  sometimes  bears  away  part  of  the 
water  with  it.  A  vessel  sailing  before  the  wind  is  aided  in  her  course, 
though  it  may  be  but  slightly,  by  the  liquid  current  produced  on  the 
ocean’s  surface.  Storms  of  wind  long  continued  heap  up  the  sea  against 
the  mouths  of  rivers,  and  cause  them  to  overflow  their  banks,  while  low 
tides  often  result  from  the  same  agent  driving  the  ocean  away  in  opposite 
directions.  These  effects  of  wind  were  observed  in  remote  ages.  “  He 
raiselh  the  stormy  wind  which  lifteth  up  the  waves.”  The  river  Jordan 
was  “  driven  back  ”  by  wind,  so  that  “  all  the  Israelites  passed  over  on  dry 
ground.”  By  its  agency,  a  passage  for  the  same  people  was  opened 
through  the  Red  Sea.  “And  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand  over  the  sea, 
and  the  Lord  caused  the  sea  to  go  back,  by  a  strong  east  vnnd  all  that 
night,  and  made  the  sea  dry  land,  and  the  waters  were  divided.”  Exodus 
xiv.  21. 

On  the  other  hand,  rivers  and  water-falls  bear  down  immense  quantities 
of  air  with  them.  Strata  of  this  fluid  on  the  surfaces  of  rapid  streams  ac¬ 
quire  a  velocity  equal  to  that  of  the  latter,  and  in  some  places  aerial  cur¬ 
rents  thus  produced  are  very  sensible.  At  Niagara  they  are  sufficient  to 
drive  mills  or  supply  blasts  for  a  long  line  of  forges.  In  1829,  while  as¬ 
cending  the  path  on  the  Canadian  side,  in  order  to  pass  under  the  grand 
chute,  we  entered  suddenly  into  one  of  those  invisible  currents  under  the 
Table  Rock,  and  were  nearly  prostrated  by  it.  It  is  the  ascent  of  this  air 
loaded  with  minute  particles  of  water,  (which  are  borne  up  by  it  in  the 
same  manner  that  it  is  itself  carried  down)  that  contributes  to  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  the  solar  and  lunar  rainbows  seen  at  the  great  North  American  and 
other  cataracts.  Heavy  rains  bring  down  oceans  of  air,  and  in  the  shower 
bellows,  or  trombe,  blasts  of  wind  are  produced  on  the  same  principle. 
Could  we  see  the  air  brought  down  by  heavy  showers,  we  should  behold 
it  rebounding  from  the  earth,  something  like  smoke  when  driven  against 
a  wall  or  any  other  plane  surface. 

As  the  trombe  illustrates  this  part  of  our  subject, 
a  figure  of  one  may  as  well  be  given.  The  pipe  A 
discharges  water  from  a  reservoir  into  a  funnel  placed 
on  the  vertical  tube  C.  The  end  of  A  terminates 
in  the  funnel,  and  opposite  to  it  is  made  a  number 
of  openings  in  C,  two  of  which  are  shown  in  the  cut. 
The  lower  end  of  C  enters  the  close  vessel  D,  and 
discharges  its  contents  on  a  stone  placed  directly 
under  it.  As  the  water  from  A  passes  down  C,  it 
draws  air  along  with  it  through  the  top  of  the  funnel, 
and  also  through  the  holes  in  the  upper  part  of  C. 
As  the  liquid  dashes  against  the  stone,  the  air  sepa¬ 
rates  and  rises  to  the  top  of  the  vessel,  whence  it  is 
forced  by  successive  volumes  through  B  to  the  fire, 
while  the  water  collects  at  the  bottom  and  is  let  off 
by  a  regulating  valve  or  cock.  This  machine  it  will 
be  perceived  is  a  miniature  imitation  of  some  of  na¬ 
ture’s  operations  ;  for  cascades,  water-falls,  and  also 
No.  198.  The  Trombe.  heavy  showers  of  rain,  are  all  natural  trombes. 


477 


Chap.  1.]  Gulf  Stream. 

The  trombe  is  of  considerable  antiquity.  It  was  known  to  Heron,  and 
is  referred  to  in  Pliny’s  Natural  History.  Kircher  has  given  several  figures 
of  it.  See  tom.  i,  203,  of  his  Mundus  Subterraneus,  and  tom.  ii,  pp.  310, 
347,  of  his  Musurgia  Universalis;  in  which  last  work  he  shows  its  appli¬ 
cation  to  supply  wind  to  organs,  and  by  discharging  the  water  from  the 
bottom  of  the  vessel  upon  a  wheel  he  imparted  motion  to  the  keys  of  those 
instruments.  See  also  Phil.  Trans.  Abridg.  vol.  i,  498. 

Liquids  raised  by  currents  of  air  may  be  illustrated  by  operations  in 
common  life.  Whenever  water  in  a  well  settles  to  a  level  with  the  orifice 
of  the  pump  pipe,  air  rushes  in  (on  the  ascent  of  the  sucker)  and  sweeps 
up  with  it  portions  of  the  liquid  in  the  form  of  dense  rain.  On  the  same 
principle  people  are  enabled  to  taste  scalding  liquids.  The  next  time  the 
reader  sips  hot  soup,  or  tea,  or  coffee,  he  will  find  himself  involuntarily 
keeping  the  edge  or  rim  of  the  spoon  or  vessel  a  short  distance  from  his 
mouth,  and  protruding  his  lips  till  the  upper  one  projects  a  little  over  the 
edge  :  then  drawing  in  his  breath,  the  entering  air  ripples  the  surface  of 
the  liquid,  and  by  its  velocity  bears  broken  portions  along,  precisely  like 
the  pump  just  mentioned.  The  liquid  particles  being  thus  mixed  with 
comparatively  large  volumes  of  cool  air,  are  so  reduced  in  their  tempera¬ 
ture  as  to  be  received  without  injury  and  without  inconvenience.8 

Water-spouts  appear  to  be  charged  in  much  the  same  way,  whatever 
may  be  the  active  agent  in  the  formation  of  these  singular  phenomena ;  for 
the  sea  immediately  under  their  orifice  has  often  been  observed  to  bubble 
or  boil  violently,  and  rise  into  the  spout  in  disjointed  masses. 

A  stream  of  water  directed  into  or  through  a  body  of  the  same  liquid, 
also  communicates  motion  to  those  particles  of  the  latter  that  are  in  contact 
with  or  adjacent  to  the  current.  Examples  of  this  are  furnished  in  several 
of  nature’s  hydraulic  operations.  That  constant  oceanic  current  produced 
by  the  trade  winds  is  one.  It  sweeps  round  the  globe,  but  is  deflected 
and  divided  by  the  varying  configuration  of  the  lands  that  lie  in  its  way. 
Under  the  torrid  zone,  it  passses  through  the  Pacific  and  Indian  oceans, 
whirls  round  the  southern  point  of  Africa,  inclines  to  that  continent  in 
again  approaching  the  equator,  then  stretching  across  the  Atlantic  is  di¬ 
vided  by  the  South  American  coast — one  part  turning  northward  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico — thence  this  last  division  issues  as  the  Gulf  Stream,  and 
being  turned  in  an  easterly  direction  by  the  coast  of  the  United  States,  it 
bears  away  past  the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  and  extends  its  influence  to 
Ireland,  Iceland,  Norway  and  the  North  Sea.  This  mighty  current  not 
only  draws  with  it  the  liquid  channel  through  which  it  flows,  but  the  ocean 
for  leagues  on  each  side  is  carried  along  with  it,  or  follows  in  its  train ; 


a  Some  of  the  operations  of  the  mouth  are  deserving  of  particular  notice.  They  will 
be  found  to  elucidate  several  philosophical  principles,  and  attention  to  them  would  cer¬ 
tainly  have  enabled  inventors  to  have  anticipated  many  useful  discoveries.  We  have 
in  a  preceding  book  observed  that  the  mouth  is  often  employed  as  a  forcing  pump  in 
ejecting  liquids,  and  as  a  sucking  one  when  drawing  them  through  siphons,  or  through 
simple  tubes.  We  have  just  seen  how  it  raises  hot  liquids  by  drawing  a  stream  of  air 
over  them,  and  machines  on  the  same  principle  have  been  made  to  raise  water.  It  is 
often  used  as  a  bellows  to  kindle  fires,  and  every  body  employs  it  to  cool  hot  victuals 
by  blowing.  It  even  acts  as  a  stove  to  warm  our  frozen  fingers,  by  giving  out  heated 
air.  Many  make  a  condensing  air-pump  of  it,  to  fill  bladders,  air-beds  and  air-pillows ; 
some  make  an  exhausting  one  of  it,  and  in  all  it  acts  continually  as  both  in  respiration. 
How  often  does  it  perform  the  part  of  a  fife,  an  organ,  or  a  whistle,  to  produce  music  ? 
—of  an  air-gun  to  shoot  bullets  and  arrows  from  the  sarbacan  ? — and,  not  to  weary  the 
reader,  when  employed  in  smoking  a  pipe  of  tobacco,  we  see  in  operation  the  identical 
principle  of  increasing  the  draft  of  locomotive  chimneys  by  exhaustion — i.  e.  a  sucking 
apparatus  is  applied  to  that  extremity  of  the  flue  that  is  the  farthest  from  the  fire — a  device 
patented  in  Europe  a  few  years  ago.  ' 


478  Water  raised  by  currents  of  the  same  liquid.  [Book  V. 

and  thus  it  is  incessantly  transferring  to  northern  latitudes  the  warm  waters 
of  the  equinoctial  regions.® 

The  volumes  of  water  which  shoot  from  the  mouths  of  the  Amazon, 
Oronoco  and  Mississippi,  continue  with  almost  unabated  velocity  for  leagues 
into  the  sea,  and  impart  motion  to  the  contiguous  portions  of  the  latter, 
which  are  compelled  to  accompany  them  in  their  course. 

A  current  of  water  not  only  imparts  motion  in  this  manner  to  a  mass  of 
the  same  liquid  when  on  a  level  with  itself,  but  it  may  be  applied  to  raise 
water  from  a  lower  level.  This  at  first  sight  does  not  appear  very  obvious. 
A  person  having  a  field  which  he  is  unable  to  drain  for  want  of  a  place 
of  discharge  sufficiently  low  for  the  purpose,  would  hardly  think  his  object 
could  be  obtained  by  passing  a  rapid  stream  into  it  from  a  higher  level. 
To  some  farmers  this  would  seem  the  most  direct  way  to  deluge  the  land; 
yet  the  thing  is  not  only  possible,  but  in  some  cases  quite  easy,  as  wTill 
appear  from  the  following  experiments  made  by  M.  Venturi  in  1797. 

From  the  lower  part  of  the  cistern  D,  No.  199,  a  horizontal  tube  pro 
ceeded  into  the  vessel  A  C.  The  water  in  D  was  kept  at  32£  inches 
above  the  centre  of  the  pipe.  Opposite  and  at  a  short  distance  from  the 
pipe  was  placed  the  mouth  of  an  inclined  rectangular  channel  or  gutter 
open  at  top.  The  water  issuing  from  the  pipe  rushed  up  this  channel,  anc 
was  discharged  at  B ;  but  as  it  entered  the  gutter,  the  current  dragged  it 
with  it  the  contents  of  A  C,  until  the  surface  sunk  from  A  to  C.  Frorr 
this  experiment  it  is  obvious  that  land  on  a  low  level,  as  at  C,  might  bf 
drained  in  this  manner,  and  the  water  discharged  above,  as  at  B,  where- 
ever  a  motive  current  could  be  obtained.  Venturi  applied  the  principle 
with  success  to  some  marshy  land  belonging  to  the  public. 

In  the  next  experiment  both  air  and  water  are  moved  by  the  current, 
and  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  excited  to  raise  water  as  in  the  pipe 

of  a  pump.  The  cylindri¬ 
cal  tube  K  (No.  200)  was 
connected  to  a  reservoir 
of  water,  D,  the  surface 
as  before  being  32^  inches 
above  its  orifice.  The  pipe 
K  was  18  lines  in  diameter 
and  57  long.  A  glass  tube 
A  B  was  connected  to  its 
upper  surface  at  the  dis¬ 
tance  of  eight  lines  from 
its  junction  with  the  reser¬ 
voir.  The  other  end  of 
the  glass  tube  descended 
hen  water  flowed  through 

a  Floating  substances  have  often  been  thrown  into  the  Gulf  Stream  to  ascertain  its 
direction.  Upwards  of  twenty  years  ago  we  cast  overboard,  near  the  Banks,  a  common 
quart  bottle  carefully  corked  and  sealed,  and  having  a  few  inches  of  red  bunting  tied  to 
the  neck  The  bottle  contained  a  letter  addressed  to  a  gentleman  in  London,  and  an 
open  note  in  English  and  French,  requesting  the  finder  to  put  the  letter  into  the  nearest 
posl-olfice,  American  or  European,  and  also  a  memorandum  of  the  circumstances,  date 
and  place  of  its  discovery.  Precisely  eleven  months  from  the  day  the  bottle  was  com¬ 
mitted  to  the  deep,  the  letter  was  delivered  by  the  postman,  and  accompanied  with  an¬ 
other  from  an  Irish  clergyman.  The  fragile  vessel  floated  safely  ashore  near  Sligo.  Its 
little  pennon  excited  the  attention  of  a  peasant,  who  broke  the  bottle,  and  not  knowing 
what  to  make  ot  the  contents,  carried  the  whole  to  his  priest.  This  gentleman  politely 
forwarded  the  letter  to  its  destination,  and  wrote  another  containing  the  particulars  just 
mentioned.  Both  letters,  we  believe,  were  laid  before  the  British  Admiralty  by  the  gen¬ 
tleman  to  whom  they  were  addressed. 


T 


No.  199.  No.  200. 

into  a  vessel,  T,  containing  a  colored  liquid. 


479 


Chap.  l.J  Vacuum  produced  by  liquid  currents. 

K  it  dragged  the  air  at  the  mouth  of  the  glass  tube  with  it,  the  remaining' 
air  dilated,  and  finally  the  whole  was  carried  out  with  the  effluent  water 
and  the  colored  liquid  rose  to  the  height  of  24  inches  in  A  B.  The  glass 
tube  was  then  shortened  to  about  22  inches,  .when  the  contents  of  T  rose 
up  and  were  discharged  from  K.  In  another  experiment  Iv  was  placed 
m  nearly  a  perpendicular  position,  being  inclined  a  little  that  the  jet  might 
not  fall  back  on  itself,  but  the  liquid  rose  through  A  B  as  before.  The 
end  of  A  B  where  it  joined  Iv  was  flush  with  the  interior  surface  of  the 
latter.  Several  small  holes  were  made  round  K ;  these  diminished  the 
velocity  of  the  issuing  current,  but  no  water  escaped  through  the  openings 

There  is  a  singular  fact  relating  to  the  discharge  of  liquids  from  different 
shaped  ajutages  :  for  example,  more  water  flows  through  a  short  tube  than 
through  a  simple  orifice  of  the  same  diameter.  A  circular  opening,  of  the 
same  diameter  as  the  bore  of  K  in  the  last  figure,  was  made  in  a  sheet  of 
tm,  and  the  latter  attached  to  a  cistern  in  which  the  water  was  kept  at  a 
constant  altitude  of  3 2\  inches  :  now  while  four  cubic  feet  of  water  escaped 
through  the  opening  in  41  seconds,  an  equal  quantity  passed  through  K  in 
31  seconds;  and  when  the  length  of  K  was  only  twice  its  diameter,  the 
quantity  discharged  was  still  greater. 

But  the  quantity  discharged  may  be  still  further  increased  if  the  end  of 
K  next  the  reservoir  be  made  to  assume  the  form  of  the  contracted  vein. 
This  term  is  used  to  designate  that  contraction  which  a  liquid  column  un¬ 
dergoes  when  escaping  through  an  orifice,  or  when  entering  a  tube.  Sup¬ 
pose  an  aperture,  an  inch  in  diameter,  made  in  the  bottom  of  a  bucket  or 
a  cauldron,  and  closed  by  a  plug,  dhen  fill  the  vessel  with  water,  and 
withdraw  the  plug.  Upon  examination  the  descending  column  will  be 
found  contracted  or  tapered  for  a  short  distance  below  the  orifice,  viz. 
half  an  inch,  or  half  the  diameter  of  the  orifice.  The  area  of  the  section 
of  the  smallest  or  most  contracted  part  will  be  to  the  orifice  as  10  to  16 
according  to  Bossut,  but  when  a  short  cylindrical  tube  was  applied  to  the 
orifice,  he  found  the  contraction  as  10  to  12.3.  (The  same  thing  occurs 
whether  the  opening  be  made  in  the  side  or  bottom  of  a  vessel.)  &  Hence 
by  enlarging  the  end  of  K  next  the  reservoir,  in  the  proportions  named, 
the  contraction  within  the  cylindrical  part  of  the  tube  would  be  avoided, 
and  the  discharge  consequently  increased. 


No.  201.  No.  202. 

By  substituting  for  Iv  a  compound  tube  of  the  form  and  proportions 
gui  ed  at  No.  201,  the  quantity  discharged  has  been  ascertained  to  be 
more  than  doubled,  being  to  that  delivered  by  the  orifice  in  the  tin  plate 
as  24  to  10  !  A,  the  cistern ;  B,  a  short  conical  tube  connecting  the  cylin 


430 


Discharge  of  Liquids  through  Conical  Ajutages.  [Book  V. 

drical  one  to  the  conical  frustrum  C  D.  Supposing  the  diameter  of  C 
to  be  unity  or  1,  that  of  D  should  be  1.8,  and  the  distance  between  them 
9.  The  increased  discharge  ceases  when  the  cylindrical  part  of  the  tube 
B  C  is  of  considerable  length,  and  of  the  same  bore  as  the  smaller  end 
of  C  D. 

A  tube  of  the  form  represented  at  No.  202  wa3  applied  by  Venturi  to 
the  same  reservoir,  the  depth  of  water  in  which  was  also  kept  at  32£ 
inches.  Three  glass  tubes,  ABC,  were  connected  to  the  under  side  of 
the  pipe,  and  their  lower  ends  inserted  into  a  vessel  containing  mercury. 
When  water  flowed  through  the  pipe  the  mercury  rose  53  lines  in  A,  20 
in  B,  and  7  in  C.  These  quantities  correspond  with  62  inches  of  water 
in  A,  24  inches  in  B,  and  8  in  C.  The  length  of  the  pipe  should  not  ex¬ 
ceed  four  times  the  diameter  of  its  smaller  end,  and  its  sides  should  not 
diverge  from  each  other  more  than  what  is  required  to  form  an  angle  of 
from  three  to  four  degrees.  By  this  principle  it  will  be  perceived,  that 
water  may  also  be  raised  from  a  lower  level  and  discharged  at  an  upper 
one,  and  in  many  situations  it  might  doubtless  be  adopted  with  advantage. 
See  Nicholson’s  Journal,  vol.  ii,  and  Hachette’s  Traite  Elementaire  des 
Machines. 

Different  causes  have  been  assigned  for  the  increased  discharge  of 
liquids  through  conical  tubes.  One  is  certainly  to  be  found  in  the  material 
of  which  they  are  made  ;  for  when  formed  of  or  lined  with  any  substance 
that  repels  or  refuses  to  coalesce  or  be  wetted  with  the  effluent  water,  as 
wax,  tallow,  &c.  the  effect  ceases.  The  phenomenon  therefore  depends 
upon  the  attraction  and  adhesion  of  the  liquid  to  the  sides  of  the  tubes, 
which  sides  exert  a  capillary  force  in  drawing  the  particles  of  the  liquid 
towards  them,  so  as  not  only  to  prevent  its  assuming  the  figure  of  the  con¬ 
tracted  vein  when  entering  the  tube  No.  202,  but  also  drawing  the  particles 
to  the  diverging  sides  of  the  discharging  ajutage. 

A  knowledge  of  the  increased  discharge  of  liquids  from  conical  tubes 
has  led  some  persons  to  take  advantage  of  the  fact,  to  the  serious  injury 
of  others.  We  have  heard  of  the  purchaser  of  a  water  power,  who  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  covenant  was  to  connect  his  mill-race  with  the  dam  by  a 
trunk  of  a  certain  specified  bore  at  the  junction.  This  he  did,  but  making 
the  sides  of  the  trunk  diverge  as  in  the  last  figure,  the  proprietor  of 
the  dam  was  astounded  to  find  the  water,  as  if  moved  by  instinct,  giving 
the  new  channel  the  preference,  and  unaccountably  persisting  in  rushing 
through  it  with  a  velocity  that  threatened  to  drain  the  well  supplied  reser¬ 
voir,  and  leave  his  own  mill  to  take  its  rest.  This  increased  discharge  is 
not  confined  to  tubes  of  a  cylindrical  or  conical  form.  The  walls  of*  the 
channel  may  be  straight,  and  its  section  may  be  a  square,  a  triangle,  &c. 
as  well  as  a  circle. 

There  is  some  reason  for  believing  that  overreaching  in  this  way  is  not 
wholly  a  modern  discovery.  No  city,  ancient  or  modern,  was  perhaps 
ever  supplied  with  water  in  greater  profusion  than  old  Rome  ;  yet  the  con¬ 
tents  of  her  aqueducts  were  meted  out  with  economy,  and,  as  in  modern 
times,  a  revenue  was  derived  from  the  sale  of  the  water.  The  superin¬ 
tendence  of  the  aqueducts  and  of  the  distribution  of  the  liquid  through  the 
streets  and  houses  were  always  intrusted  to  a  citizen  of  rank  and  talents. 
The  celebrated  Frontinus  held  the  office  under  Nerva,  by  whose  directions 
he  wrote  two  books  on  the  water-works  of  Rome,  the  times  of  their  erec¬ 
tion,  districts  of  the  city  supplied  by  each,  the  number  of  public  and  pri¬ 
vate  fountains,  quantities  of  water  discharged  from  different  sized  orifices, 
&c.  From  him  we  learn  that  numerous  frauds  were  practiced  in  obtaining 
more  than  the  assigned  quantity  of  the  liquid,  one  of  the  means  for  pre- 


48) 


Chap.  2.] 


Water  raised  by  Currents  of  Air. 


venting  which  was  this:  when  a  pipe  for  the  supply  of  a  house  was  to  he 
connected  to  the  castellum  or  reservoir,  (which  received  the  water  from 
one  of  the  aqueducts)  a  brass  calix,  or  short  bent  tube,  (probably  the  same 
as  the  modern  ones  vyhich  connect  the  lateral  pipes  to  the  mains)  was  de¬ 
livered  by  the  officer  in  charge  to  the  workmen,  to  insert  into  the  castellum  • 
and  it  was  enacted  that  the  bore  of  the  cylindrical  leaden  pipe  should  be 
the  same  as  that  of  the  calix  for  at  least  fifty  feet  from  the  castellum.  1 1 
8  ther®^e  pretty  clear  that  Roman  engineers  were  aware,  that  the  in¬ 
creased  discharge  through  enlarged  orifices  ceases  when  a  considerable 
ength  of  pipe  of  the  same  bore  as  the  calix  intervened. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Water  raised  by  currents  of  air-Fall  of  the  barometer  during  storms-Hurricanes  commence  at  the 
leeward-Damage  done  by  storms  not  always  by  the  impulse  of  the  wind-Vacuum  produced  by  storm, 
of  w.nd-Draft  of  chimneys-Currents  of  wind  in  houses-Fire  grates  and  parabolic  jambs-Expen- 
ments  with  a  sheet  of  paper— Experiments  with  currents  of  air  through  tubes  variously  Connected- 
Effect  of  conical  ajutages  to  blowing  tubes— Application  of  these  tubes  to  increase  the  draft  of  chimneys 
and  to  ventilate  wells,  mines  and  ships. 


Currents  of  air  and  other  elastic  fluids  may  be  employed  to  raise  water 
m  a  manner  different  from  any  yet  noticed;  i.  e.  not  by  any  modification 
ot  the  lateral  communication  of  motion,  nor  by  breaking  the  liquid  into 
minute  particles  by  the  motive  fluid  mixing  with  them,  but  by  the  removal 
or  diminution  of  atmospheric  pressure.  The  principle  to  which  we  allude 
is  to  be  found  more  or  less  active  in  nature,  and  illustrations  of  it  are  not 
infrequent  in  common  life,  although  for  want  of  reflection  they  are  seldom 
noticed  and  are  not  always  understood. 

Meteorologists  have  long  observed  that  storms  of  wind  are  accompanied 
with  a  diminution  of  the  air’s  pressure,  and  that  the  descent  of  the  mercu¬ 
rial  column  in  the  barometer  keeps  pace  generally  with  the  violence  of 
the  tempest:  thus  in  hurricanes  the  depression  is  much  more  than  durino- 
ordinary  gales,  while  in  the  vortex  of  a  tornado  or  a  whirlwind  it  is 
excessive. 

Some  persons  are  apt  to  consider  winds  as  proceeding  directly  from  the 
power  that  generates  them,  as  a  stream  of  water  proceeds  from  a  fire- 
engine  or  one  of  air  from  a  bellows,  whereas  they  as  often  rush  towards 
the  source  that  gives  them  birth ;  and  hence  it  is  that  hurricanes,  some¬ 
times  if  not  always,  commence  at  the  leeward.  Should  any  mystery  ap¬ 
pear  m  this  it  is  easily  explained  : — if  a  person  blow  through  a  tube,  the 
blast  proceeds  from  him ;  if  he  suck  air  through  it,  the  current  is  directed 
to  him  :  when  we  close  a  pair  of  bellows,  wind  issues  from  the  nozzle  ;  if 
they  are  opened  while  the  valve  in  the  lower  board  is  shut,  it  rushes  back 
through  the  same  channel :  so  it  is  with  currents  in  the  atmosphere.  A 
partial  void  is  formed  in  the  upper  regions,  perhaps  by  electricity,  by 
c  anges  of  temperature  or  humidity,  by  rarefaction  or  other  causes,  and 

•  61 


482  Removal  of  Atmospheric  Pressure  by  Currents  t>f  Air.  [Book  V. 

mstantly  oceans  of  the  fluid  matter  around  rush  to  restore  the  equilibrium : 
then  the  removal  of  these  oceans  necessarily  induces  others  to  move  also 
to  take  their  place,  and  in  this  way  various  strata  of  the  atmosphere,  for 
miles  and  hundreds  of  miles,  are  put  in  motion  towards  the  place  where 
the  cause  of  their  movements  is  located,  and  in  a  way  not  unlike  that  by 
which  streams  of  air  enter  a  person’s  mouth  while  he  sucks  an  empty  tube, 
or  a  bellows  during  the  act  of  opening  them. 

When  the  lowering  sky  and  flitting  clouds  announce  the  approach  of  a 
violent  storm,  and  when,  like  a  demon  broke  loose,  it  destroys  in  its  fury 
nearly  every  thing  in  its  track,  we  commonly  suppose  the  mischief  is  done 
by  the  direct  impulse  of  the  blast — that  agitated  and  groaning  forests,  trees 
prostrated,  walls  and  fences  leveled,  buildings  o’erturned  and  others  un¬ 
roofed,  &c.  are  th6  results  of  a  tempest  sweeping  these  objects  before  it, 
somewhat  as  we  blow  dust  &c.  from  a  table  or  from  the  cover  or  edge  of 
a  book.  But  this,  though  sometimes  the  case,  is  not  always  so ;  for  if  it 
were,  almost  every  object  blown  down  by  the  wind  would  be  found  lying 
in  the  direction  of  the  blast,  whereas  they  are  frequently  discovered  in  the 
opposite  one.  The  effects  enumerated  are  sometimes  caused  by  winds 
blowing  over  a  district  of  country  without  coming  in  contact  with  the  earth 
or  the  objects  upon  it,  but  merely  sweeping  at  some  distance  above  them: 
at  other  times  similar  results  are  met  with  at  the  extreme  edge  of  a  storm, 
and  even  beyond  it.  In  these  cases  a  partial  vacuum  produced  by  the 
aerial  currents  often  works  all  the  mischief,  although  it  may  be.  as  it  fre¬ 
quently  is,  but  of  momentary  duration.  Close  buildings  have  been  instan¬ 
taneously  destroyed  by  the  expansion  of  the  air  within  them ,  their  walls 
being  thrown  outwards,  and  their  roofs  projected  aloft.  The  tornado  by 
which  the  city  of  Natchez  was  recently  destroyed  furnished  striking  proofs 
of  this  removal  of  atmospheric  pressure,  and  of  fearful  damages  occasioned 
by  the  void.  The  doors  and  windows  of  one  or  two  houses  left  standing 
amid  the  general  wreck  happened  to  be  open,  and  thus  furnished  avenues 
for  the  dilated  air  to  escape.  In  some  houses  the  leeward  gable  ends 
were  pushed  out,  and  the  windward  ones  stood ;  in  others,  the  leeward 
walls  remained  standing  while  those  to  the  windward  were  thrown  out¬ 
wards  in  the  face  of  the  storm.  Both  gable  ends  were  burst  out  in  some, 
and  of  others  the  sudden  expansion  of  the  air  raised  the  roofs  for  a  pas¬ 
sage,  and  left  more  or  less  of  the  walls  standing.® 

Persons  whose  ideas  of  a  vacuum  are  inseparably  associated  with  air¬ 
tight  vessels,  would  hardly  suppose  that  any  thing  approaching  to  one 
could  be  formed  in  the  open  regions  above  and  about  us  ;  yet  every  breath 
of  wind — the  gentle  zephyr  as  well  as  the  furious  tempest — destroys  the 
equilibrium  of  the  air’s  pressure,  and  consequently  produces  a  partial  void; 
and  it  will  be  seen  in  this  and  the  following  chapter  that  a  vacuum  may 
be  produced  and  maintained  in  open  tubes.  It  should  however  be  kept  in 
mind,  that  an  absolute  vacuity  is  not  found  in  nature  nor  to  be  obtained  by 
art :  the  slightest  rarefaction  and  the  best  results  of  the  best  air-pump  are 
but  degrees  in  the  range  of  a  scale,  of  whose  limits  we  know  but  little. 

A  few  more  familiar  illustrations  of  the  removal  or  diminution  of  atmos¬ 
pheric  pressure  by  currents  of  air  will  not  be  out  of  place.  And  first,  who 
has  not,  while  sitting  by  a  winter’s  fire,  witnessed  the  coals  in  the  grate 
brighten  suddenly  up,  and  heard  the  flames  and  heated  air  roar  in  the 
chimney  as  if  urged  for  a  few  moments  by  some  invisible  bellows-blower? 
— phenomena  attributed,  we  believe,  in  the  days  of  witchcraft,  to  elves  and 


*  See  an  interesting  account  of  this  tornado  by  Dr.  Tooley,  of  Natchez,  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Franklin  Institute  for  June,  1840. 


483 


Chap.  2.] 


Experiments  mth  a  Sheet  of  Paper. 


fairies,  those  mischievous  imps  who,  in  their  wayward  moods,  sometimes 
undertook  to  blow  the  fires  as  well  as  to  sweep  and  sand  the  floors  of  the 
houses  they  visited,  and  who,  by  their  screams  of  delight  on  leaving  their 
work  were  supposed  to  produce  the  hollow  sounds  in  the  flue  as  they 
darted  up  to  join  their  comrades  m  the  tempest  without !  It  need  hardly 

thVtonTn^  ?at  18  gUS?  °u  W1nnd’  SWeePin£  in  Particular  directions  over 
he  tops  Oi  chimneys,  and  thereby  causing  a  partial  vacuum  within  them, 

that  thus  powerfully  increases  the  draft.  But  it  is  not  necessary  to  have 

fire  in  the  grate,  for  the  effect  may  be  noticed  in  parlors  during  the  summer 

cover^ the Vf  6n fth°f ev.llght  ^  °nmmental  PaPer  aProns  with  which  ladies 
tZ  disfigured  £dh££T  ""  0ft“  draW"  ““  ^  fl“S’  be‘ 
Other  examples  may  be  derived  from  the  movements  of  interior  doors 
blinds  and  curtains  of  windows,  &c.  While  we  are  writing,  the  front 
cioor  of  our  dwelling  is  opened,  which  affords  a  clear  passage  from  the 
street  to  a  garden  in  the  rear.  The  door  of  the  room  we  occupy  opens 
mto  the  passage,  through  which  a  flaw  of  wind  has  just  passed,  and  in  a 
c winkling  the  blinds  swing  from  the  windows,  and  the  door  is  slammed  to 
its  frame,  by  the  air  in  the  room  rushing  to  join  the  passing  current,  or  to 
fill  the  slight  vacuum  produced  by  it.  An  open  fire-place  creates  a  draft 
up  the  chimney,  which  acts  as  a  pump  to  draw  cold  air  into  the  room  • 
hence  the  complamt,  not  at  all  uncommon,  of  being  roasted  in  front  while 
acing  the  fire,  and  at  the  same  time  experiencing  the  unmitigated  rio-ors 
of  winter  behind.  _  (In  such  cases  the  combustion  should  be  supported  by 
air  drawn  from  without  by  a  pipe  terminating  beneath  the  grate— a  device 
patented  in  modern  days,  though  it  was  known  two  centuries  ago,  and  is 
aescribed  by  M.  Gauger  in  his  treatise  on  “Fires  Improved,”  a  work 
translated  by  Desaguliers  in  1715.* *)  The  motion  of  every  object  in  nature 
produces  currents  of  air,  and  in  every  possible  direction — the  movement 
or  the  hand  in  writing  or  sewing— the  trembling  of  a  leaf  or  of  an  earth¬ 
quake— the  flight  of  an  eagle  or  of  an  insect — the  ball  whizzing  from  a 
cannon  s  mouth,  the  creeping  of  a  snail,  or  a  wasp  using  her  forceps. 

,  Artificial  illustrations  might  be  quoted  without  end.  Lay  two  books  of 
tne  same  size,  or  two  pieces  of  board,  six  or  eight  inches  apart  upon  a 
table,  and  place  a  sheet  of  paper  over  them;  then  blow  between  the  books, 
and  the  paper,  instead  of  being  displaced  by  the  blast,  will  be  pressed 
down  to  the  table  by  the  atmosphere  above  it,  and  with  a  force  propor¬ 
tioned  to  the  intensity  of  the  blast.  Instead  of  the  mouth  next  use  a  pair 
bellows,  by  inserting  the  nozzle  under  one  edge  <nf  the  paper,  and  the 
effect  will  still  be  the  same.  The  stream  of  wind  may  even  be  directed 
partly  against  the  under  side  of  the  paper,  which  notwithstanding  will  re¬ 
tain  its  place  and  be  pressed  down  as  before.  Suspend  the  boohs  or  fix 
them  to  the  under  side  of  a  table,  then  hold  on  the  paper  till  the  blast  is 
applied,  when  the  sheet  will  be  sustained  against  gravity.  Fold  the  paper 

into  a  tube  and  blow  through  it  with  the  mouth,  or  with  bellows _ in  botli 

cases  it  will  be  collapsed.  From  this  experiment  we  learn  that  the  force 
which  fluids  exert  against  the  sides  of  pipes  that  contain  them,  is  greatlv 
diminished  when  they  pass  rapidly  through.  We  have  known  a  small 
leak  in  the  pipe  that  supplied  steam  to  a  high-pressure  engine,  cease  to 
give  out  vapor  every  time  the  communication  was  opened  to  the  cylinder 


i-  u  ,Pan*bollca'  jambs  (also  patented)  or  backs  of  grates  for  reflecting  from  their  po¬ 
lished  surfaces  the  heat  into  the  room,  are  described  in  the  same  interesting  little  work. 
At  page  140  Desaguliers  speaks  of  bellows  invented  and  patented  by  Captain  Savery— 

•  device  of  his  that  is  no  where  else  mentioned  that  vfre  are  aware  of. 


484 


Experiments  with 


[BiokV. 


_ the  particles  of  the  fluid  then  being  hurried  along  with  a  velocity  too 

great  to  allow  any  of  them  to  change  their  direction  to  escape  at  the  leak. 

The  following  abstract  of  experiments  made  by  us  in  1834-5,  to  illus¬ 
trate  the  same  principle,  may  interest  some  readers  : — To  ascertain  the 
extent  to  which  atmospheric  pressure  was  removed  from  under  the  sheet 
of  paper,  we  bent  a  small  glass  tube  at  right  angles,  and  placing  one  end 
under  the  paper  let  it  rest  on  the  table,  while  the  other  descended  into  a 
tumbler  containing  a  little  water.  Then  taking  a  small  pair  of  bellows, 
and  directing  the  blast  over  the  pipe,  the  water  rose  from  one  half  to  three 
fourths  of  an  inch.  The  books  upon  which  the  sheet  laid  were  then  placed 
within  two  inches  of  each  other,  when  the  effect  was  increased,  the  liquid 
rising  from  l£  to  2  inches.  We  next  laid  aside  the  paper  and  made  use 
of  two  tubes,  one  to  blow  through  and  the  other  to  measure  the  ascent  of 
the  liquid. 


No.  203.  No.  204.  No.  205.  No.  206.  No.  207.  No.  208.  No.  209.  No.  210. 


Two  leaden  or  block  tin  tubes,  straight  and  polished  in  the  inside,  were 
united  at  right  angles.  See  No.  203.  A  C  the  blowing  pipe,  8  inches 
long  and  half-inch  bore.  B  12  inches  long  and  three-eighths  bore.  The 
upper  end  of  B  was  joined  flush  and  smooth  with  the  interior  of  the  other, 
three  inches  from  the  end  A.  Upon  applying  the  mouth  to  C  and  blowing 
in  the  direction  C  A,  indicated  by  the  arrow,  instead  of  the  liquid  rising 
in  B,  part  of  the  current  from  the  lungs  entered  that  tube  and  was  forced 
through  the  water  in  the  tumbler.  Various  portions  of  the  end  A  were 
then  cut  off  without  changing  the  result,  until  half  an  inch  only  remained 
in  front  of  the  joint,  when  the  air  no  longer  descended,  but  no  rarefaction 
was  produced  in  B.  When  both  tubes  were  made  of  the  same  bore,  part 
of  the  blast  descended  in  B  until  the  whole  of  A  in  front  of  the  joint  was 
removed.  In  numerous  trials,  the  water  in  the  lower  end  of  B  was  de¬ 
pressed  more  or  less,  whether  the  blast  of  wind  through  A  was  weak  or 
strong.  (From  these  experiments  we  discover  the  impropriety  of  placing 
cylindrical  tubes  on  chimney  tops  at  right  angles  to  the  draft,  and  espe¬ 
cially  on  locomotive  carriages,  as  was  at  first  proposed.  In  the  Edinburgh 
Encyclopedia,  vol.  xvii.  p.  457,  a  carriage  by  Tredgold  is  described,  and 
a  figure  of  it  given  in  plate  511.  The  chimney  is  represented  with  a  short 
horizontal  tube  attached  fore  and  aft  to  the  top,  as  in  No.  203,  with  a  view 
“  to  assist  the  draft”  by  the  passage  of  the  air  or  wind  through  it.  The 
experiments  above  show  that  the  reverse  would  have  been  the  case.) 

As  part  of  the  air  in  passing  through  A,  in  No.  203,  turned  off  into  B, 


Chap.  2.] 


Blowing  Tubes. 


485 

the  idea  occurred  that  if  the  junction  of  B  were  made  to  form  an  acutr 
angle  wtth  the  longer  par,  of  A,  then  the  whole  of  the  aerial  cu,"  l" 
possibly  pass  out  at  A,  stnce  to  enter  B  it  would  have  very  nearly  to 

mTpirt  of  Abfr  ,tV'Ce  fiSured,a.t  No' 204  made  » test  this. 
(  e  part  of  A  in  front  of  the  joint  was  l£  inches  long,  which  from  several 

experiments  we  thought  produced  the  best  effect,  when  A  wa^  half  an 

inch  in  the  bore— i  e  the  length  of  this  part  of  the  blowing  tube  was  three 

times  its  diameter.)  Upon  trial  part  of  the  current  passed  into  B  and  es- 

p  irough  the  liquid,  as  in  the  preceding  experiment ;  and  even  when 

effect  tookplace! &  Ver“Cal  d‘re“0n  bef°re  en,e™S  water,  the  same 

hJ*rr*  m°de-S  of,unitin&  the  P^es  with  the  view  of  preventing  the 

blast  fiom  entering  the  vertical  one  were  now  tried,  and  to  ascertain  the 
effects  produced  a  glass  tube,  three  feet  long  and  three-eighths  of  in  inr>k 
bore,  was  attached  to  the  vertical  or  exhausting  tube  of  eafh.  In  No  205 
a  portion  of  B  protruded  into  A,  so  as  to  form  a  partition  or  partial  cover 
to  the  orifice.  Upon  blowing  through  A  (in  the  direction  of  the  arrow) 
the  water  sprung  up  B  to  the  height  of  12  inches,  and  in  subsequent  trials 
varied  from  10  to  20  inches,  according  to  the  strength  of  the  blast  Bv 

Zn„TBS  A  ?laS3,,tUbe  ?  rf  A  and1  then  blowing 

thtou0h  B,  the  liquid  rose  from  8  to  10  inches;  the  difference  no  doub? 

of  a,r  having  bad 

We  next  united  two  tubes  at  right  angles,  but  instead  of  making  the 
joint  flush  within  as  No.  203,  the  upper  end  of  B  was  eut  obliquely  as 
if  to  form  a  mitred  or  elbow  joint.  This  end  was  inserted  into  the  under 
side  of  A,  as  represented  at  No.  206,  the  open  part  of  B  facing  A  The 
object  of  this  device  was  to  ascertain  whether  the  convex  part  of  the  ver¬ 
tical  tube  within  A  would  be  sufficient  to  divert  the  blast  from  entering  B 
w  nle  it  swept  over  the  upper  edge  and  passed  round  each  side.  Previous 
to  connecting  the  lower  end  of  B  with  the  glass  tube  we  inserted  it  in 
ater,  and  upon  blowing  smartly  through  A,  the  liquid  rose  (10  inches) 
and  was  expelled  with  the  air,  forming  a  dense  shower.  The  glass  tube 
was  then  attached  (by  a  slip  of  India  rubber)  and  upon  blowing^gain  the 
»v  atei  lose,  on  different  trials,  from  twenty  to  thirty  indies.  The  tube  A 
was  half-inch  bore,  and  B  three-eighths.  Various  experiments  were  made 
©  determine  the  best  length  of  that  part  .of  A  in  advance  of  the  joint :  the 
resiilt  was  generally  in  favor  of  the  extent  already  mentioned. 

*  ,  °f.B  Cut  °bhquely,  as  in  the  preceding  experiment,  was  now 

inserted  into  A  at  an  acute  angle.  See  No.  207.  The  ascent  of  the  liquid 
,n.  s.ev^raI  tnals  varied  from  20  to  28  inches.  A  moderate  puff  raised  it 
inches,  but  a  strong  effort  of  the  lungs  was  required  to  elevate  it  over 
,  ,  °  ^  hen  the  glass  tut>e  was  connected  to  A,  as  in  No.  208  and  a 

i  ast  directed  through  B,  the  highest  range  of  the  liquid  was  nine  inches 
lhe  tubes  were  next  united  as  in  No.  209;  that  is,  the  axis  of  the 
part  of  B  which  entered  A  coincided  with  that  of  the  latter,  thus  leaving 
an  annular  space  one-eighth  of  an  inch  wide  for  the  passage  of  the  blast 
The  effect  of  this  did  not  differ  so  much  from  No.  208  as  was  expected 
I  he  rise  varied  from  20  to  30  inches ;  and  not  more  than  half  the  former 
amount  was  produced  by  reversing  the  tubes,  as  in  No.  210.  The  annular 
passage  for  the  blast  in  No.  209  was  too  small,  the  current  was  pinched  in 

H’,and  ltS  veloci7  consequently  diminished.  In  another  tube  in 
>  hich  the  space  was  enlarged,  the  water  rose  six  inches  higher. 

e  next  endeavored  to  ascertain  the  effects  of  varying  the  form  of  the 
discnargmg  ends  of  the  blowing  tubes,  either  by  adapting  additional  ones 


486 


Effects  of  Conical  Ajutages,  [Book  V’. 

of  a  tapering  form  to  them,  or  by  enlarging  the  ends  themselves.  01  a 
number  of  experiments,  the  following  will  be  sufficient  for  our  present 
purpose.  In  two  of  the  tubes  (Nos.  211  and  212)  the  exhausting  pipe  did 
not  protrude  into  the  blowing  one  :  in  No.  213  it  did.  As  it  is  difficult  to 
keep  up  a  strong  blast  from  the  lungs  through  a  pipe  so  large  in  the  bore 
as  half  an  inch,  No.  211  was  made  of  quarter-inch  tubing,  and  No.  212  of 
five-sixteenths.  The  blowing  tube  of  No.  213  was  seven-sixteenths,  and 
the  exhausting  one  three-sixteenths,  and  all  were  made  of  lead.  Besides 
the  tubes  just  named  we  prepared  a  dozen  conical  ones,  nine  inches  long, 
the  small  ends  one-quarter  inch  bore,  and  the  large  ones  varying  from 
three-fourths  to  2 £  inches.  They  were  made  of  tin  plate,  the  seams  were 
lapped,  and  no  particular  care  was  taken  in  their  formation.  From  nu¬ 
merous  trials  with  them  m  a  variety  of  ways,  we  obtained  the  best  results 
with  two,  one  of  which  was  1£  inches  at  the  large  end,  and  the  other  seven- 
eighths.  But  of  these  the  latter,  marked  C  in  the  cut,  generally  caused  the 
water  to  rise  highest  in  the  exhausting  tube. 

The  discharging  end  of  No.  211  extended  1^  inches  from  the  joint, 

and  the  opposite  end  2 £  inches.  When  blown 
through  in  the  direction  of  the  arrow,  part  of 
the  current  descended  through  the  water,  but 
when  the  conical  pipe  C  was  held  close  to  the 
discharging  end  the  liquid  rose  in  the  vertical 
pipe  inches.  A  quarter  of  an  inch  was  next 
cut  off  the  discharging  end  and  C  again  ap¬ 
plied,  when  the  water  rose  12  inches.  The 
end  was  next  remered  out  with  the  tapered 
prong  of  a  file,  when  the  water  rose  (without 
C)  11  inches.  Another  portion  was  next  cut 
off,  leaving  only  half  an  inch  in  front  of  the 
joint,  and  the  end  swelled  out  as  before,  upon 
which  the  rise  was  7£  inchest  hut  when  C 
was  applied  the  water  rose  17^  inches. 

In  all  the  trials  with  C  it  was  necessary,  in  order  to  obtain  the  best 
results,  that  its  axis  should  coincide  with  that  of  the  blowing  tube ;  other¬ 
wise  the  current  of  air  is  deflected  in  its  passage.  The  length  of  the 
blowing  end  of  the  tube  should  be  no  more  than  what  is  necessary  to  give 
a  straight  direction  to  the  current.  If  longer  than  this,  the  velocity  and 
strength  of  the  blast  is  unnecessarily  diminished  by  friction  against  the 
prolonged  sides.  The  blowing  tube  should  also  be  straight  and  smooth 
within ;  for  the  energy  of  the  blast  is  less  diminished  in  passing  through  a 
straight  than  through  a  crooked  channel — through  a  smoothly  polished 
tube  than  through  one  whose  interior  is  marked  with  asperities.  Moreover, 
dints  or  bruises  in  a  pipe  produce  counter  currents,  and  materially  diminish 
the  ascent  of  the  liquid.  In  small  tubes,  the  end  received  into  the  mouth 
might  be  enlarged  or  cut  obliquely  to  facilitate  the  entrance  of  the  air ; 
for  if  the  fluid  be  retarded  in  its  entrance,  part  of  the  force  exerted  by  the 
lungs  is  uselessly  expended.  It  is  immaterial  in  what  position  the  blowing 
tube  is  used. 

In  No.  212  the  blowing  tube  was  jointed  to  the  exhausting  one  at  an  angle 
of  20°.  The  part  in  advance  of  the  joint  was  1^  inches.  Upon  trial,  the  liquid 
rose  seven  inches.  The  tube  D  was  applied,  (its  small  end  being  enlarged 
to  five-sixteenths)  and  the  water  rose  nine  inches.  The  tube  was  then 
swelled  out  by  the  prong  of  a  file  until  its  orifice  was  seven-sixteenths  of 
an  inch,  when  the  rise  was  lOi  inches.  D  was  then  applied,  its  end  en¬ 
tering  the  other,  and  the  water  rose  18  inches.  Previous  to  this  trial  B 


No.  211. 


No.  212.  No.  213. 


487 


Chap.  2.] 


When  applied  to  Bloioing  Tubes. 


had  become  slightly  bruised  in  the  middle  of  its  length  by  a  fall-  the 
bruises  were  taken  out,  and  the  water  rose  24  inches.  °  Various  portions 

while  "4  i  T  thS  arg<i  f"d  f  ?’  but  "°  diminuti°n  the  rise  occurred 
Z  3i,ncl,e1f  ren,,amed-  and  this  length  from  several  trials  gave  better 

f  °* *  213’  *h®  disc^rgmg  end  of  the  blowing  tube  was  1 J  inches  long 
ithout  any  additional  tube,  the  water  rose  16  inches.  The  end  was 
swelled  out,  and  the  liquid  rose  19  inches.  D  was  applied,  and  it  rose 

T1  es‘  9  was  then  tned.  whlch  made  the  liquid  ascend  31  inches 
i  he  discharging  end  was  reduced  in  length  from  an  inch  and  a  half  to 

f  an  inch,  and  the  elevation  of  the  liquid  was  diminished,  both  with  and 
without  the  additional  tubes  C  and  D. 

Two  other  tubes  connected  like  No.  213  were  also  tried.  From  slight 
variations  in  the  dimensions  of  the  passage  way  over  the  end  of  the  ex¬ 
hausting  tube,  the  results  varied.  Without  the  additional  tube  C  one 
raised  the  water  only  seven  inches,  while  with  C  the  rise  was  17  inches 
I  he  other  alone  raised  the  liquid  14  inches,  and  with  C  20 A-  inches. 

t  has  been  seen  from  preceding  experiments,  that  when  two  tubes  of 
the  same  bore  are  united,  as  in  Nos.  203,  204  and  211,  part  of  the  current 
fiom  the  mouth  will  descend  the  vertical  one,  if  but  half  an  inch  or  even 
less  of  the  discharging  end  project  beyond  the  joint.  To  ascertain  at  what 
distance  from  the  joint  this  descent  of  the  current  could  be  counteracted 
by  additional  tubes,  we  connected  two  pieces  of  leaden  pipe  (A  and  Bl 
five-sixteenths  of  an  inch  bore  to  each  other,  as  in  the  figure.  A  was  15 

inches  long;  B  four  inches, 

and  joined  to  the  other  three 
inches  from  the  blowing 
end,  thus  leaving  12  inches 
in  front  of  the  joint.  The 
lower  end  of  B  dipped  not 

•  ,  .  .  ,  .  more  than  one-tenth  of  an 

inch  in  water.  A  tapered  pipe,  C,  whose  wide  end  was  1^  inches  and 
the  small  one  five-sixteenths  was  attached  to  A,  and  upon  blowing  through 
A,  part  of  the  blast  descended  through  B.  Small  portions  were  then  suc¬ 
cessively  cut  off  the  discharging  end  of  A,  until  the  air  ceased  to  descend 
in  b  \\  hen  nine  inches  remained  in  front  of  the  joint,  but  a  solitary 
bubble  or  two  escaped  through  the  water,  and  after  another  inch  was  re¬ 
moved,  leaving  eight  inches  in  front,  the  whole  current  from  the  lungs 
passed  through  A.  _  The  conical  tube  was  nine  inches  long,  and  after  the 
fast  result  it  was  divided  at  D,  four  inches  from  the  end.  Upon  removing 
the  part  thus  cut  off,  air  again  descended  through  B. 

From  this  experiment  we  see  that  the  influence  of  such  terminations  as 
V-  to  cy”ndrical  air  tubes,  extends  to  a  distance  equal  to  25  times  the  tube’s 
'  iatneteJ'  It:  1S  however  modified  by  the  velocity  of  the  motive  current. 
When  high  steam  is  used  instead  of  air,  the  distance  is  greatly  diminished 
and  m  some  cases  annihilated.  A  smoky  chimney,  or  one  with  a  feeble 
draft,  may  be  cured  by  enlarging  its  upper  part  like  the  additional  tube  C 
m  the  last  figure.  The  reason  why  an  equal  amount  of  rise  in  the  exhaust¬ 
ing  tube  is  not  produced  by  additional  ones  to  such  devices  as  No.  213 
arises  no  doubt  from  the  projection  of  the  exhausting  tube  into  the  blowing 
one,  which  prevents  the  blast  from  sweeping  directly  into  the  conical  one 
and  Jit/mg  the  latter,  a  condition  necessary  to  the  increased  ascent. 

Some  applications  of  the  principle  illustrated  by  the  preceding  experi¬ 
ments  may  be  noticed  1.  In  siphons  for  decanting  corroding  or  other 
liquids— for  which  see  remarks  on  these  instruments  in  a  subsequent 


No.  214. 


488  Draft  of  Chimneys — Ventilation  of  Ships.  [Book  V. 

chapter.  2.  Increasing  the  draft  of  chimneys,  as  well  as  preventing  them 
from  smoking.  Instead  of  the  old  fashioned  caps  of  clay  or  the  moveable 

ones  of  iron,  let  them  be  made  in  the  form  of 
the  annexed  figure,  and  either  of  sheet  iron  or 
copper.  A  short  pipe  should  be  fixed  on  the 
chimney,  and  over  it  an  outer  one  (shown  in 
the  cut)  to  turn  freely,  but  as  close  as  possible 
without  touching,  that  the  horizontal  one  to 
which  the  latter  is  attached  may  veer  round 
with  the  wind.  The  vane  V  keeps  the  oppo¬ 
site  end  A  to  the  wind,  which  enters  as  indi¬ 
cated  by  the  straight  arrow,  and  in  passing 
through  sweeps  over  the  projection  and  causes 
a  vacuum  in  the  chimney,  as  in  the  blowing 
tubes  already  described. 

A  device  of  this  kind  might  be  made  to  act  in  windy  weather  as  a  per¬ 
petual  bellows  to  blast  or  refining  furnaces,  and  also  to  those  of  steam¬ 
boats  and  locomotive  carriages.  When  used  on  chimneys  of  the  latter,  a 
contrivance  to  turn  and  keep  the  blowing  tube  fore  and  aft,  as  the  carriage  is 
turned,  would  be  required.  The  joint  wrhere  the  perpendicular  tube  moves 
over  the  fixed  one  might  also  be  made  air-tight  by  an  amalgam,  on  the 
principle  of  the  water  lute.  From  the  experiments  with  the  tubes  Nos. 
206,  ”7,  ’8,  ’9,  ’10  and  ’13,  it  follows  that  if  the  waste  steam  of  a  locomo¬ 
tive  carriage  were  discharged  over  the  mouth  of  the  chimney  as  above, 
instead  of  up  its  centre,  the  resulting  vacuum  would  be  greater. 

It  is  worth  while  to  try  whether  wells,  mines,  and  the  holds  of  ships, 
could  not  be  more  speedily  and  effectually  ventilated  by  a  similar  device 
than  by  the  common  wind  sails  used  in  the  latter.  These  displace  the- 
noxious  vapors  by  mixing  fresh  air  with  them,  but  by  the  proposed  plan 
the  foul  air  might  be  drawn  up  alone,  while  the  atmosphere  would  cause 
a  steady  and  copious  supply  to  stream  in  at  every  avenue. 

If  two  or  three  exhausting  tubes,  of  metal  or  of  any  other  suitable  ma¬ 
terial,  (whose  diameter  for  a  ship  of  the  largest  class  need  not  exceed 
three  or  four  inches)  were  permanently  secured  in  a  vessel,  their  lower 
ends  terminating  in  or  communicating  with  those  parts  where  noxious 
effluvia  chiefly  accumulates,  and  the  upper  ends  leading  to  any  convenient 
part  of  the  deck,  sides  or  stern,  so  that  the  blowing  part  could  readily  be 
slipped  tight  into  or  over  them,  the  interior  might  be  almost  as  well  ven¬ 
tilated,  even  when  the  hatches  were  all  down,  as  the  apartments  of  an 
ordinary  dwelling.  It  appears  to  us  moreover,  that  a  vessel  might  by  this 
means  be  always  kept  charged  with  fresh  and  pure  air;  for  the  apparatus 
might  be  in  operation  at  all  times,  day  and  night,  acting  as  a  perpetual 
pump  in  drawing  off  the  miasmata.  The  only  attention  required  would 
be,  to  secure  the  blowing  tube  in  its  proper  position  with  regard  to  the 
wind  during  storms.  In  ordinary  weather  its  movements  might  be  regu¬ 
lated  by  a  vane,  as  in  the  figure,  when  it  would  require  no  attention  what¬ 
ever.  The  upper  side  of  the  blowing  part  of  the  tube  should  be  cut  partly 
away  at  the  end,  so  as  to  facilitate  the  entrance  of  descending  currents  of 
wind.  See  the  above  figure. 


Chau.  3.] 


Vacuum  by  Currents  of  Steam. 


489 


CHAPTER  III. 

Vacuum  by  currents  of  steam— Various  modes  of  applying  them  in  blowing  tubes— Experiments— 
Eftects  of  conical  ajutages — Results  of  slight  changes  in  the  position  of  vacuum  tubes  within  blowing 
ones— Double  blowing  tube— Experiments  with  it— Raising  water  by  currents  of  steam— Ventilation  of 
mines— Experimental  apparatus  for  concentrating  sirups  in  vacuo— Drawing  air  through  liquids  to  pro 
mote  their  evaporation — Remarks  on  the  origin  of  obtaining  a  vacuum  by  currents  of  steam. 


As  the  utmost  rarefaction  which  can  be  produced  with  blowing  tubes 
by  the  lungs  is  exceedingly  limited,  we  next  endeavored  to  ascertain  how 
far  it  could  be  carried  with  currents  of  steam.  This  fluid  presents  several 
advantages.  By  it  a  uniform  blast  can  be  obtained  and  kept  up,  and  its 
intensity  can  be  increased  or  diminished  at  pleasure  :  hence  experiments 
with  it  can  be  continued,  repeated  or  varied,  till  the  results  can  be  relied 
on.  As  it  is  inconvenient  to  measure  high  degrees  of  rarefaction  by  col¬ 
umns  of  water,  mercury  was  employed  for  that  purpose;  and  as  the 
blowing  tubes  &c.  if  made  of  lead  or  block  tin  would  have  become  soft 
and  bent  by  the  heat,  they  were  all  made  of  copper,  while  the  additional 
or  conical  tubes  (generally)  were  of  cast  brass,  and  smoothly  bored.  A 
detail  of  all  or  even  half  the  experiments  made  would  possess  no  interest 
to  general  readers,  and  would  be  out  of  place  here ;  we  therefore  merely 
^notice  such  as  gave  the  best  results.  The  force  of  the  highest  steam  used 
*was  equal  to  a  pressure  of  90  pounds  on  the  inch.  It  was  measured  by 
the  hydrostatic  safety-valve  described  in  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Insti¬ 
tute,  vol.  x  2d  series,  page  2. 

While  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  this  subject,  we  supposed  that  cur¬ 
rents  of  steam  had  never  been  employed  to  produce  a  vacuum  ;  but  it  will 
be  seen  towards  the  close  of  the  chapter,  that  we  were  anticipated  by  a 
French  gentleman,  though  to  what  extent  we  are  yet  uninformed.  We 
were  not  aware  of  the  fact  until  all  the  following  experiments  had  been 
matured,  and  most  of  them  repeatedly  performed.  The  circumstance  af¬ 
fords  another  example  of  those  coincidences  of  mental  and  mechanical 
effort  and  resource  with  which  the  history  of  the  arts  is  and  always  will 
be  crowrded.  The  shoemakers’  awl  was  formerly  straight,  but  is  now  bent : 
the  author  of  the  improvement  was  supposed  to  have  lived  in  comparatively 
modern  times;  but  recent  researches  among  the  monuments  of  Egypt 
have  proved,  that  the  artists  who  made  shoes  and  wrought  in  leather  under 
the  Pharaohs  used  awls  identical  in  shape  with  the  modern  ones. 

The  expenditure  of  high  steam  through  open  blowing  tubes  like  those 
figured  in  Nos.  203  and  204  would  obviously  be  enormous,  since  there  is 
nothing  in  them  to  prevent  its  passing  freely  through.  They  are  not  there¬ 
fore  so  well  calculated  for  practical  operations  as  those  in  which  the  end 
of  the  exhausting  pipe  projects  into  the  blowing  one  and  contracts  the 
passage  for  the  vapor,  as  in  Nos.  205 — 210.  These  are  also  better  on 
another  account — they  produce  a  better  vacuum.  Economy  in  the  em¬ 
ployment  of  steam  is  of  the  first  importance ;  hence  it  was  desirable  to 
determine  if  possible  that  particular  construction  of  the  apparatus  by  which 
the  highest  degree  of  rarefaction  may  be  obtained  with  the  least  expendi¬ 
ture  of  vapor.  Fortunately  for  the  solution  of  this  problem,  there  is  one 
form  of  the  apparatus  in  which  both  are  eminently  combined ;  for  while 

62 


490 


Apparatus  for  employing  Currents  of  Steam. 


[Book  V. 


an  increase  of  the  steam’s  elasticity  increased  the  vacuum,  an  increased 
discharoe  of  the  vapor  was  often  found  to  diminish  it.  This  was  frequently 
the  case  when  high  steam  was  employed  :  for  example,  if  the  cock  through 
which  steam  passed  into  the  blowing  tube  marked  C  in  .No.  217  was  wide 
open,  die  mercury  would  sometimes  fall  two  or  three  inches,  but  when 
partially  closed,  would  instantly  rise  ;  thus  indicating  that  it  is  the  velocity 
and  not  the  volume  of  vapor  passing  over  the  orifice  of  the  exhausting 
pipe,  upon  which  the  vacuum  depends. 


We  first  passed  steam  through  tubes  connected  like  No.  213,  both  with 
and  without  the  conical  ajutages  C  D  in  Nos.  211  and  212.  Various  pro¬ 
portions  of  the  steam  passage  over  the  orifices  of  the  vacuum  or  exhausting 
pipes  were  also  employed,  as  at  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  No.  216,  which  repre¬ 
sent  horizontal  sections  of  the  vacuum  pipe  and  steam  passage  over  its 
orifice.  The  dark  parts  show  the  passage  for  the  steam,  and  the  inner 
circle  the  mouth  of  the  vacuum  tube.  In  A  the  steam  channel  did  not 
extend  over  one-fourth  of  the  circumference  of  the  orifice  ;  in  B  it  reached 
nearly  half  way  round  ;  in  C  three-fourths  ;  while  in  D  and  E  it  extended 
entirely  round.  Upon  trial,  the  vacuum  produced  by  B  was  greater  than 
that  by  A ;  C  surpassed  B,  and  D  uniformly  exceeded  them  all.  We 
therefore  finally  arranged  the  apparatus  as  shown  at  No.  217,  in  which  A 
is  a  brass  tube  composed  of  two  conical  frustums  united  at  their  lesser 
ends.  The  longer  part,  A,  was  smoothly  bored  and  polished  in  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  its  length,  to  remove  any  minute  ridges  left  by  the  borer.  The 
interior  diameter  of  the  large  end  was  an  inch  and  an  eighth,  and  of  the 
smallest  part  nineteen-fortieths,  (rather  less  than  half  an  inch.)  The  ex¬ 
ternal  diameter  of  the  vacuum  pipe  B.  was  seventeen-fortieths,  so  that  the 
annular  space  left  round  it  for  the  steam  was  only  one-fortieth  of  an  inch 
in  width,  being  about  as  small  a  space  as  could  well  be  formed  without 
the  pipe  B:  touching  A.  The  length  of  A  from  the  contracted  part  was 
6^  inches.  A  glass  tube  three  feet  long,  whose  lower  end  was  placed  in 


491 


Chap.  3.] 


Effect  of  Conical  Ajutages. 


a  vessel  of  quicksilver,  was  attached  to  B,  and  a  scale  to  measure  the 
ascent  of  the  mercurial  column. 

When  the  pressure  of  the  steam  in  the  boiler  was  equal  to  30  pounds 
on  the  inch  exclusive  of  atmospheric  pressure,  and  the  steam  cock  C 
opened,  (the  hole  in  its  plug  was  five-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter) 
the  mercury  rose  9  inches  in  the  vacuum  tube  B.  When  the  steam  was 
at  40  pounds  the  mercury  rose  15 £  inches.  At  50  pounds  it  reached  over 
lb  inches,  at  60  pounds  over  19  inches,  and  at  70  pounds  21  inches.  At 
b°  pounds  it  was  only  21  inches,  but  on  partially  closing  the  cock  it  sprung 
up  to  22  inches.  When  the  steam  was  at  90  pounds  on  the  inch,  the  mer- 
cury  fell  to  20  inches,  but  on  turning  the  plug  of  C  it  rose  to  22  inches 
ihese  experiments  were  repeated  several  times  and  on  different  occasions 
without  materially  altering  the  results. 

The  effect  of  additional  tubes  inserted  into  the  open  end  of  A  was  next 
observed.  Ten  or  twelve  of  these  were  made  of  tin  plate,  and  of  different 
engths  and  taper.  The  small  ends  of  all  were  half  an  inch  in  diameter 
and  made  very  thin,  so  as  to  slide  into  A  nearly  up  to  the  contracted  part' 
and  at  the  same  time  to  present  the  least  projection  possible  to  the  issuing 
current.  The  effect  of  three  of  these  tubes,  two  of  which  gave  the  bes^ 
results,  are  stated  in  the  following  table.  The  tube  No.  1  was  14  inches 
long,  and  its  wide  end  1|  inches  across.  No.  2  was  27  inches  lono-,  and  lg 

m  f  at  .its  ™outh-  No.  3  was  five  feet  long,  and  its  moutlTor  wide 

end  2J  inches  in  diameter. 


Pressure  of  steam  in  pounds 
on  each  square  inch. 

Vacuum  in  inches  of  mercury 
with  apparatus  No.  217. 

VACUUM  WITH 

No.  1. 

ADDITIONAL  TUBES. 
No.  2.  No.  3. 

30 

- 

- 

- 

9 

- 

- 

10 

11 

___ 

40 

- 

- 

- 

15.5 

- 

- 

17 

18 

10.5 

50 

- 

- 

18.1 

- 

- 

20 

20.5 

60 

- 

- 

19.6 

- 

. 

20.5 

22 

- 

70 

- 

- 

21 

- 

- 

21.5 

22.8 

16.5 

80 

- 

- 

21 

- 

- 

22 

23.5 

- 

« 

- 

- 

22 

•  m 

• 

22 

23.5 

- 

90 

- 

- 

20 

- 

• 

20 

21 

it 

- 

- 

m 

22 

- 

- 

22 

_ 

In  adjusting  an  additional  tube  it  was  moved  till  its  axis  coincided  with 
that  of  A.  This  was  ascertained  by  the  mercury,  which  oscillated  with 
every  movement  of  the  tube,  but  always  rose  when  it  was  in  the  position 
indicated.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  mercury  stood  at  15  inches,  the 
additional  tube  No.  1  was  slipped  into  A  and  the  mercury  fell  to  12  inches; 
but  this  was  caused  by  pushing  the  tube  in  too  far,  i.  e.  till  it  touched  the* 
vacuum  pipe — for  on  withdrawing  it  and  swelling  out  the  end  a  little,  the 
mercury  rose  to  17  inches  on  the  tube  being  reinserted.  A  small  addition 
was  made  to  the  wide  end  of  No.  1,  so  that  it  flared  out  like  a  trumpet : 
on  trying  it,  the  mercury  stood  two  inches  lower  than  before. 

The  fall  of  the  mercury  when  the  steam  was  raised  to  90  pounds,  was 
quite  unexpected.  It  was  at  first  supposed  to  have  been  caused  by  a 
wrong  position  of  the  additional  tube,  and  then  to  some  small  object  lodged 
by  the  steam  between  the  vacuum  and  the  blowing  pipes;  but  on  exami¬ 
nation  nothing  of  the  kind  was  found.  As  the  mercury  still  refused  to  rise, 
we  tried  another  apparatus  similar  in  all  respects  to  No.  217,  except  being 
of  rather  larger  dimensions ;  but  the  same  thing  occurred.  When  the 
steam  was  at  30  pounds  the  mercury  stood  at  7g  inches — at  50  pounds  17 
inches  at  60  pounds  20  inches — at  70  pounds  22  inches — at  80  pounds 
23^  inches  and  at  90  pounds  20  inches  !,  Several  experiments  seemed 


492 


'Position  of  Vacuum  Tubes  within  blowing  ones.  [Book  V. 

to  indicate  that  the  length  and  taper  of  the  additional  tubes  should  vary 
with  the  force  of  the  steam,  and  that  the  annular  passage  for  the  vapor 
should  be  contracted  as  the  elastic  force  of  the  steam  was  increased. 

Cylindrical  pipes  applied  to  the  mouth  of  A,  or  to  those  of  the  addi¬ 
tional  tubes,  caused  the  mercury  to  fall ;  but  any  plane  object  held  against 
the  current  issuing  from  A,  did  not  affect  the  vacuum.  A  piece  of  board 
was  gradually  brought  to  within  one-fourth  of  an  inch  of  the  end  of  A,  and 
of  course  deflected  the  steam  at  right  angles ;  yet  the  vacuum  was  not  in 
the  least  diminished  until  the  board  was  pushed  still  nearer.  By  applying 
the  large  ends  of  the  additional  tubes  to  A  the  vacuum  was  diminished. 

The  noise  made  by  the  steam  issuing  from  A  is  indicative  of  the  state 
of  the  vacuum.  If  it  be  loud  and  sonorous,  the  vacuum  is  not  near  so  high 
as  when  the  sound  is  less  and  hissing.  In  the  former  case  there  is  generally 
too  much  steam  escaping — the  cock  should  be  partially  closed. 

No.  218  is  a  vertical  and  a  horizontal  section  of  the  device  by  means  of 
which  the  vacuum  tube  was  retained  in  a  position  either  eccentric  or  con¬ 
centric  with  the  blowing  one,  and  by  which  it  could  be  drawn  to  one  side 
so  as  to  touch  the  narrowest  part  of  the  latter.  Three  fine  screws  with 
blunt  ends  were  tapped  at  equal  distances  from  each  other  into  solid  pro¬ 
jections  cast  on  A,  1\  inches  below  the  contracted  part.  By  these,  the 
exact  position  of  the  vacuum  tube  which  gave  the  best  result  was  accu¬ 
rately  ascertained ;  and  it  was  remarkable  how  small  a  change  in  its  posi¬ 
tion  affected  the  mercurial  column.  A  few  examples  are  annexed  : — 1. 
The  steam  in  the  boiler  being  low,  and  the  mercury  standing  at  inches 
only,  the  vacuum  tube  was  drawn  by  the  screws  so  as  barely  to  touch  A, 
and  instantly  the  mercury  fell  to  2  inches.  2.  When  the  pipes  were  clear 
of  each,  and  the  mercury  19£  inches  high,  as  soon  as  they  touched  it  fell 
to  16  inches.  Similar  results  took  place  whatever  might  be  the  force  of 
the  steam.  3.  The  mercury  fell  also  when  the  axis  of  both  tubes  did  not 
quite  coincide,  although  a  clear  passage  still  remained  for  the  steam,  as 
shown  at  E,  No.  216.  In  this  case,  as  in  the  others,  the  greater  flow  of 
vapor  on  one  side  probably  created  cross  currents  in  A,  after  passing  the 
contracted  part.  On  one  occasion,  the  mercury  suddenly  fell  several  inches 
while  the  pipes  were  concentric  with  each  other.  Upon  examination  this 
was  found  to  be  owing  to  a  minute  piece  of  grit,  or  a  film  of  lead,  blown 
by  the  steam  between  the  two  pipes,  where  it  was  wedged  in.  It  did  not 
exceed  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  in  any  direction.  It  produced  the  same 
effect  as  when  the  pipes  touched.  Upon  removing  it,  the  steam  rose  as 
before. 

Another  point  necessary  to  be  attended  to  is  the  position  of  the  orifice 
of  the  vacuum  pipe  with  respect  to  the  narrowest  part  of  the  blowing  one; 
i.  e.  whether  in  a  line  with  it,  or  in  advance,  or  behind  it,  as  figured  at  A 
B  C  No.  219.  To  test  the  effect  of  these  various  positions,  the  vacuum 
pipe  was  so  arranged  by  a  screw  cut  on  it,  as  to  be  pushed  in  or  drawn 
back  at  pleasure.  In  one  experiment,  the  mercury  stood  at  21  inches 
when  they  were  on  a  line,  as  at  A.  The  vacuum  tube  was  pushed  for¬ 
ward  three-sixteenths  of  an  inch  without  any  change  in  the  vacuum;  but 
when  the  pipe  protruded  three-eighths,  as  at  B,  the  mercury  fell  to  18 
inches.  It  was  then  drawn  behind  the  contracted  part  of  A,  and  the  mer¬ 
cury  instantly  began  to  fall.  When  the  orifice  was  one-fourth  of  an  inch 
behind,  the  mercury  fell  from  21  inches  to  4 ;  and  when  drawn  back  one- 
eighth  of  an  inch  more,  as  at  C,  the  steam  descended  the  vacuum  tube  and 
blew  the  mercury  out  of  the  vessel  that  contained  it.  In  another  experi¬ 
ment,  the  vacuum  tube  was  one-fourth  of  an  inch  in  advance  of  the  con¬ 
tracted  part,  and  the  mercury  20  inches  high :  when  the  tube  was  drawn 


Chap.  3.]  Double  Blowing  Tube.  493 

back  so  that  its  end  was  in  a  line  with  the  contracted  part,  the  mercury 
rose  half  an  inch.  When  drawn  back  one-eighth  of  an  inch,  it  fell  to 
17£  inches. 

That  part  of  the  vacuum  tube  within  the  steam  chamber,  or  back  end 
of  A,  should  be  straight,  and  its  axis  should  coincide  as  nearly  as  possible 
with  that  of  A,  else  the  vapor  in  passing  over  the  orifice  will  be  more  or 
less  deflected  to  one  side,  and  thus  diminish  the  vacuum. 

Although  the  blowing  tube  figured  at  No.  217  has  its  mouth  opening 
upwards,  in  practice  we  used  it  in  a  horizontal  position,  as  at  No.  219,  or 
rather  inclined  downwards,  as  at  No.  221,  that  the  condensed  vapor  might 
not  fall  back  and  enter  the  vacuum  tube. 

No.  220  represents  another  modification  of  this  mode  of  removing  at¬ 
mospheric  pressure,  by  which  the  vacuum  may  be  carried  to 
a  greater  extent  than  with  No.  217.  It  consists  of  two  blow¬ 
ing  tubes  attached  to  one  vacuum  pipe.  The  lower  blowing 
tube  in  its  narrowest  part  was  seven-twentieths  of  an  inch  in 
diameter,  and  the  annular  passage  for  the  steam  between  it 
and  the  vacuum  pipe  was  only  one-fiftieth  of  an  inch  in  width. 
The  bore  of  the  steam  cock  and  pipe  C  was  three-tenths  of  an 
inch.  The  upper  end  of  the  lower  blowing  tube  was  half  an 
inch  in  diameter,  and  terminated  at  the  contracted  part  of  a 
larger  one,  D,  where  a  space  of  one-thirtieth  of  an  inch  was 
left  for  the  steam  between  them.  D  was  six  inches  long,  and 
its  upper  end  an  inch  in  diameter.  It  was  also  furnished  with 
steam  by  the  pipe  and  cock  E.  (Both  blowing  tubes  in 
the  accompanying  illustration  are  figured  too  large  for  the 
exhausting  one.) 

When  this  device  was  tried,  the  safety-valve  of  the  boiler 
indicated  a  pressure  of  40  pounds  on  the  inch.  The  cock  E 
was  first  opened,  and  as  the  steam  rushed  from  D  the  mercury 
rose  8  inches.  E  was  then  closed  and  C  opened,  upon  which 
the  mercury  rose  8.8  inches.  Both  cocks  were  then  opened, 
and  the  mercury  rose  16.6  inches. 

When  the  steam  was  at  60  pounds  and  E  opened,  the  mercurial  column 
was  9  inches.  With  E  closed  and  C  opened  it  rose  15  inches.  Both 
cocks  were  next  opened,  and  the  height  was  increased  to  20  inches. 

Steam  at  80  pounds  and  E  open,  the  mercury  stood  at  17.5  inches.  C 
open  and  E  shut,  it  rose  to  21  inches ;  and  when  both  were  opened,  it 
reached  to  24J  inches.  The  addition  of  another  blowing  tube  over  D 
would  most  likely  have  carried  it  to  the  full  height  of  the  barometer.  If 
D  were  inserted  in  a  chimney  in  the  direction  of  the  flue,  it  would  not 
only  increase  the  draft,  but  the  draft  would  increase  the  vacuum. 

The  steam  pipe  that  supplied  D  was  then  unscrewed  from  the  cock  E, 
which  was  left  open.  The  cock  C  was  again  opened,  and  the  mercury 
rose  as  before  to  21  inches,  the  air  rushing  through  E  producing  no  effect 
on  the  column  except  rendering  its  surface  slightly  concave.  By  often 
closing  and  opening  the  orifice  of  E  with  the  finger,  no  sensible  change  in 
the  vacuum  could  be  perceived. 

After  removing  the  vessel  of  mercury  from  the  bottom  of  the  vacuum 
pipe,  a  piece  of  twine  several  yards  in  length  which  happened  to  be  laying 
on  the  ground  near  by,  was  drawn  into  the  tube  and  discharged  through 
D.  This  was  repeated  several  times.  By  presenting  one  end  near  the 
end  of  the  glass  tube,  the  whole  was  almost  instantaneously  drawn  up  and 
thrown  out  by  the  steam,  although  the  vacuum  tube  was  continued  in  a 
horizontal  position  nearly  two  feet  before' it  was  connected  to  the  glass 


No.  220. 


494 


Raising  Water  by  Currents  of  Steam.  [Book  V. 

one.  On  applying  a  vessel  of  sand,  and  another  of  water,  to  the  end  of 
the  tube,  the  contents  of  both  were  raised  and  discharged  in  the  same  way. 

The  vacuum  tube  of  No.  220  was  connected  to  a  soda  fountain,  and  an 
opening  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  diameter  made  in  the  latter  to  admit  air. 
The  mercury  previous  to  making  this  opening  stood  at  16  inches,  and  it 
still  remained  at  that  height.  The  opening  was  next  widened  to  one- 
eighth  of  an  inch,  when  the  mercury  fell  to  12  inches.  The  opening  was 
then  made  as  large  as  the  bore  of  the  vacuum  tube,  (about  five-sixteenths) 
upon  which  the  mercury  fell  to  six  indies. 

It  is  obvious  that  by  connecting  one  of  these  blowing  instruments  to  an 
air-tight  vessel,  water  may  be  raised  into  the  latter  by  the  atmosphere,  and 
to  an  elevation  corresponding  with  the  vacuum.  In  one  of  our  earliest 
experiments,  we  attached  a  blowing  tube  to  a  soda  fountain  placed  22  feet 
above  the  surface  of  the  water  in  a  well,  into  which  a  pipe  descended  from 
the  upper  part  of  the  fountain.  But  by  arranging  a  series  of  close  vessels 
at  certain  distances  above  each  other,  (according  to  the  extent  of  the  vacu¬ 
um  obtained  by  the  apparatus)  water  may  be  raised  in  this  manner  to  any 
elevation — the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  transferring  it  from  one  vessel 
to  another  till  it  arrive  at  the  place  of  discharge,  as  in  Papin’s  plan,  de¬ 
scribed  at  page  447-8.  An  English  patent  was  granted  in  1839  for  a  very 
elaborate  French  machine  of  this  kind.  See  Civil  Engineer  and  Architect’s 
Journal,  vol.  iii,  page  51.  In  December  1840,  an  American  patent  was 
obtained  for  the  same  thing  by  a  French  merchant  of  this  city.  This  gen¬ 
tleman  has  had  one  constructed  from  drawings  sent  from  Paris.  The  re¬ 
ceiving  vessels  were  12  feet  apart.  The  mode  of  applying  the  steam  is 
to  discharge  it  at  the  orifice  of  the  vacuum  pipe,  over  a  small  part  of  the 
periphery,  as  at  A  No.  216.  The  steam  however  does  not  come  in  contact 
with  the  sides  of  the  vacuum  tube,  as  in  the  preceding  figures  No.  217  to 
220,  for  this  tube  does  not  form  one  of  the  walls  of  the  small  steam  cham¬ 
ber  behind  its  orifice — the  chamber  being  a  separate  part  complete  in  itself, 
and  having  a  semicircular  recess  formed  at  one  side,  into  which  the  va¬ 
cuum  pipe  is  received.  There  is  therefore,  between  the  interior  of  the 
vacuum  tube  and  the  steam  without,  not  only  the  thickness  of  the  metal  of 
which  that  tube  is  fabricated,  but  also  the  thickness  of  the  plate  of  which 
the  steam  chamber  is  made.  Floats  are  arranged  in  the  interior  of  the 
receiving  vessels,  so  that  when  one  of  the  latter  is  filled  with  water  from 
the  one  below,  the  float  opens  a  valve  to  admit  the  atmosphere  to  press 
the  contents  into  the  vessel  next  above  it. 

There  is  another  mode  of  raising  water  to  considerable  elevations  by  an 
apparatus  like  Nos.  217  and  220,  and  for  which  they  seem  much  better 
adapted  than  any  other,  viz.  by  admitting  portions  of  air  to  mix  with  the 
ascending  liquid,  as  in  the  examples  given  at  pp.  224,  225.  No  air-tight 
receiver  would  then  be  required,  as  both  the  air  and  water  would  be  dis¬ 
charged  with  the  steam  at  the  open  end  of  the  blowing  tube,  which,  for 
the  reason  already  stated,  should  be  inclined  downwards. 

Wherever  large  volumes  of  air  are  required  to  be  withdrawn,  as  in  the 
ventilation  of  mines,  these  instruments  we  believe  would  be  found  as  effi¬ 
cient  and  economical  as  any  device  yet  tried.  A  number  of  vacuum  lubes, 
whose  lower  ends  were  made  to  terminate  in  different  parts  of  a  mine — 
(they  might  be  of  leather  or  other  flexible  materials,  so  as  readily  to  be 
moved  wherever  required) — and  whose  upper  ones  were  connected  to 
one  or  more  blowing  tubes  through  which  currents  of  steam  were  con¬ 
stantly  passing,  would  effectually  withdraw  the  noxious  vapors  from  below, 
and  induce  a  more  copious  supply  of  fresh  air  than  any  forcing  apparatus 
could  ever  furnish.  The  waste  steam  of  engines  at  coal  or  other  mines 


Chap.  3.]  Apparatus  for  evaporating  liquids  in  vacuo.  49  5 

might  be  beneficially  applied  to  large  blowing  tubes,  and  thus  contribute 
to  the  same  result. 

There  are  other  useful  applications  of  these  blowing  instruments.  One 
o  our  first  attempts  was  to  employ  them  as  substitutes  for  the  expensive 
air  pumps  worked  by  steam-engines,  employed  in  evaporating  sirups  and 

refining  sugar  by  Howard’s  vacuum  plan.  B  F 


We  fitted  up  a  very  strong  old  still,  (No.  221)  three  feet  in  diameter  and 
about  the  same  in  depth.  A  jacket  of  copper  was  fitted  to  its  lower  part 
so  as  to  form  a  double  bottom.  The  discharging  pipe  passed  through  the 
jacket,  and  was  closed  by  a  valve  V.  Steam  being  conveyed  into  the 
jacket  heated  the  liquid  within  the  still,  but  instead  of  taking  steam  from 
the  boiler  expressly  for  this  purpose,  we  made  use  of  that  by  which  the 
vacuum  was  produced.  The  open  end  of  a  blowing  tube  was  inserted 
into  the  jacket  as  represented  in  the  cut,  and  the  vacuum  tube  B  connected 
by  a  cock  to  the  neck  of  the  still.  C  the  steam  cock  and  pipe  leading  to 
the  boiler.  D  a  pipe  that  conveyed  the  surplus  steam  from  the  jacket 
into  the  chimney.  The  orifice  of  the  vacuum  pipe  within  the  blowing  one 
was  three-eighths  of  an  inch  diameter,  and  the  annular  space  around  it  for 
the  passage  of  the  steam  was  the  same  as  in  No.  217.  At  the  first  trial 
with  this  apparatus,  25  gallons  of  sirup  were  put  into  the  still  through  the 
funnel,  and  the  cock  shut.  The  steam  cock  C  was  then  opened,  and  in  a 
few  moments  the  mercury  in  the  gauge  rose  15  inches,  but  in  eight  minutes 
fell  to  10  inches,  the  fall  being  occasioned  by  the  evolution  of  vapor  in  the 
still.  The  steam  in  the  boiler  was  raised  higher,  until  the  mercury  rose 
to  16  inches;  but  after  the  operation  had  been  continued  about  half  an 
hour  it  commenced  rising,  and  was  at  18  inches  when  the  experiment  was 
closed.  On  another  trial  32  gallons  of  sirup  were  poured  in,  and  when 
C  was  opened  the  mercury  rose  to  22  inches,  but  in  ten  minutes  fell  to  17. 
In  half  an  hour  it  began  slowly  to  rise,  and  in  fifteen  minutes  reached  to 
20  inches,  at  which  height  it  remained  when  the  concentrated  sirup  was 
withdrawn. 

Had  a  double  tube  like  No.  220  been  used,  the  vacuum  might  probably 
have  been  carried  to  28  or  29  inches,  and  the  operation  performed  in  much 
less  time.  1  he  experiment  however  show§  how  small  a  tube  can  with- 


496 


Origin  of  obtaining  a  Vacuum  by  Currents  of  Steam.  [Book  V 

draw  the  vapor  arising  from  a  surface  of  seven  square  feet.  It  would  be 
an  advantage  to  apply  two  or  perhaps  three  separate  blowing  tubes,  of 
different  sizes,  to  each  sugar  pan — using  the  largest  first,  to  draw  off  the 
the  balk  of  the  vapor,  and  finishing  with  the  smaller  ones.  There  would 
be  a  saving  of  steam,  and  the  vacuum  might  be  carried  higher  towards 
the  close  of  an  operation  with  a  very  small  tube  and  current. 

Another  mode  of  using  these  tubes  to  promote  evaporation,  is  to  draw 
air  through  liquids  instead  of  forcing  it  through  them  with  pumps,  as  in 
the  pneumatic  processes  of  concentrating  sirups.  An  open  boiler,  four  feet 
in  diameter,  was  inverted  and  placed  in  another  over  a  fire  and  containing 
sirup  :  a  blowing  tube,  the  orifice  of  whose  vacuum  pipe  was  three-fourths 
of  an  inch  diameter,  was  connected  to  the  inverted  vessel,  and  it  drew  so 
much  air  under  the  edges  as  to  cool  the  liquid  to  such  a  degree  that  the 
operation  of  concentration  was  prolonged  to  twice  the  ordinary  time. 

While  engaged  in  making  the  experiments  described  in  this  chapter,  (in 
1835)  and  stimulated  by  the  conviction  that  we  were  the  first  thus  to  apply 
currents  of  steam  for  the  purposes  of  raising  water  and  promoting  the 
evaporation  of  liquids  at  low  temperatures,  &c.  we  were  exceedingly  sur¬ 
prised  to  learn  that  something  of  the  kind  had  been  previously  done,  or 
proposed  to  be  done,  in  France.  As  we  had  made  preparations  to  secure 
the  invention  by  a  patent  here,  and  by  others  in  Europe,  our  experiments 
were  discontinued  with  a  view  to  ascertain  the  particulars  of  the  French 
plan,  that  it  might  be  known  whether  we  were  traveling  on  beaten  ground 
or  not;  but  to  the  present  time  we  have  not  obtained  any  specific  descrip¬ 
tion  of  it,  nor  do  we  know  whether  it  consisted  of  a  jet  of  steam  discharged 
through  the  centre  of  a  tube,  as  in  Nos.  208,  210,  and  as  applied  to  in¬ 
crease  the  draft  of  chimneys  in  locomotive  carriages,  or  whether  the  jet 
was  directed  over  the  outside  of  a  part  or  the  whole  of  the  end  of  the 
vacuum  tube — nor  have  we  learnt  what  degree  of  rarefaction  was  obtained. 
We  have  therefore  concluded  to  insert  the  preceding  notice  of  our  labors, 
that  since  we  cannot  claim  priority  in  the  research,  we  may  be  allowed 
the  credit,  if  any  be  due,  for  our  modes  of  application,  and  the  extent  to 
which  they  carried  the  vacuum  and  are  obviously  capable  of  carrying  it, 
especially  by  such  devices  as  No.  220. 

The  whole  of  the  devices,  from  the  blowing  tubes  described  in  the  last 
chapter  to  the  apparatus  for  boiling  sugar  in  vacuo  described  in  this,  with 
the  exception  of  the  patented  plan  of  raising  water  by  a  series  of  vessels 
on  different  levels,  originated  entirely  with  ourselves,  nor  were  we  in¬ 
debted  either  directly  or  remotely  for  so  much  as  a  hint  in  maturing  them 
to  any  persons  or  writings  whatever;  and  upon  them  we  have  also  spent 
no  inconsiderable  amount  both  of  time  and  money.  But  as  we  have  on 
several  occasions  shown  that  new  devices,  so  called,  are  often  old  ones,  it 
is  but  just  that  we  should  mete  to  ourselves  the  same  measure  which  wo 
have  given  to  others.  We  therefore  with  pleasure  record  the  fact,  that  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  held  in  January, 
1833,  M.  Pellatans  read  a  paper  on  the  dynamic  effects  of  a  jet  of  steam, 
of  which  a  notice  (not  a  description  of  the  plan)  was  published  in  an  Eng¬ 
lish  journal,  and  copied  into  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  for  March 
of  the  same  year — vol.  x,  2d  series,  p.  195. 

1  here  is  also  described  in  the  London  Mechanics’  Magazine,  vol.  iii,  p. 
275,  an  experiment  of  a  current  of  air  from  a  bellows  directed  over  the 
orifice  of  an  inverted  glass  funnel,  which  was  placed  in  a  saucer  filled  with 
water.  From  this  (which  we  did  not  see  till  recently)  the  blowing  tubes 
described  in  the  last  chapter  might,  with  a  little  ingenuity,  have  been 
deduced. 


Chap.  4.] 


Spouting  Tubes. 


497 


CHAPTER  IV 


jT  t  g  tubes  Water  eas.Iy  disturbed-Force  economically  transmitted  by  the  oscillation  of  liquid, 
^Pertinents  on  the  ascent  of  water  in  differently  shaped  tubes-Application  of  one  form  to  siphons- 
Movement  g,ven  to  spout, „g  tnbes-These  produce  a  jet  both  by  their  ascent  and  descent-Explr'm^ 
platn  conical  tubes-Spout.ng  tubes  with  air  pipes  attached-Experiments  with  various  sized  tubes 
-Observattons  respec  ttng  their  movements-Advantages  arising  from  inertia-Modes  of  communicate 
motion  to  spouting  tubes— Purposes  for  which  they  are  applicable— The  Souffleur.  ? 

13  Y[miP}e  mode  of  raisinS  water  which  to  our  knowledge  has 
adoPted’  jet  suggested— viz.  by  straight  and  open  pipes,  or 

as  they  might  be  named,  spoutivg  tubes.  *  ” 

Water  is  raised  in  the  ram  (No.  168)  by  the  force  which  the  liquid  ac- 

whilh  w  ‘"S  rhrT  channels,  but  in  the  instruments  to 

wh.ch  we  now  refer,  the  same  effect  is  produced  by  its  momentum  iU 

passing  up  vertical  ones.  So  far  as  respects  the  force  of  a  liquid  in  mo¬ 
tion  it  makes  little  difference  in  what  direction  it  moves— whether  the 
liquid  rise  perpendicularly,  or  having  first  descended  at  one  angle  it  ascend 

with  which  hA  fn  ?educ[lng  a11  resistances,  rises  with  die  velocity 
with  which  it  would  fall  through  the  same  space  ;  but  in  practice,  the  ve^ 

loc.ty  is  diminished  by  the  length,  figure  and  dimensions  of  the  channel 
through  which  the  liquid  flows,  and  of  the  ajutage  from  which  it  escapes. 

■  vfr^-PerSrn  s  exPenence  teaches  him,  that  a  very  small  force  is  suffi- 
cient  to  disturb  a  large  body  of  water,  and  that  the  consequent  movement 
o  e  lquid  is  long  continued  after  the  force  is  withdrawn.  A  stone  dropt 
into  a  tank,  or  thrown  into  a  pond,  causes  waves  to  rise  and  roll  to  and 
fro  over  tjieir  whole  surfaces,  and  some  time  elapses  ere  the  movements 
cease.  .Days  and  even  weeks  elapse  after  a  storm  is  over  before  the  ocean 
recovers  its  previous  repose.  This  effect  is  the  result  of  the  great  mobility 
o  water;  Us  particles  move  with  such  extreme  facility  among  themselves 
and  so  actively  impart  their  motion  to  each  other,  that  a  force  once  com¬ 
municated  to  them  is  long  ere  it  becomes  exhausted.  It  is  the  same  to  a 
certain  extent  when  waves  rise  and  fall  within  tubes ;  for  although  the 
riction  of  liquids  against  the  sides  of  these  channels  is  considerable,  espe- 
cia  y  in  small  ones,  still  the  force  in  the  central  parts  is  but  slowly  con¬ 
sumed.  A  device  therefore  by  which  the  oscillation  of  liquids  is  employed 
in  transmitting  forces,  will  probably  consume  as  little  in  the  transit  as  any 
mechanical  device  known.  J 

It  has  already  been  remarked,  that  the  momentum  of  a  flowing  liquid 
suffers  less  in  passing  through  a  short  than  through  a  long  tube — through 
a  straight  than  a  crooked  one  ;  and  we  may  add  that  this  is  more  especially 
rue  when  the  figure  of  the  tube  is  expressly  designed  to  facilitate  the 
passage  of  the  moving  liquid,  instead  of  being  uniform  in  its  bore  through¬ 
out.  Mow  in  these  particulars  spouting  tubes  are  eminently  superior  to 
others,  or  they  may  be  made  so.  They  are  short,  straight,  and  of  a  form 
adapted  to  the  rising  wave  within  them. 

Motion  is  imparted  to  water  in  a  spouting  tube  either  by  depressing  the 
liquid  below  the  orifice  and  then  admitting  it  to  enter,  or  by  excluding  it 
lorn  t  e  tu  >e  ti  t  e  lower  orifice  of  the  latter  be  sufficiently  immersed, 
a  pipe  w  ose  o\,et  end  is  closed  be  plunged  perpendicularly  in  water, 

63 


49S 


[Book  V. 


Experiments  vnth  Spouting  or  Open  Tubes. 

the  liquid  will  rise  within  it  the  moment  its  end  is  opened  ;  hut  it  will 
depend  upon  the  length  and  figure  of  the  tube,  and  the  relative  proportion 
of  its  two  orifices,  whether  the  liquid  rush  up  above  the  surface  without, 
or  slowly  reach  it  and  there  remain. 

The  following  are  selected  from  a  number  of  experiments  made  several 
years  ago.  Instead  of  closing  the  lower  orifice,  the  upper  one  was  closed 
with  the  fore  finger,  the  confined  air  acting  the  part  of  a  cork,  and  pre¬ 
venting  the  liquid  from  entering  until  the  finger  was  removed. 


Nos.  222.  223.  224.  225.  226.  227.  223. 


Exper.  I. — No.  222,  a  cylindrical  glass  tube,  18  inches  long  and  half-inch 
bore.  Its  upper  orifice  was  closed  air-tight  by  the  finger,  and  the  lower 
one  then  held  four  inches  under  the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  vessel. 
Upon  raising  the  finger,  the  liquid  rose  in  the  tube  six  inches ;  i.  e.  its 
momentum  carried  it  two  inches  higher  than  the  surface  in  the  cistern, 
and  after  a  few  oscillations  it  settled  at  the  same  level.  Cylindrical 
tubes  of  various  sizes  were  tried  at  different  depths,  and  the  average  ex¬ 
tent  of  the  rise  (above  the  surface)  was  equal  to  half  the  length  of  the  part 
of  the  tube  immersed  below  the  surface.  If  No.  222  dipped  four  inches, 
the  rise  was  two — if  eight  inches,  it  was  four — and  if  twelve,  it  was  six. 
By  contracting  either  orifice  the  effect  was  diminished. 

Exper.  II. — No.  223,  a  tube  slightly  conical,  16  inches  long,  the  dia¬ 
meter  or  bore  of  the  large  end  half  an  inch,  and  that  of  the  small  end  one- 
third  of  an  inch.  The  rise  of  the  liquid  in  this  exceeded  that  in  No.  222. 
When  tried  with  the  large  end  up,  little  or  no  rise  took  place.. 

Exper.  III. — No.  224,  another  tube,  IS  inches  in  length,  the  diameter 
of  whose  upper  orifice  was  three-sixteenths  and  of  the  lower  seven-eighths 
of  an  inch.  Four  and  a  half  inches  of  the  lower  part  was  cylindrical. 
When  dipped  four  inches  in  water  and  the  finger  removed,  the  liquid  rose 
but  two  inches  above  the  surface.  This  was  owing  to  the  cylindrical  form 
of  the  lower  part  of  the  tube,  all  the  water  that  entered  being  required  to 
fill  the  lower  part.  When  the  dip  was  six  inches,  the  rise  was  five ;  when 
eight,  the  jet  passed  out  of  the  tube  and  ascended  sixteen  inches.  When 
the  tube  was  lowered  to  ten  inches  below  the  surface,  the  jet  rose  thirty 
inches;  and  when  the  end  of  the  tube  was  twelve  inches  under  the  surface, 
the  jet  ascended  four  feet  and  a  half.  Fourteen  inches  dip  threw  it  six 


Chap.  4.]  Experiments  with  Spouting  or  Open  Tubes.  499 

feet,  and  sixteen  inches  dip  caused  it  to  ascend  over  seven  feet  * 

m  cylindrical  tubes,  we  have  seen,  bore  the  same  reTaIfon  to  the  /  ! 

conicaf  tdbPthS  bUt  lhlS  exPeriment  shows  that  the  elevation  of  the  fot  in 
comcal  tubes  increases  m  a  much  greater  ratio.  J  * 

xpER.  IV.— To  include  the  extreme  proportions  between  the  two  ori¬ 
fices,  we  next  took  a  matrass  or  bolt  head  (No  29M 

from  the  globe  opposite  the  junction  of  tL  neck  orpine  The* 
thus  made  was  3£  inches,  and  the  orifice  of  the  tube  three-tenths  When 
t  le  lower  end  was  thrust  two  inches  below  the  surface,  scarcely’ any  rise 
)k  place  upon  removing  the  finger;  and  when  half  the  length  of  the 
rp.10  e  was  lmmersed,  Say  ten  inches,  the  rise  did  not  exceed  six  or  seven' 
The  reason  was  p  ain  the  large  volume  of  air  contained  in  the  lower  part 
ould  not  be  expelled  instantaneously  by  the  pressure  of  tlie  li  'A  1^ 

(lie  small  orifice  above,  but  L'fKi? 
consumed  m  doing  this.  Various  portions  were  now  cut  from  the  lower 
p  rt,  with  a  vievv  to  ascertain  the  greatest  rise  that  could  be  obtained  with 
dip  of  four  inches.  This  occurred  when  the  diameter  of  the  lower  end 
was  reduced  to  If  inches  :  the  liquid  then  rose  between  nfne  an"  ten 
dies  above  the  surface.  1  he  upper  end  was  now  heated  in  the  flame 
A  a™P’  at1(^  ^,e  b°re  enlarged  by  pressing  into  it  a  tapered  piece  of 
vood  till  the  end  resembled  the  conical  ajutage  C  D  in  No.  201.  This 
caused  the  liquid  to  rise  an  inch  higher. 

,^XPER.'  ^  prober  of  conical  tubes  of  the  same  length,  (21  inches! 
whose  wide  ends  diverged  or  flared  differently,  were  next  1 procured  S 
the  view  of  selecting  those  through  which  the  jet  rose  the  highest  as 
affording  an  approximation  to  the  best  form.  The  one  represented  at  No 
226  gave  a  better  result  than  any  other.  With  a  dip  of  four  inches  the 
jet  rose  thirteen.  The  diameter  of  its  lower  orificewas  1.6  inches  and 
that  of  the  upper  one  4  :  three  inches  below  the  latter,  the  bore  w’as  2 
At  seven  inches  from  the  small  end,  the  bore  was  .3— at  fourteen  inches' 
.4-and  at  seventeen  inches,  .5.  The  curve  given  to  the  flaring  part  of 
the  lower  end  should  be  that  which  the  fluid  itself  assumes  in  enterine- 

sm*llhat  f1Ven  10  thJ  \S  Sufficien.t  for  a11  Poetical  purposes  to  which 

small  instruments  of  this  kind  are  applicable. 

Before  proceeding  we  may  observe,  that 'these  instruments,  simple  as 
they  are,  and  even  when  charged  in  the  manner  indicated  above,  are  sus- 
ceptible  of  some  useful  applications  ;  among  which  may  be  named  siphons 
If  the  tube  No.  226  were  bent  in  the  form  of  one,  it  might  be  applied  in' 
numerous  cases  to  transfer  acids  or  other  liquids ;  and  as  it  would  be 
dialled  by  the  mere  act  of  inserting  its  short  leg  into  the  liquid  to  be 
thdrawn,  there  could  be  no  danger  from  sucking,  &c.  as  in  using  the 
rdinary  instrument.  It  will  moreover  be  perceived  from  the  third  expe- 

T 1  jat  eXt,e-n^  l?  Which  these  siPhons  are  applicable  increases 
ith  the  depth  to  which  the  short  leg  can  be  immersed  :  but  as  this  chapter 
is  approbated  to  the  application  of  spouting  tubes  to  raise  water  from 
one  level  and  discharge  it  at  a  higher  one,  their  employment  as  siphons 
will  be  illustrated  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  volume.  ^ 

It  will  at  once  occur  to  every  machinist,  that  to  render  these  tubes  of 
any  practical  value  for.raismg  water,  some  mode  of  working  them  very 
different  from  that  of  alternately  opening  and  closing  the  upper  orifice  with 

houid  gwontd  braiSin&-  thr  Whoiy  °rf  and  then  PIungingthem  into  the 
the  in„7d  ^quired  :  a,  mode  of  regularly  and  rapidly  depressing 

fall  unifornffy.hm  Hem’  ^  ^  f°rmed  ^  its  ascent  m‘Sht  rise  an^ 

There  is  a  simple  way  of  doing  this  : — If  the  whole  of  the  tube  No.  227 


500 


Raising  Water  with  Open  Tubes.  [Book  V. 

be  sunk  perpendicularly  in  water,  except  one  or  two  inches  by  which  it  is 
held,  and  then  raised  eight  or  ten  inches,  air  will  enter  the  small  orifice 
and  fill  the  part  previously  occupied  by  the  liquid  :  if  the  upward  move¬ 
ment  be  very  slow,  the  air  will  gradually  fill  the  interior  without  disturbing 
the  surface  of  the  liquid ;  but  if  the  tube  be  raised  by  a  rapid  movement 
or  slight  jerk,  the  air  will  then  rush  into  the  void  with  a  force  that  will 
push  down  the  liquid  before  it  to  a  considerable  depth,  so  that  on  the  re¬ 
ascent  of  the  liquid  its  momentum  will  project  a  portion  in  the  form  of  a 
jet,  precisely  like  Nos.  224,  225  and  226.  It  is  surprising  how  elevated 
a  wave  is  generated  in  the  tube  by  the  slightest  ascent  of  the  latter,  pro¬ 
vided  its  movement  be  made  sufficiently  quick.  The  l'ise  of  the  water, 
too,  follows  that  of  the  tube  so  rapidly  that  most  observers  at  first  suppose 
them  to  rise  simultaneously.  The  fact  is,  the  liquid  when  depressed  re¬ 
turns  with  such  velocity  as  to  escape  from  the  tube  the  instant  the  stroke 
is  finished,  and  even  before  its  motion  be  slackened. 

Exper.  VI.  A  jet  may  be  produced  by  the  descent  of  the  tube  as  well  as 
by  its  ascent.  Let  No.  22S  be  so  held  that  its  lower  end  dip  not  more  than 
an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  half  in  the  water,  and  then  be  pushed  quickly 
down  eight  or  ten  inches — a  stream  will  be  projected  from  its  upper  ori¬ 
fice  to  an  elevation  of  six  or  seven  feet,  and  will  be  instantly  followed  by 
another  that  will  reach  nearly  as  high.  The  same  cause  operates  here  as 
in  the  upward  movement,  but  it  is  differently  excited.  A  small  part  only 
of  the  air  within  is  expelled  at  the  end  of  the  stroke,  on  account  of  the 
tube’s  rapid  descent,  and  consequently  the  water  is  prevented  from  enter¬ 
ing  ;  but  as  soon  as  this  movement  of  the  tube  ceases,  the  liquid  rushes  in 
and  a  portion  ascends  in  the  form  of  a  jet.  On  the  subsequent  ebb  of  the 
wave  within,  another  one  rises  nearly  equal  to  the  first,  and  causes  the 
second  jet.  The  following  experiment  will  illustrate  both  movements  : — 
A  small  glass  tube  eight  inches  long,  its  wide  end  an  inch  and  five-eighths 
diameter  and  its  small  end  one-eighth,  was  employed.  By  its  upward 
movement  or  stroke  the  extremity  of  the  jet  reached  to  an  elevation  of  nine 
feet.  By  the  downward  stroke  a  jet  rose  six  feet,  which  was  succeeded 
by  another  that  reached  four  feet  and  a  half.  Now  if  both  movements 
are  properly  combined  in  a  spouting  tube  of  large  dimensions,  we  believe 
the  instrument  may  be  made  to  raise  as  much  water,  in  circumstances 
adapted  to  its  employment,  as  any  other  hydro-pneumatic  machine. 

If  the  figure  given  to  No.  226  should  be  found  better  adapted  than  any 
other  when  the  tube  is  used  as  a  siphon,  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that 
the  same  form  would  be  the  most  suitable  to  produce  jets  of  water.  In 
the  former  case  the  instrument  acts  while  at  rest,  but  in  the  latter  a  con¬ 
stant  and  rapid  movement  is  required  :  hence,  to  prevent  an  unnecessary 
expenditure  of  the  power  employed,  it  should  be  so  formed  as  to  present 
as  little  opposing  surface  to  the  resistance  of  the  dense  fluid  in  which  it 
works  as  is  consistent  with  the  elevation,  or  quantity  of  water  to  be  raised 
by  it.  This  remark  applies  particularly  to  the  lower  or  wide  end,  for  if 
that  part  be  suddenly  expanded  or  flared  like  a  trumpet,  a  volume  of  water 
of  equal  diameter  has  to  be  displaced  in  the  reservoir  every  time  the  tube 
is  pushed  down,  and  also  a  ring  of  water  whose  external  diameter  is  the 
same  (the  internal  one  being  bounded  by  the  tube)  every  time  the  latter 
is  lifted  up.  When  used  as  spouting  tubes  the  lower  end  should  there¬ 
fore  flare  very  little,  if  any,  unless  in  cases  where  the  outlay  of  power  to 
work  them  is  of  little  consequence  or  of  secondary  importance.  The 
upper  end  of  a  spouting  tube,  when  intended  to  throw  jets  from  its  orifice, 
should  not  diverge  like  that  of  No.  226,  since  the  elevation  of  the  stream 
would  be  thereby  diminished  :  instead  of  rising  in  a  compact  jet,  it  would 


Chap.  4.] 


501 


'  Raising  Water  vnth  Open  Tubes. 

sooner  become  expanded  and  broken.  When,  however,  orje  of  these 
instruments  is  intended  to  deliver  water  at  a  level  with  its  upper  orifice 
only,  then  the  discharging  orifice  should  resemble  that  of  No.  226,  or  C  D 
in  No.  201,  as  an  increased  discharge  of  the  liquid  would  in  that  case  take 
place  :  a  greater  flow  of  air  would  <enter  on  the  ascent  of  the  tube,  and  a 
larger  volume  of  water  flow  out  on  its  return. 

Exper.  VII. — A  number  of  conical  tubes,  ten  inches  lon°-  were 
prepared.  The  diameter  of  the  small  ends  of  all  was  |  inch,  while  the 
large  ends  were  respectively  4  inches,  3£,  3,  2%,  2£,  2|,  2,  If,  U,  U  and 

w- u  i  beS1veSi-Se’  tW°  cyllndrlcal  ones  of*  inch  and  £  inch  bore. 

ith  the  cylindrical  tubes  no  jet  could  be  produced  by  any  movement 
given  to  them,  either  quick  or  slow,  however  deep  they  were  immersed  • 
”or„y ^  yhe*1  ^ey  were  inclined.  When  the  conical  ones  were  immersed 
hall  their  length,  and  worked  without  plunging  them  deeper,  no  water 
could  be  ejected  :  the  cause  of  this  however  was  not  the  same  in  all.  In 
s!x  or  seven  of  the  largest,  the  parts  below  the  surface  were  too  capacious 
to  be  filled  instantaneously  with  air  through  the  small  orifice  above  as  they 
were  raised.  The  sound  made  by  the  entering  fluid  (like  a  person  gasping 
lor  breath)  showed  this,  especially  in  the  largest.  But  in  the  smaller  sizes^ 
the  air  entered  as  fast  as  they  were  raised,  and  consequently  disturbed  but 
slightly  the  surface  of  the  liquid  within. 

When  any  one  of  them  was  immersed  within  an  inch  of  the  small  end 
and  then  moved  two  or  three  inches  up  and  down,  a  jet  was  thrown  out, 
and  from  the  large  ones  with  considerable  force,  on  account  of  the  greater 
mass  of  the  liquid  put  in  motion  in  their  lower  part.  Still,  however,  the 
jet  did  not  rise  so  high  from  the  large  as  from  some  of  the  smaller  tubes, 
because  the  sides  of  the  former  converged  so  rapidly  to  the  discharging 
orifice  that  the  liquid  particles  crossed  and  counteracted  each  other  as  thev 
issued. .  Short  cylindrical  ajutages  soldered  on  two  of  the  largest  made 
no  sensible  improvement.  The  disadvantages  of  making  the  lower  parts 

too  wide  or  spacious  for  the 
entering  air  fully  to  occupy, 
was  also  very  apparent  when 
the  tubes  were  raised  five  or 
six  inches  in  working  them. 
The  water  within  not  being 
wholly  displaced,  it  hung  in 
T  them  as  in  an  inverted  tum¬ 
bler  or  bucket,  and  conse¬ 
quently  its  weight  was  add¬ 
ed  to  that  of  the  tube.  This 
not  only  required  an  increase 
of  force,  but  the  intended 
effect  was  diminished  and  in 
a  great  measure  destroyed. 
The  same  thing  of  course 
occurs  if  a  smaller  tube  be 
used,  with  a  large  additional 
part  to  its  lower  extremity, 
as  at  No.  229.  To  obviate 
this  by  furnishing  a  larger 
supply  than  would  enter  the 
No. 229.  No. 230.  No.23i.  No. 232.  No. 233.  smaller  orifice,  we  adapted 

'  an  air  tube  whose  exterior 
end  was  covered  by  a  valve  opening  upwards,  as  show®  in  the  cut.  The 


502 


Raising  Water  with  Open  Tubes.  [Book  V. 

force  required  to  work  the  larger  tubes  was  very  sensible,  but  with  the 
smaller  ones  it  was  scarcely  appreciable.  Those  whose  larger  ends  were 
2  inches  and  If  inches  produced  the  highest  jets,  but  they  were  obviously 
too  much  tapered  for  practical  purposes,  and  even  the  sides  of  the  smallest 
one  named,  formed  too  large  an  angle  to  be  applied  with  advantage  at 
great  depths. 

The  tube  No.  230,  two  feet  one  inch  in  length,  was  made  of  tin  plate. 
It  consisted  of  a  conical  piece  22  inches  long,  If  inches  wide  at  one  end, 
and  f  inch  at  the  other.  To  the  wide  end  a  flaring  piece,  3  inches  long 
and  4  diameter  at  the  lower  edge,  was  added.  This  piece  was  made  of 
sheet  lead  for  the  convenience  of  forming  it.  When  wholly  immersed  in 
water,  except  2  or  3  inches  by  which  it  was  held,  this  tube  threw  a  jet  15 
feet  high.  By  the  upward  stroke  the  jet  rose  12  feet.  When  the  diverg¬ 
ing  ajutage  A  (whose  contracted  part  was  the  same  as  the  orifice  of  the 
tube)  was  slipped  on  the  latter,  the  jet  was  dispersed  before  it  rose  8  feet. 
An  inch  was  cut  off  the  lower  end,  leaving  the  diameter  3  inches,  upon 
which  the  jet  rose  to  about  14  feet.  Another  inch  was  then  removed, 
when  it  rose  still  lower ;  yet  it  might  still,  by  a  quick  back  stroke,  be 
thrown  nearly  as  high  as  at  the  first.  It  would  therefore  seem,  that  al¬ 
though  a  large  flaring  end  requires  more  force  to  raise  it  than  a  small  one, 
yet  the  increased  velocity  required  to  be  given  to  the  downward  stroke, 
in  order  to  raise  the  jet  to  an  equal  height,  comes  to  much  the  same  thing. 
There  is  a  way  however  by  which  the  resistance  which  a  large  flaring  end 
meets  with  from  the  water  may  be  avoided  in  the  upward  stroke,  viz.  by 
enclosing  the  tube  in  an  air-tight  cylindrical  one,  of  the  diameter  of  the 
flaring  end,  as  represented  by  the  dotted  lines  in  No.  230  :  or  the  instru¬ 
ment  might  be  inserted  in  a  wooden  tube,  whose  specific  gravity  was 
about  the  same  or  rather  less  than  that  of  water. 

No.  231  was  3f  feet  long,  formed  of  copper,  and  of  a  regular  taper  to 
within  four  inches  of  its  lower  end.  Its  diameter  at  the  small  end  was 
half  an  inch,  and  at  the  lower  end  3f  inches,  to  which  a  piece  flared  out 
to  six  inches  was  added.  By  an  upward  stroke  of  18  inches,  the  jet  rose 
17  feet ;  and  by  a  downward  stroke  of  one  foot,  it  rose  to  the  same  height. 
(These  measurements,  and  the  others  mentioned,  relate  to  the  extreme 
height  to  which  a  small  part  only  of  the  liquid  rose.  The  main  body  of 
the  jet  seldom  reached  over  two-thirds  of  the  distance.)  When  the  up¬ 
ward  stroke  was  continued  2J  feet,  the  rushing  air  pushed  all  the  water 
out  of  the  tube,  and  rose  up  on  the  outside. 

Exper.  VIII. — We  next  prepared  a  larger  tube,  and  arranged  it  so  as 
to  be  worked  in  a  light  wooden  frame,  which  was  secured  in  a  wine  pipe 
filled  with  water.  (See  No.  233.  The  wine  cask  is  omitted.)  This  in¬ 
strument  was  deemed  equal  to  any  that  was  tried — the  quantity  of  water, 
and  the  elevation  to  which  it  was  raised,  being  compared  with  the  force 
employed.  It  should  not,  however,  be  considered  as  exhibiting  anything 
like  the  maximum  effect  which  spouting  tubes  are  capable  of  producing, 
because  the  friction  of  the  liquid  in  passing  through  so  small  an  orifice  as 
that  of  No.  233  was  very  considerable.  The  reader  is  therefore  requested 
to  bear  in  mind,  that  the  larger  the  bore  of  these  tubes,  the  more  favorable 
would  be  the  result ;  and  that,  although  jets  of  water  may  be  thrown  very 
high  by  them,  yet  they  are  better  adapted  to  raise  large  volumes  of  water 
to  small  heights. 

The  tube  No.  233  was  five  feet  long.  It  was  composed  of  one  piece  4 
feet  4  inches  in  length,  .75  of  an  inch  diameter  at  one  end,  and  2.9  inches 
at  the  other.  To  this  end  a  piece  5  inches  long  was  added,  which  made 
the  diameter  5.5  inches ;  and  to  this  another  piece  3  inches  long,  which 


503 


Chap.  4.]  Raising  Water  with  Open  Tubes. 


made  the  extreme  end  of  the  tube  7.5  inches  diameter.  The  tube  as  thus 
termed  was  secured  to  a  straight  strip  of  wood  of  nearly  the  same  length 
by  means  of  three  copper  straps,  which  were  soldered  to  the  tube  and 
screwed  to  the  wood.  (See  the  figure.)  About  a  foot  from  each  end,  and 
across  the  back  of  the  strip,  two  pieces  of  wood,  3  inches  long  and  U 
wide,  were  secured.  They  projected  half  an  inch  over  each  side  of  the 
strip  and  were  beveled  at  the  ends,  so  as  to  fit  into  and  slide  readily  up 
and  down  in  a  dovetailed  groove  formed  on  the  face  of  the  post  F  F. 
1  his  post  was  secured  in  an  inclined  position,  as  represented.  When 
large  tubes  are  used  they  should  always  be  inclined,  that  the  water  once 
raised  above  the  orifice  may  not  fall  into  it  again  and  run  back.  The 
surface  of  the  water  in  the  cask  was  13  inches  below  the  upper  end  of  the 
tube,  and  upon  working  the  latter  the  jet  (f  of  an  inch  diameter)  rose  22 
leet.  A  piece  of  pipe  was  next  slipped  on  the  end,  which  made  the  tube 
a  foot  longer,  and  reduced  the  orifice  to  half  an  inch,  when  the  jet  rose 
little  if  any  higher  than  before.  Another  tapered  piece  of  pipe  was  added 
to  the  last,  making  the  orifice  five-sixteenths  of  an  inch,  upon  which  the 
jet  did  not  ascend  over  six  or  eight  feet.  An  air-pipe,  figured  at  No.  232 
was  now  added,  that  the  water  might  be  fully  depressed  in  the  tube  on  its 
ascent,  but  the  jet  was  so  pinched  at  the  orifice  that  no  obvious  change 
was  perceived.  ° 

The  upward  stroke  ought  to  be  so  regulated,  that  the  air  in  rushing 
down  should  push  nearly  all  the  water  out  of  the  tube,  that  the  wave  in 
rising  may  be  urged  up  with  the  full  pressure  of  that  above  it  in  the  re¬ 
servoir:  hence  the  elevation  of  the  jet  produced  by  the  upward  stroke  of 
a  spouting  tube  depends  chiefly  upon  the  depth  of  its  immersion.  But  if 
the  upward  movement  exclude  nearly  all  the  water,  the  downward  one 
if  made  with  due  velocity  prevents  it,  or  much  of  it,  from  entering  before 
tire  tube  itself  gets  nearly  to  the  end  of  its  stroke,  and  consequently  the 
effective  height  of  the  hydrostatic  column  is  then  increased  to  an  extent 
equal  to  the  length  of  the  stroke.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  upward 
movement  be  made  so  quick  that  the  air  has  not  time  to  fill  the  enlarged 
space  below  before  the  stroke  is  finished,  then  little  or  no  rise  will  take 
place.  The  operation  in  this  case  is  the  converse  of  the  experiment  with 
the  matrass,  No.  225. 


When  the  movements  of  one  of  these  instruments  are  properly  timed, 
the  inertia  of  the  descending  air  and  ascending  liquid  is  peculiarly  bene' 
ficial.  In  ordinary  machines,  where  the  direction  of  moving  masses  is 
reversed,  or  when  they  are  alternately  brought  into  a  state  of  rest  and 
motion,  the  inertia  is  overcome  by  an  outlay  of  the  force  employed ;  but 
this  is  not  the  case  with  spouting  tubes.  Thus  when  a  tube  is  raised,  the 
air  descends  into  the  vacuity  left  by  the  retiring  liquid,  and  when  its  mo¬ 
mentum  is  expended,  its  motion  is  continued  by  inertia  alone,  and  conse¬ 
quently  the  water  is  pushed  down  still  further.  Then  again,  on  the  ascent 
of  the  liquid  the  elevation  of  the  jet,  or  the  volume  discharged,  will  be 
increased  if  the  inertia  of  the  rising  wave  be  suffered  to  expend  itself 
without  interference  by  an  untimely  movement  of  the  instrument. 

A  reciprocating  rectilinear  movement  might  be  given  to  spouting  tubes 
by  a  spring-pole,  as  in  the  canne  liydraulique.  The  movement,  however, 
should  be  regulated  by  that  of  the  wave.  This  might  be  accomplished  in 
large  tubes  by  connecting  to  the  moving  apparatus  a  heavy  pendulum, 
whose  length  could  be  increased  or  diminished  according  to  that  of  the 

If  a  tank  or  reservoir  be  not  sufficiently  deep  for  the  employment  of 
these  tunes,  an  opening  of  the  proper  size  and  depth  might  be  made  at 


504 


The  Souffleur.  [Book  V 

the  corner  or  side  in  which  to  work  them.  When  water  is  to  be  discharged 
on  a  level  with  the  orifice,  the  upper  part  of  the  tube  should  slide  through 
another  fixed  to  and  standing  above  the  bottom  of  the  receiving  cistern, 
that  the  liquid  when  once  raised  may  not  run  back ;  and,  for  the  same 
reason,  the  tube  should  be  inclined.  Among  other  uses  to  which  they 
are  applicable  is  that  of  occasionally  watering  or  washing  trees  and 
plants.  In  public  gardens  and  other  places,  where  a  jet  d’eau  cannot 
otherwise  be  conveniently  obtained,  these  instruments  might  be  placed 
in  a  reservoir  and  moved  by  concealed  mechanism,  so  as  to  produce  one; 
and  although  it  would  consist  of  a  succession  of  jets,  the  movements  might 
be  so  regulated  that  they  would  appear  but  one.  The  motion  of  the  tube 
itself  might  also  be  hid,  by  making  it  play  in  the  interior  of  a  fixed  one, 
above  whose  orifice  it  need  not  protrude.  In  this  manner  the  air  in  fac¬ 
tories,  hospitals,  and  rooms  of  private  dwellings,  might  be  kept  cool,  and, 
by  perfuming  the  water,  rendered  very  agreeable  and  refreshing  in  sultry 
weather.  In  fact,  at  every  place  where  a  fountain  is  desirable,  a  vase 
and  spouting  tube  might  be  used. 

The  experiments  we  have  given  are  very  imperfect,  but  they  may  serve 
to  excite  those  persons  who  have  leisure  and  opportunity  to  pursue  the 
subject.  This  mode  of  raising  water  is  deserving  of  a  rigid  investigation, 
and  will  amply  repay  all  the  labor  expended  upon  it. 

There  is  a  natural  illustration  of  spouting  tubes  in  the  Souffleur,  or 
Blower,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mauritius.  The  action  of  the  waves  has 
undermined  some  rocks  that  run  out  into  the  sea  from  the  main  land,  and 
has  worn  two  passages  that  open  vertically  upwards.  They  are  repre¬ 
sented  “  as  smooth  and  cylindrical  [conical  ]]  as  if  cut  by  a  chisel.”  When 
a  heavy  sea  rolls  in,  it  fills  in  an  instant  the  caverns  underneath,  and  finding 
no  other  egress,  a  part  is  forced  up  the  tubes  to  an  elevation  of  sixty  feet. 
The  moment  the  waves  recede,  the  vacuum  left  by  them  causes  the  wind 
to  rush  into  the  apertures  with  a  noise  that  is  heard  at  a  considerable  dis¬ 
tance.  See  a  description  of  this  phenomenon  in  the  Saturday  Magazine, 
vol.  vi.  p.  77. 


f!hat>.  5.] 


Nature's  devices  for  raising  Water. 


505 


i 


CHAPTER  V. 


Nature’s  devices  for  raising  water— Their  influence — More  common  than  other  natural  operations— 
The  globe  a  self-moving  hydraulic  engine— Streams  flowing  on  its  surface— Others  ejected  from  its 
bowels— subterranean  cisterns,  tubes  aud  siphons— Intermitting  springs— Natural  rams  and  pressure 
engines— Eruption  of  water  on  the  coast  of  Italy— Water  raised  in  vapor— Clouds— Water  raised  by 
steam-Geysers— Earthquakes-Vcgetation— Advantages  of  studying  it-Erroneous  views  of  future  hap- 
piness  Circulation  of  sap— This  fluid  wonderfully  varied  in  its  effects  and  movements— Pitcher  plant 
and  Peruvian  canes— Trees  of  Australia— Endosmosis— Waterspouts— Ascent  of  liquids  by  capillary 
attraction— Tenacity  and  other  properties  of  liquids-Ascent  of  liquids  up  inclined  planes-L.quid  drops 

Their  uniform  diffusion  when  not  counteracted  by  gravity— Their  form  and  size— Soft  and  hard 
soldering— Ascent  of  water  in  capillary  tubes  limited  only  by  its  volume— Cohesion  of  liquids-Ascent 
of  water  through  sand  and  rags— Rise  of  oil  in  lamp  wicks  and  through  the  pores  of  boxwood 

Before  taking  leave  of  artificial  machines  for  raising  water,  a  few  of  the 
most  prominent  of  those  which  nature  employs  may  be  noticed  ;  for,  after 
all,  the  best  ol  human  contrivances  are  but  imitations  of  hers. 

The  extent  to  which  raising  of  water  is  carried  by  nature  is  wonderful. 
Persons  who  have  not  reflected  on  the  subject  would  hardly  suspect  the 
influence  which  this  operation  exerts  on  our  globe  ;  yet  it  is  one  which 

c  1Vr,eat0r,haS  ad°Pted  t0  bring  about  results  upon  which  the  happiness 
of  all  things  living  depend.  To  the  elevation  of  water  into  the  atmosphere 
and  its  return  to  the  earth,  the  formation  of  continents  and  islands,  lakes' 
rivers,  fountains,  valleys,  plains,  gravel,  sand,  mould,  &c.  are  due'  The 
fertility  of  soil,  growth  of  vegetables,  and  life  of  animals,  are  also  to  be 
attributed  in, a  greater  or  less  degree  to  the  same  source. 

Of  nature  s  machinery,  devices  to  raise,  diffuse  and  collect  water  are 
the  most  common.  They  pervade  all  her  works — the  most  magnificent 
and  the  most  minute  :  and  if  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  world  at  laro-e 
and  contemplate  it  as  a  whole,  we  find  it  performing  the  part  of  an  immense 
hydraulic  engine,  one  which  never  stops  working,  and  whose  energy  never 
ags.  In  almost  every  point  of  view  this  feature  is  obvious.  In  its  ex¬ 
terior  our  planet  is  rather  aqueous  than  terrene.  Three-fourths  of  its 
surface  are  sunk  into  basins  and  scooped  into  channels  for  the  reception 
and  transmission  of  water ;  more  than  one-half  is  occupied  by  the  ocean 
the  principal  Veservoir ;  while  the  other  half  is  intersected  in  every  direc¬ 
tion  by  lakes,  rivers,  and  rivulets  innumerable,  that  convey  the  dispersed 
liquid  back  to  the  sea.  The  motion  imparted  to  water  also  exhibits  every 
degree  of  activity  and  agitation,  from  overwhelming  torrents  and  moun¬ 
tainous  waves,  to  the  gentle  shower  that  descends  as  if  dropt  through  the 
finest  cullender,  and  the  placid  stream  that  glides  imperceptibly  by. 
bometimes  we  behold  it  running  with  the  speed  of  a  race  horse,  roar¬ 
ing  among  rapids,  leaping  over  precipices  and  darting  down  cataracts— 
here  dashed  into  spray,  there  churned  into  foam ;  now  winding  in  eddies 
and  gyrating  m  whirlpools  ;  passing  through  channels  whose  paths  are 
tortuous  as  those  of  a  serpent,  and  shooting  through  others  straight  as  an 
arrow.  ° 

Open  channels  and  reservoirs  constitute,  however,  but  a  part  of  nature’s 
hydraulic  machinery.  In  the  interior  of  the  earth,  are  close  and  air-tight 
reservoirs,  and  tubes  of  every  imaginable  size  and  figure,  and  of  incon- 

64 


506 


Natural  Syphons — Pressure  Engines —  Vapor.  [Book  V. 

ceivable  strength.  These  receive  and  transmit  liquid  columns  whose 
hydrostatic  pressure  would  shiver  the  strongest  conduits  made  by  man, 
while  the  volumes  of  water  that  play  within  and  pass  through  them  render 
utterly  insignificant  all  the  products  of  artificial  engines.  We  know  tliat 
rivers  sometimes  discharge  themselves  into  subterraneous  tubes,  which, 
transporting  the  fluid  to  a  distance,  again  vomits  it  up.  In  this  manner 
water  is  often  conveyed  to  places  where  its  appearance  is  difficult  to 
account  for,  because  of  the  level  of  all  the  neighboring  regions  being 
far  below  the  aperture  of  discharge — this  being  sometimes  on  the  summit 
of  mountains,  and  often  at  their  sides. 

But  the  transmission  of  water  from  one  level  to  another  through  pipes, 
is  one  of  the  simplest  operations  in  natural  as  it  is  in  artificial  hydraulics. 
The  flexure  of  the  tubes  fabricated  by  nature  convert  some  of  them  into 
siphons,  and  these  often  decant  the  contents  of  caverns  in  which  water 
slowly  accumulates.  The  liquid  rises  till  it  flows  over  the  highest  bend 
in  the  tube,  and  the  siphon  being  thus  charged  continues  in  operation,  like 
one  of  ours,  until  the  reservoir  that  supplies  it  be  emptied,  or  the  contents 
reduced  to  a  level  with  the  external  orifice  of  the  discharging  leg.  The 
action  then  ceases  until  the  cavern  be  again  filled  and  the  operation 
renewed.  Hence  intermitting  springs,  and  some  of  those  that  ebb  and 
flow. 

Natural  machines  analogous  to  water-rams,  pressure  engines,  and  foun¬ 
tains  of  compression  are  doubtless  also  in  operation  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth.  In  the  intricate  and  infinitely  variegated  chasms  and  fissures 
through  which  water  is  falling  and  gases  collecting,  the  principles  of  these 
machines  must  necessarily  be  often  excited,  and  on  scales  of  magnitude 
calculated  to  strike  us  with  awe.  It  is  not  improbable  that  some  of  those 
horrible  eruptions  mentioned  in  history  and  others  that  have  occurred  at 
sea  without  human  witnesses  were  effected  by  machinery  of  this  descrip¬ 
tion.  The  subaqueous  eruption  which  occurred  on  the  south-west  coast 
of  Italy,  in  1831,  was  probably  an  example.  A  column  of  water,  800 
yards  in  circumference,  was  forced  to  an  elevation  of  sixty  feet,  and  an 
island  formed  of  the  solid  materials  displaced. 

But  natural  devices  are  not  confined  to  such  as  raise  liquids  by  the  mo¬ 
mentum  they  acquire  in  flowing  through  tubes,  or  oscillating  in  waves, 
nor  by  the  hydrostatic  pressure  of  one  volume  transmitted  by  means  of 
airs  to  another.  There  are  some  in  which  water  is  raised  by  solar  heat. 
The  liquid  is  converted  into  stearn  or  vapor,  in  which  state  it  is  rendered 
lighter  than  air,  and  consequently  ascends.  This  may  be  considered  as 
nature’s  favorite  plan.  It  is  in  operation  everywhere,  and  always.  By  it 
water  is  drawn  from  every  part  of  the  earth’s  surface — both  sea  and  land, 
and  by  it  oceans  of  the  liquid  are  kept  suspended  above  us  in  the  form 
of  clouds,  until  it  again  returns  in  showers  of  rain  and  drifts  of  hail  and 
snow.  Of  the  quantity  thus  elevated,  we  may  form  some  rude  idea  from 
the  calculations  of  Halley  respecting  that  drawn  daily  from  the  surface  of 
the  Mediterranean,  viz.  between  five  and  six  millions  of  tons  !  a  result 
which  he  deduced  from  experiments.  Every  person  knows  that  canals 
require  an  extra  supply  of  water  to  meet  the  expenses  of  evaporation. 
By  experiments  on  the  canal  of  Languedoc  in  France,  the  annual  quan¬ 
tity  thus  borne  off  was  found  to  be  nearly  three  feet  in  depth  over  its 
whole  area.  Clouds  of  vapor  or  steam  are  often  observed  hanging  over 
marshy  ground,  until  the  wind  rises  and  bears  them  away.  In  hot  sea¬ 
sons  copious  steams  may  be  seen  ascending  just  after  a  shower ;  but  in 
general  aqueous  vapor  thus  generated,  is  invisible  as  it  is  impalpable. 
In  clear  weather,  we  are  not  sensible  of  its  presence  or  of  its  movements. 


507 


Chap.  5.]  Water  raised  ly  Steam — Vegetable  Kingdom. 

We  literally  live  in  it,  as  in  the  spray  of  a  fountain,  but  our  perceptions 
are  too  gross  to  detect  it. 

How  simple  is  this  mode  of  raising  water,  and  yet  how  effective  '  How 
silently  does  it  work,  and  yet  how  sure  !  In  its  liquid  state,  water  is  too 
heavy  to  be  suspended  in  the  firmament;  hence  the  Creator  has  made 
this  provision  to  attenuate  its  particles  by  heat.  It  then  rises  upwards  of 
its  own  accord  neither  Avheels  nor  cranks,  pumps,  pistons,  pipes,  nor 
even  power  is  required  to  send  them  up,  or  to  keep  them  there;  and  yet 
billions  of  tons  are  rising  every  hour,  and  accumulating  in  masses  so 
great  as  to  baffle  language  to  describe  or  thought  to  grasp.  And,  what 
is  equally  remarkable,  neither  cisterns  are  required  to  contain,  nor  con¬ 
duits  through  which  to  convey  them.  The  phenomenon  teaches  us  how 
a  heavier  fluid  may  be  suspended  in  a  lighter  one,  and  that  the  proposition 
of  water  being  800  times  heavier  than  air,  is  only  conditionally  true— 
dependmg  merely  upon  the  state  in  which  those  fluids  are  ordinarily 
exhibited  to  us.  To  increase  our  admiration,  the  salt  water  of  the  ocean 
is  during  the  process  of  elevation  distilled  into  fresh,  thus  furnishing 
among  other  suggestions  that  by  which  navigators  have  often  adopted  to 
sustain  life  in  the  extremities  of  thirst. 

Water  is  also  continually  being  converted  into  vapor  and  urged  into 
the  atmosphere  by  subterranean  heat.  Our  planet  may  be  considered, 
as  indeed  it  was  by  the  ancients,  as  a  cauldron,  in  which  steam  is  gene¬ 
rated  by  those  fires  whose  flues  are  volcanos.  Oceans  of  the  liquid  are 
incessantly  but  silently  thrown  up  from  this  cause.  But,  as  might  be 
expected,  from  the  intricate  arrangement  of  internal  chambers  and  channels 
of  communication,  steam  must  often  accumulate  in  cavities  until  its  elasticity 
drives  up  the  water  that  seals  the  passage-  to  the  surface.  Hence  boiling 
and  thermal  springs,  and  hence  also  the  hot  spouting  springs  of  Iceland. 
According  to  Olafsen,  a  Danish  traveler,  one  of  the  Geysers  exhibited  a 
jet  at  one  time  19  feet  in  diameter  and  360  feet  high  ! 

Modern  authors  explain  the  phenomenon  of  earthquakes  bv  the  accu¬ 
mulation  of  steam  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Plutarch  says  the  Stoic 
philosophers  did  the  same  ;  but  long  before  Zeno  appeared  the  opinion 
prevailed,  and  caused  the  epithet  “  shaker  of  the  earth”  to  be  given  to 
Neptune.  The  mechanical  as  well  as  chemical  operations  going  on  within 
the  earth,  are  wonderful  in  their  nature  and  terrible  in  extent.  Well 
might  mythologists  locate  the  workshops  of  the  gods  there,  and  place  the 
forges  of  Vulcan  and  the  Cyclops  at  the  base  of  volcanos. 

Of  contrivances  for  raising  liquids,  as  developed  in  the  organization  of 
animals,  we  took  some  notice  in  the  second  and  third  books.  Most  if  not 
all  of  them  may  be  considered  modifications  of  bellows  and  piston  pumps. 
In  the  vegetable  kingdom,  other  devices,  and  such  as  are  based  on  other 
principles,  are  in  active  operation.  This  portion  of  creation  exhibits  in  a 
striking  light  the  important  part  which  devices  for  raising  water  perform 
in  the  constitution  of  our  globe.  Every  tree  and  every  plant,  from  the 
towering  cedar  of  Lebanon,  to  the  hyssop  that  springeth  out  of  the  wall, 
from  the  wide-spreading  banyan  to  a  wheaten  straw  or  melon  vine,  is  a 
natural  pump,  through  whose  tubes  water  is  drawn  from  the  earth  or 
imbibed  from  the  air. 

There  is  something  exceedingly  pleasing  and  sublime  in  the  contempla¬ 
tion  of  the  growth  of  vegetables,  the  germination  of  seeds,  appearance  of 
sprouts,  development  of  stems,  branches,  leaves,  buds, .  blossoms,  flowers, 
and  fruits  their  variegated  forms,  dimensions,  movements,  colors,  and 
odors.  Some  persons  who  have  never  turned  their  attention  to  this  subject 
till  the  evening  of  their  days,  have  been  astonished  at  the  wonders  which 


508 


Ascent  of  Sap. 


[Book  V. 


burst  on  their  view.  A  new  state  of  existence  seemed  to  open  upon  them. 
Their  perception  and  estimate  of  things  were  changed.  Instead  of  con¬ 
sidering  the  world  as  calculated  only  for  what  man  too  generally  makes 
it — a  scene  for  the  display  and  gratification  of  the  most  groveling  and 
sordid  passions,  they  find  it  a  theatre  crowded  with  enchanting  specimens 
of  the  Creator’s  skill,  the  study  of  which  imparts  the  sweetest  pleasure, 
and  the  knowledge  of  which  constitutes  the  greatest  wealth. 

Those  pious  but  mistaken  people,  who  incessantly  murmur  against  the 
world,  and  long  to  depart  from  “  this  howling  wilderness,”  as  they  are 
pleased  to  term  it,  reproach  their  Maker  by  reviling  his  work.  They  are 
waiting  for  future  displays  of  his  glory,  and  neglect  those  ravishing  ones 
by  which  they  are  surrounded,  forgetting  that  “  the  whole  earth  is  full  of 
his  glory” — looking  for  sources  of  pleasure  to  come,  and  closing  their 
eyes  on  those  before  them — thirsting  for  the  waters  of  heaven,  and  despis¬ 
ing  the  living  fountains  which  the  Father  of  all  intellects  has  opened  for 
them  on  earth.  They  seem  to  think  happiness  hereafter  will  not  depend 
upon  knowledge,  or  that  knowledge  will  be  acquired  without  effort — a 
kind  of  passive  enjoyment,  independent  of  the  exercise  of  their  intellectual- 
or  spiritual  energies.  But  they  have  no  ground  to  hope  for  any  such  thing. 
Reasoning  from  analogy  and  the  nature  of  mind,  the  happiness  of  spirits 
must  consist  in  being  imbued  with  a  love  of  nature — in  contemplating  the 
wisdom  and  other  attributes  of  the  Deity,  as  they  are  unfolded  in  the  works 
of  creation.  In  what  else  can  it  consist!  It  is  not  probable  that  human  or 
finite  beings  of  any  class  can  ever  know  God  except  through  the  medium 
of  his  works. 

It  is  admitted  that  the  study  of  nature  is  a  source  of  exquisite  pleasure 
to  intelligent  beings,  and  the  most  refined  one  too  that  the  mind  can  con¬ 
ceive  :  it  is  also  one  that  can  never  be  exhausted.  Those  persons,  therefore, 
who  take  no  pleasure  in  examining  the  works  of  creation  here,  are  little 
prepared  to  enter  upon  more  extensive  and  scrutinizing  views  of  them  in 
other  worlds.  If  they  have  no  relish  for  an  acquaintance  with  the  Crea¬ 
tor’s  works  while  they  live,  they  have  no  right  to  expect  new  tastes  for 
them  after  death.  The  works  of  God  are  all  perfect ;  those  in  this  world 
as  well  as  those  in  others  ;  and  he  that  can  look  with  apathy  on  a  tulip 
or  a  rose,  a  passion  flower  or  a  lily,  or  any  other  production  of  a  flower 
garden  or  a  forest,  has.  not  begun  to  live.  Besides,  we  are  not  sure  that 
other  worlds  possess  more  captivating  or  more  ennobling  subjects  for 
contemplation  and  research — more  -  thrilling  proofs  of  the  wisdom  and 
beneficence  of  God. 

The  circulation  of  sap  (sometimes  called  the  blood  of  plants)  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  of  natural  phenomena.  It  is  connected  with  some  of 
the  most  delightful  feelings  of  our  nature,  and  with  the  activity  and  jovs 
of  the  brute  creation.  When  in  spring  its  action  commences,  a  sensation 
of  buoyancy  pervades  all  organized  beings.  The  earth  begins  to  put  on 
her  richest  attire — her  inhabitants  rejoice  in  her  approaching  splendor,  and 
exult  in  view  of  the  feasts  preparing  for  them.  On  the  other  hand,  when 
in  autumn  her  freshness  fades  and  her  glory  withers,  all  feel  the  change. 
How  infinitely  varied  are  the  effects  of  sap  and  the  energy  of  its  move¬ 
ments  !  Rushing  to  the  summit  of  the  tallest  trees,  and  lingering  in  the 
grass  of  our  meadows — shooting  up  perpendicularly  in  the  poplar  and 
pine,  horizontally  in  the  branches  of  the  baobab  and  oak,  and  descend¬ 
ing  in  those  of  the  Indian  fig-tree  and  willow.  In  some  plants,  accumu- 
’ating  chiefly  in  their  roots,  as  in  the  turnip,  radish,  and  potato,  and 
emerging  above  ground  in  cucumbers  and  melons — ascending  higher  in 
the  bushes  of  currants  and  gooseberries,  and  ranging  over  those  in  apple 


Chap.  5.] 


Natural  Pitchers — Trees  in  Australia. 


509 


and  pear  trees.  By  what  wonderful  process  is  sap  distilled  into  liquid 
honey  in  the  maple,  and  into  wine  in  the  grape  1  How  is  it  elaborated 
into  fruits  of  every  flavor,  and  exhaled  in  perfumes  from  sweet  scented 
herbs,  and  in  what  manner  does  it  contribute  to  produce  every  imaginable 
color  and  tint  in  flowers  1 

By  what  means  does  sap  form  a  natural  vase  in  the  pitcher  plant ,  and 
then  enter  it  as  limpid  water,  along  with  rain  and  dew  1  This  singular 
production  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  collects  water  from  the  earth3  and 
atmosphere  in  vessels  of  the  same  consistence  and  color  as  the  leaves. 
Each  pitcher  is  strengthened  by  a  hoop,  and  furnished  with  a  cover  or  lid 
that  turns  on  a  fibrous  hinge.  When  dew  or  rain  falls,  this  cover  opens  ; 
and  as  soon  as  the  weather  clears,  it  closes  and  prevents  the  water  that 
entered  from  being  wasted  by  evaporation.  There  are  other  plants  which 
store  up  water  much  in  the  same  way.  Such  were  the  reeds  that  relieved 
Alvarado  (one  of  the  conquerors  of  Peru)  and  his  companions  from  perish¬ 
ing  of.  thirst.  Garcilasso,  in  his  Commentaries  observes,  “The  infor¬ 
mation  they  had  of  the  water  was  from  the  people  of  the  country,  who 
guided  them  to  the  canes,  some  of  which  contained  six  gallons,  and  some 
more.” 

We  know  that  the  juices  of  plants  cannot  be  raised  without  force,  and 
that  this  force  must  be  increased  with  the  elevation  to  which  the  liquid  is 
to  be  lifted.  Animals  exert  a  muscular  power  in  working  the  pumps 
formed  in  their  bodies,  and  these  machines  they  put  in  motion  at  will. 
This  is  not  the  case  with  vegetables  :  yet  sap,  the  pabulum  of  their  life, 
is  elevated  to  the  tops  of  the  highest  trees,  and  apparently  with  the  same 
facility  as  it  is  diffused  through  microscopic  plants.  That  the  force  by 
which  this  is  done  is  not  latent  or  negative  in  its  nature,  is  clear,  since  it 
may  easily  be  rendered  manifest.  Cut  a  branch  from  a  vine  in  the  spring 
when  the  sap  is  rising,  and  stretch  a  piece  of  india  rubber  over  the  end 
of  the  part  that  remains,  secure  it  by  thread  wound  round  the  stump,  so 
as  to  exclude  the  air  and  prevent  the  wound  from  healing.  In  a  little 
while  the  caoutchouc  will  be  swelled  or  bulged  out  by  the  exuding 
fluid,  and  it  will  continue  to  swell,  however  thick  it  may  be,  till  it  burst. 
A  few  years  ago  we  treated  in  this  way  some  branches  of  an  Isabella 
grape  vine,  and  afterwards  applied  to  one  of  them  a  close  vessel  contain¬ 
ing  mercury,  in  which  the  lower  end  of  a  long  glass  tube  was  immersed 
with  a  view  to  measure  the  force  excited.  In  four  days  the  mercury 
rose  36  inches  in  the  tube,  being  pushed  up  by  the  sap  which  took  its 
place  in  the  vessel ;  and  but  for  an  accident,  by  which  the  apparatus  was 
broken,  it  would  probably  have  ascended  still  higher. 

But  this  force,  great  as  it  was,  is  small  when  compared  with  that  which 
sends  the  fluid  through  trees  that  grow  on  the  Australian  continent  and 
islands.  Some  of  these  resemble  single  tubes,  and  are  filled  with  a  semi¬ 
fluid  or  soft  pith.  Tasman,  the  discoverer  of  Van  Dieman’s  Land,  found 
trees  there  whose  lowest  branches  were  between  60  and  70  feet  above  the 
ground.  The  French  expedition  sent  in  search  of  the  lamented  Perouse, 
found  on  Cocos  island  a  tree  nearly  100  feet  high,  and  only  three  inches 
in  diameter.  It  was  of  so  hard  a  texture,  that  it  resisted  at  first  the 
heaviest  blows  of  an  axe  ;  and  when  the  pith  was  taken  out,  the  thick¬ 
ness  of  the  wood  did  not  exceed  t4q  of  an  inch — forming  a  perfect  tube. 
But  this  tree  was  only  half  the  height  of  some  others  in  the  same  regions ; 
for  several  were  seen  whose  diameters  were  only  seven  or  eight  inches, 
and  whose  tops  towered  upwards  of  200  feet  above  the  earth  !  The  force 
that  drives  sap  to  such  elevations  is  wonderful  indeed  ;  and  could  it  be 
applied  as  a  mechanical  agent,  it  would  be  resistless  as  steam.  It  might 


510 


Water  Spouts — Capillary  Attraction.  [Book  V. 

be  supposed  that  a  force  so  energetic — one  that  would  rupture  pipes 
which  convey  water  to  our  dwellings — would  rend  asunder  most  of  the 
delicate  pores  through  which  it  circulates ;  and  so  it  would  were  not  their 
diameter  so  exceedingly  small — for  the  strength  of  tubes  increases  as  their 
bore  is  diminished. 

The  ascent  of  sap  has  been  explained  by  Endosmosis,  or  transit  of  bodies 
through  pores.  See  two  interesting  papers  on  this  subject  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Franklin  Institute,  vols.  xvii  and  xviii,  byJ.  W.  Draper,  now  Prof, 
of  Chemistry  in  the  New-York  University. 

Water  Spouts  constitute  a  peculiar  class  of  nature’s  contrivances  for 
raising  water.  Electricity  is  supposed  to  have  a  controlling  influence  in 
their  formation  ;  but  the  mode  by  which  it  acts  is  not  clearly  understood. 
More  water  is  drawn  up  by  them  within  the  same  space  of  time  than  by 
any  other  natural  device.  The  liquid  appears  to  be  borne  up  the  vortex 
mechanically  as  solid  substances  are  raised  by  whirlwinds,  except  that 
it  is  broken  by  masses  of  air  rushing  into  and  mixing  with  it.  After 
arriving  at  the  top  of  the  spout,  it  is  dispersed  by  lateral  currents  of  wind. 
A  drop  of  water  suspended  from  the  conductor  of  an  electrifying  machine 
is  supposed  to  exhibit  a  miniature  water  spout.  When  a  vessel  of  water 
is  placed  under  it,  and  the  machine  put  in  operation,  the  drop  assumes 
the  various  appearances  of  a  spout  in  its  rise,  form,  and  mode  of  disap¬ 
pearance.  Clouds  act  as  cisterns  in  holding  water  raised  by  evaporation ; 
but  in  water  spouts  they  perform  a  more  singular  part,  since  they  are 
moulded  into  visible  pipes,  through  which  volumes  of  liquid  are  conveyed 
as  securely  as  through  those  made  of  solid  materials. 

Although  the  rise  of  sap  in  trees  is  attributed  to  endosmosis,  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  capillary  attraction  takes  part  in  the  process,  as 
well  as  in  a  thousand  other  operations  of  nature.  When  one  end  of  a 
small  glass  tube  is  placed  in  water,  the  liquid  rises  within  it ;  and  the 
height  to  which  it  ascends  in  different  tubes,  is  inversely  as  their  diame¬ 
ters.  The  phenomenon  is  more  or  less  common  to  all  liquids  when  the 
tubes  dipped  in  them  are  made  of  such  materials  as  they  readily  unite 
with.  This  condition  is  necessary,  otherwise  the  liquid  would  be  de¬ 
pressed.  Water  rises  higher  than  other  liquids  in  glass  tubes  ;  and  as 
these  instruments  are  transparent,  they  are  always  adopted  in  experiments 
on  this  subject. 

The  phenomenon  of  capillarity  has  exercised  the  ingenuity  and  learn¬ 
ing  of  the  most  eminent  philosophers,  and  various  are  the  causes  to  which 
they  have  attributed  it.  Some  supposed  the  atmospheric  pressure  less 
within  the  tubes  than  without.  Others  imagined  an  unknown  fluid  cir¬ 
culating  through  them  that  bore  the  liquid  up;  and  some  ascribed  it  to 
moisture  on  the  inside  of  the  tubes.  An  attractive  force  existing  between 
the  glass  and  the  water  is  now  more  generally  admitted  ;  and  hence  in 
tubes  of  very  small  bore,  it  is  said,  the  glass  being  nearer  the  water,  at¬ 
tracts  it  more  powerfully,  i.  e.  raises  it  higher — other  writers  think  the 
effect  is  due  to  electricity.  The  subject  is  admitted  to  be  an  intricate  one, 
and  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been  handled  by  scientific  men,  has  not 
rendered  it  very  accessible  to  ordinary  readers.  Without  looking  for 
ultimate  causes,  the  phenomenon,  like  that  of  an  increased  discharge, 
through  diverging  ajutages,  may  be  traced  to  the  relative  properties  of 
the  liquid  and  the  material  of  the  tube,  and  to  the  force  with  which 
particles  of  liquids  cohere  among  themselves. 

Capillary  attraction  is  exhibited  in  a  great  variety  of  forms.  Particles 
of  water,  like  those  of  all  other  liquids,  require  some  force  to  separate 
them.  A  needle  or  film  of  lead  while  dry,  will  float ;  and  myriads  of 


Chap.  5.] 


511 


Forms  of  Drops. 

gnats  career  on  the  surface  of  a  pond  as  securely  as  on  land.  Some 
liquids  are  viscid,  and  may  be  drawn  into  threads;  and  even  water  may 
be  stretched  into  sheets  ere  its  substance  be  broken :  bubbles  produced 
during  rains,  and  those  pellicles  sometimes  formed  over  the  mouths  of 
small  vials  and  the  interstices  of  sieves  are  examples.  Water,  moreover, 
in  common  with  other  fluids,  unites  with  some  substances  more  readily 
than  with  others.  It  does  not  combine  with  oils,  nor  adhere  to  substances 
impregnated  with  grease.  Hence  umbrellas  and  water-proof  dresses  are 
made  of  oiled  silk  ;  and  rain  rolls  off  the  backs  of  ducks  and  other  aquatic 
birds  without  wetting  them,  because  these  fowls  dress  their  feathers  with 
an  unctuous  fluid  which  their  bodies  secrete. 

When  a  vessel  contains  a  liquid  that  readily  unites  with  it;  the  liquid 
stands  highest  at  the  edges.  Thus  in  cups  of  tea  or  tumblers  of  water, 
the  fluid  climbs  up  against  the  sides  until  it  is  considerably  elevated  above 
the  general  level.  This  is  observable  with  milk  in  a  pot,  pitch  in  a  caul¬ 
dron,  oil  in  cans,  mercury  in  vessels  lined  with  an  amalgam ;  melted  tin 
in  tinned  iron  or  copper  vessels,  and  fused  brass  in  an  iron  ladle  whose 
interior  has  been  coated  with  the  alloy,  as  in  the  process  of  hard  soldering. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  liquid  has  no  affinity  for,  or  will  not  unite  with 
the  substance  of  which  the  vessel  is  made,  an  effect  the  reverse  is  pro¬ 
duced  ;  that  is,  the  liquid  is  depressed  at  the  sides,  as  when  mercury  is 
contained  in  a  vessel  of  glass,  wood,  or  earthen  ware ;  or  even  in  one  of 
metal  not  lined  with  an  amalgam,  or  with  which  the  mercury  cannot  form 
one.  The  same  thing  occurs  to  fused  brass,  or  lead  or  tin  in  crucibles,  to 
water  in  greasy  tubes  or  dishes,  &c. 

The  same  thing,  in  another  form,  occurs  with  drops  of  liquid.  When 
water  is  sprinkled  on  a  greasy  surface,  the  particles  remain  separate  how¬ 
ever  near  to  each  other.  By  blowing  against  them,  they  may  be  rolled 
over  the  plate  on  which  they  rest  without  leaving  any  portion  behind  ; 
but  if  the  substance  on  which  they  are  dropped  combine  readily  with 
moisture  their  figure  is  changed  ;  each  becomes  flattened  by  spreading, 
so  that  two  adjacent  drops  quickly  run  together.  A  drop  of  oil  or  speck 
of  grease  makes  a  large  stain  on  a  lady’s  dress  or  a  marble  table.  Quick¬ 
silver  will  not  unite  with  marble,  but  a  small  portion  dropped  on  a  sheet 
of  tin  will  spread  over  it  like  water  on  damp  paper.  A  portion  of  tin¬ 
men’s  solder  kept  in  fusion  on  clean  plates  of  tin  or  lead  spreads,  and  is 
absorbed  in  like  manner.  When  ink  is  spilt  upon  unsized  paper,  the  lat¬ 
ter  is  stained  to  a  considerable  extent :  round  each  drop  a  broad  ring  of 
moisture  is  formed ;  the  darker  and  grosser  particles  remaining  as  a 
nucleus  in  the  centre. 

The  different  forms  which  drops  assume  when  pendent  from  solid 
bodies,  are  governed  by  the  parts  with  which  they  are  in  contact.  When 
water  is  sprinkled  on  a  plate  partly  covered  with  grease,  those  particles 
that  fall  on  the  clean  parts  resemble  very  flat  segments  of  spheres,  while 
those  on  the  greased  parts  are  larger  portions  of  smaller  spheres  ;  the 
liquid  in  these  swelling  out  above  the  base  on  which  they  rest,  in  pre¬ 
ference  to  extending  itself  like  the  others  upon  it.  A  drop  hanging  from 
the  point  of  a  wire  is  elongated  vertically — if  held  between  the  finger 
and  thumb,  it  may  be  stretched  out  horizontally.  If  suspended  in  a  ring, 
its  upper  surface  becomes  hollow  and  its  lower  one  convex,  forming  a 
species  of  liquid  cup,  and  supported  somewhat  like  the  dishes  which  che¬ 
mists  hang  over  lamps  in  moveable  rings  of  brass.  A  drop  of  liquid  in  a 
capillary  tube  is  thus  supported  ;  the  tube  being  nothing  more  than  a 
deep  ring. 

The  quantity  of  liquid  contained  in  pendent  drops  varies  with  the 


512 


Ascent  of  Liquids  against  Gravity.  [Book  V. 

extent  of  surface  in  contact  with  the  supporting  body.  When  one  is  ready 
to  fall  from  an  inclined  object,  as  the  bottom  of  a  bucket  or  a  tea  cup,  it 
may  be  retained  by  making  the  bottom  approach  nearer  to  a  level ;  the 
fluid  then  spreads  and  holds  by  a  larger  surface.  This  is  illustrated  in 
the  case  of  metals  :  tin-plate  workers  commonly  take  up  solder  on  the 
face  of  their  irons.  The  under  sides  of  these  instruments  are  tinned, 
and  being  placed  upon  the  metal,  a  larger  or  smaller  portion  is  melted 
and  borne  off  at  pleasure.  An  equal  quantity  of  water  may  probably  be 
thus  suspended  from  a  plane  surface,  as  within  a  cylinder  of  the  same 
area. 

Numerous  facts  show,  that  when  not  pulled  down  by  gravity,  liquids 
diffuse  themselves  uniformly  on  substances  with  which  they  combine — as 
much  upwards  as  downwards.  Small  drops  of  water  or  ink  dashed 
against  vertical  sheets  of  paper  equally  extend  themselves  from  the 
centre.  We  are  so  much  in  the  habit  of  contemplating  fluids  in  masses, 
where  gravitation  greatly  preponderates,  that  we  overlook  this  property 
in  them,  or  do  not  suspect  its  existence.  The  observation  that  water 
never  runs  “  up  hill”  is  proverbial,  but  it  is  not  correct.  Examples  might 
be  quoted,  in  which  it  prefers  to  ascend  an  inclined  plane  to  going  down 
one — to  rise  in  a  wet  channel,  than  descend  in  a  dry  one.  Take  a  dry 
piece  of  glass,  or  china,  the  blade  of  a  knife,  or  the  bottom  of  a  saucer,  or 
almost  any  solid  material,  and  dampen  or  slightly  wet  a  part  of  it :  place 
a  drop  of  ink  or  water  near  the  edge  of  the  wetted  part,  then  incline  the 
saucer  so  that  the  drop  may  be  beneath,  and  make  a  channel  of  com¬ 
munication  between  them,  by  drawing  with  a  pointed  instrument  a  small 
streak  of  fluid  from  one  to  the  other.  The  instant  this  is  done,  a  cur¬ 
rent  will  set  up  with  considerable  velocity  from  the  drop  into  the  thin 
sheet  above. 

This  effect  takes  place  on  wood  and  on  metals,  and  even  paper.  Pen¬ 
men,  who  have  their  paper  inclined  towards  them  often  witness  the 
experiment  in  another  form,  especially  when  they  make  the  bottom  of 
their  strokes  thicker  than  the  rest.  The  ink  may  then  be  seen  to  ascend 
from  the  bottom  upon  the  removal  of  the  pen.  This  takes  place  if  the 
paper  be  held  vertically.  Again,  when  a  large  drop  of  ink  falls  on  a 
book,  it  is  customary  to  shake  out  that  which  remains  in  the  pen,  and  to 
place  the  latter  over  the  drop  as  in  the  act  of  writing ;  upon  which  a  large 
portion  of  the  liquid  enters  the  quill.  This  is  then  shaken,  and  the  opera¬ 
tion  renewed.  Here  the  principle  'of  distribution  again  appears.  There 
is  a  surplus  below,  and  a  deficiency  (or  less  depth  of  it)  above,  and  the 
liquid  ascends  to  produce  an  equilibrium.  Were  the  pen  fully  charged 
with  ink  before  applied  to  the  drop,  it  could  take  none  from  the  latter. 

Other  examples  of  the  ascent  of  liquids,  and  even  of  solids  against 
gravity  are  familiar  to  some  classes  of  mechanics,  but  not  to  all.  When 
two  sheets  of  tin  plate  are  soldered  together  in  an  inclined  position,  small 
pieces  of  solder  laid  near  the  lower  edge  of  the  joint  are  drawn  up  under 
the  face  of  the  iron  as  soon  as  the  fused  mass  touches  them.  Illustrations 
of  this  occur  in  whatever  position  the  joint  may  be.  They  are  still  more 
common  in  hard  soldering,  for  copper  and  silversmiths  commonly  charge 
their  joints  on  the  outside,  so  that  the  solder  is  below  or  next  to  the  fire 
when  fused. 

These  experiments  are  all  based  on  the  same  principles  as  the  ascent 
of  water  in  capillary  tubes.  We  see  that  when  a  mass  of  liquid  (wholly 
resting  on  a  plane  surface  or  enclosed  in  a  cylinder)  is  connected  by  a 
short  channel  to  a  thin  sheet  of  the  same  substance  above,  a  part  of  the 
mass  below  will  ascend.  The  channel  it  should  be  remembered  is  a  fluid 


Chap.  5.]  Cohesion  of  Liquids.  5^3 

one,  for  neither  water  nor  any  other  liquid  will  thus  rise  except  in  channels 
of  the  same  substance  as  themselves.  The  effect  does  not  therefore  appear 
to  be  due  wholly  to  the  material  that  sustains  the  liquid,  but,  to  some  ex¬ 
tent,  to  that  force  by  which  particles  of  matter  congregate  with  their  kind 
in  preference  to  mingling  with  others.  The  aqueous  vapor  floating  in  the 
atmosphere  moistens  more  or  less  the  surfaces  of  all  bodies.  Glass  tubes 
are  coated  with  it ;  but  if  a  capillary  tube  previous  to  its  use  was  not  thus 

prepared,  it  becomes  so  the  instant  one  end  is  immersed  in  water _ a 

stream  of  vapor  (though  not  obvious  to  sight)  then  passes  through  it  :  the 
whole  interior  is  thus  coated  with  aqueous  molecules  accumulating  upon 
it  at  insensible  distances  from  each  other,  and  those  adjacent  to  the  surface 
of  the  liquid  operate  to  solicit  its  ascent  through  the  channel  thus  prepared 
1  r  %  J|.he.^scent  of  vaPor  under  these  circumstances  is  unlimited  but 
that  of  a  liquid  column  is  soon  arrested.  This  however  does  not  prove  that 
the  force  excited  is  insufficient  to  raise  liquids  to  great  elevations,  but  that 
it  is  the  volume  which  determines  the  height.  If  the  quantity  be  indefi¬ 
nitely  small  it  will  be  raised  indefinitely  high.  Experiments  so  far  as 
they  have  been  made  prove  this  ;  but  as  the  finest  of  artificial  tubes  are 
when  compared  to  nature’s,  as  a  mast  is  to  a  needle  or  a  cable  to  a  thread! 
the  ascent  of  liquids  111  them  must  necessarily  be  very  limited.  As  long 
as  the  liquid  column  can  be  sustained  by  adhesion  to  the  sides  of  a  tube 
11  T  bUt  w^en  the  weight  of  the  central  parts  (which  not  beino- 

attached  to  the  tube  are  sustained  by  cohesion  alone)  exceeds  this  force& 
the  ascent  ceases. 

The  force  with  which  particles  of  some  fluids  cohere  is  so  energetic 
that  they  present  the  singular  spectacle  of  liquid  rods,  pendent  like  icicles 
or  stalactites.  When  one  of  these  rods  is  broken  an  interesting  contest 
between  gravitation  and  cohesion  takes  place,  during  which  the  figure  of 
the  pendent  changes  as  one  or  the  other  of  those  forces  prevails  :  it 
becomes  longer  while  the  first  predominates,  shorter  when  the  latter 
controls,  and  stationary  when  both  are  balanced.  These  phenomena  may 
be  observed  by  letting  a  drop  of  molasses  fall  from  the  point  of  a  knife 
or  a  spoon.  The  globule  descends  to  a  considerable  distance  before  it  is 
wholly  separated  from  the  portion  above,  because  a  rod  of  the  liquid 
continues  to  be  formed  that  unites  them.  When  this  rod  breaks,  the  part 
suspended  from  the  mass  above  is  drawn  up  :  a  thread  over  a  foot  in  length 
is  sometimes  thus  contracted  to  less  than  £  of  an  inch,  strongly  remind¬ 
ing  one  of  the  elasticity  of  caoutchouc. 

Water  rises  to  considerable  heights  through  sand  and  other  porous 
bodies  also  through  rags  and  threads  of  cotton,  &c.  Oil  ascends  in  the 
wicks  of  lamps.  Capillary  siphons  formed  of  cotton  wick  are  employed 
to  supply  oil  to  the  journals  and  working  parts  of  machinery.  It  is  cus¬ 
tomary  with  stereotype  founders  to  oil  the  faces  of  engraved  wooden  blocks 
previous  to  taking  casts  from  them.  These  blocks  are  of  box,  a  species 
of  wood  whose  texture  is  exceedingly  close.  We  have  often  placed  some 
of  those  used  in  the  illustration  of  this  work  on  receiving  them  from  the 
engraver,  into  a  dish  containing  oil  to  the  depth  of  \  inch,  and  have  wit¬ 
nessed  the  appearance  of  the  liquid  at  the  top  within  half  a  minute,  and 
frequently  in  a  quarter  of  one.  Unlike  water  in  glass  tubes,  the  oil  here 
rises  entirely  out  of  the  tubes  in  the  wood  and  collects  in  globules  over  the 
orifices. 

From  the  infinite  variety  and  importance  of  devices  for  raising  liquids 
that  are  at  work  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  and  in  general 
nature,  the  wisdom  displayed  in  their  formation  and  movements,  and  their 
wonderful  effects,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  Creator  designed  particularly 

65 


514  Siphons.  [Book  V. 

to  call  man’s  attention  to  this  department  of  knowledge,  and  to  induce 
him  to  cultivate  it. 

Sources  of  hydraulic  contrivances  and  of  mechanical  movements  are 
endless  in  nature  ;  and  if  machinists  would  but  study  in  her  school,  she 
would  lead  them  to  the  adoption  of  the  best  principles,  and  the  most 
suitable  modifications  of  them  in  every  possible  contingency. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Siphons — Mode  of  charging  them — Principle  on  which  their  action  depends — Cohesion  of  liquids — 
Siphons  act  in  vacuo — Variety  of  siphons — Their  antiquity — Of  Eastern  origin — Portrayed  in  the  tombs 
at  Thebes — Mixed  wines — Siphons  in  ancient  Egyptian  kitchens — Probably  used  at  the  feast  at  Cana — 
Their  application  by  old  jugglers — Siphons  from  Heron’s  Spiritalia — Tricks  with  liquids  of  different 
specific  gravities — Fresh  water  dipped  from  the  surface  of  the  sea — Figures  of  Tantalus’  cups — 'Tricks 
of  old  publicans — Magic  pitcher — Goblet  for  unwelcome  visiters — Tartar  necromancy  with  cups — Homan 
baths — Siphons  used  by  the  ancients  for  tasting  wine — Siphons,  A.  D- 1511 — Figures  of  modern  siphons — 
Sucking  tube— Valve  siphon — Tin  plate — Wirtemburg  siphon — Argand’s  siphon — Chemists’ siphons — 
Siphons  by  the  author — Water  conveyed  over  extensive  grounds  by  siphons— Limit  of  the  application 
of  siphons  known  to  ancient  Plumbers — Error  of  Porta  and  other  writers  respecting  siphons — Decaus- 
Siphons  for  discharging  liquids  at  the  bend — Ram  siphon. 


The  siphon,  or  as  it  is  sometimes  named  the  crane,  is  in  its  simplest 
form  merely  a  tube  bent  so  as  to  resemble  an  inverted  letter  U  or  V ;  and 
is  employed  to  transfer  liquids  from  one  level  to  a  lower  one,  in  circum¬ 
stances  where  natural  or  artificial  obstructions  prevent  a  straight  pipe 
from  being  used  ;  as  when  rocks  or  rising  grounds  intervene  between  a 
spring  and  the  place  where  the  water  is  required,  or  when  the  contents 
of  casks  and  other  vessels  are  to  be  withdrawn  without  making  openings 
for  the  purpose  in  their  bottom  or  sides.  Thus  farmers  occasionally  have 
water  conveyed  over  hills  to  supply  their  barn-yards  and  dwellings  ;  and 
portable  siphons  are  in  constant  requisition  with  oil  and  liquor  merchants, 
chemists  and  distillers.  The  two  branches  of  a  tube  that  constitute  a 
siphon  are  commonly  of  unequal  lengths,  and  named  legs  ;  the  “  short”  or 
receiving  leg,  and  the  “  long”  or  discharging  one.  The  highest  part  where 
the  legs  are  united  is  known  as  the  apex  or  bend. 

As  liquids  are  raised  in  siphons  by  atmospheric  pressure,  the  perpen¬ 
dicular  length  of  the  short  leg,  like  the  suction  pipe  of  a  pump,  should 
never  exceed  25  or  28  feet.  To  put  siphons  in  operation,  the  air  within 
them  must  be  first  expelled.  Small  ones  are  sometimes  inverted  and 
filled  with  a  portion  of  the  fluid  to  be  decanted,  but  more  frequently  the 
liquid  is  drawn  through  the  tube  by  sucking.  Other  devices  for  charging 
them  will  be  noticed  farther  on. 

The  action  of  a  siphon  does  not  depend  upon  any  inequality  of  atmo¬ 
spheric  pressure,  as  some  writers  on  natural  philosophy  have  inadvertently 
intimated.  In  one  popular  work,  it  is  said,  “  the  pressure  of  the  air  is 
more  diminished  ;”  and  in  another,  more  “  weakened  or  abated”  over  the 
discharging  than  over  the  receiving  orifice ;  whereas,  philosophically 
speaking,  the  reverse  is  the  fact :  for  as  the  discharging  end  is  nearer  the 
earth,  a  deeper  and  consequently  heavier  column  of  atmosphere  rests  over 


515 


Chap.  6.] 


Variety  of  their  forms  and  materials. 


No.  234. 


l‘*md  C°lumns  wjth“  *<=.  >«gf  *at  causes  a  siphon  L  act :  the  column! 

discharging  leg  must  exceed  in  this  respect  that  contained 
n  the  receiving  one,  or  no  action  can  take  place.  Bv 

— ng,the  gT  10  the  mar^in’  «  wi]1  ^  perceived 
that  the  column  in  the  receiving  leg  extends  only  from  the 

suiface  of  the  liquid  in  the  vessel  to  the  bend,  whereas  in 
the  other  it  extends  from  the  bend  to  the  orifice.  As  the 
pressure  of  fluids  is  as  their  depth  without  regard  to  their 
volume,  the  hydrostatic  equilibrium  of  the  two  columns  is 
destroyed,  when  the  longer  one  necessarily  preponderates, 
upon  which  the  vacuity  left  in  the  upper  part  of  the  tube 

other  leg  ^  atm°SPhere  driving  fresh  portions  up  the 

^  ?ut  could  not  act  at  all  were  it  not  for  that 

property  of  fluids  by  which  their  particles  cling  to  each  other.  The  tena¬ 
city  of  liquids  may  be  considered  like  that  of  solids,  only  less  intense  • 
and  thus  it  is  when  water  flows  through  a  siphon,  the  descending  particles 
actually  drag  down  those  above  them,  somewhat  like  a  chain  or  rope 
unequally  suspended  over  a  pulley,  when  the  longer  end  pulls  the  shorter 
one  after  it.  A  siphon  is  m  fact  a  contrivance  by  which  liquid  chains  or 
ropes  are  thus  made  to  act.  But  for  the  cohesion  of  liquids  the  contents 
of  the  discharging  leg  would  drop  out  like  sand,  and  no  further  effect 
would  follow— the  rope  would  be  broken,  and  the  separated  parts  fall 
asunder.  The  influence  of  cohesion  in  the  action  of  siphons  is  proved  bv 

tlie  tact  that  very  short  ones  continue  to  operate  when  removed  into  a 
vacuum* 

.  The  te"^ily,  or  what  might  almost  be  called  the  malleability  of  liquids 
is  beautifully  exemplified  in  soap  bubbles.  These  yield  to  impressions 
without  breaking.  They  fall  on  and  rebound  from  the  floor  like  bladders 
or  balls  of  India  rubber.  They  shake  in  the  wind,  and  their  figures  be¬ 
come  altered  like  that  of  balloons  tossed  to  and  fro  in  the  air :  all  this  they 
often  endure  before  their  shells  are  broken  by  evaporation. 

Siphons  are  exceedingly  diversified  in  their  forms,  materials  and  uses, 
lhey  are  made  of  cylindrical  and  other  shaped  tubes,  and  both  of  uniform 
and  irregular  bore.  The  legs  of  some  are  parallel,  while  in  others  they 
meet  at  every  angle — sometimes  straight  and  often  crooked — one  may  be 
larger  than  the  other,  or  both  may  be  alike  ;  they  also  may  be  separate 
one  loosely  slipping  into  or  over  the  other.  Instead  of  tubes  siphons  are 
sometimes  formed  by  an  arrangement  of  plates,  and  also  by  a  combination 
of  vases.  I  his  plastic  property  has  occasioned  their  concealment  in  more 
various  forms  than  Proteus  ever  assumed.  Siphons  are  made  of  tin  cop¬ 
per,  iron,  silver,  glass,  lead,  earthenware,  leather,  wood,  canes:’  and 
(capillary  ones)  of  paper,  strips  of  cloth,  threads  of  cotton,  &c.  Examples 
of  their  various  forms  and  applications  will  be  found  noticed  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  historical  sketch. 

The  origin  of  siphons  like  that  of  pumps  is  lost  jn  antiquity.  Some 

vnl  f  °L'r  f°rTTati°n  °n  aCt'.0n  8jPh°ns  in  vacuo,  see  Boyle’s  Works,  by  Shaw, 
rtA  history  and  Memoirs  of  the  French  Academy,  translated  by  Marlin  and 
Chambers,  vol.  iv.  374 ;  and  Desaguhers  Exper.  Philos,  vol.  ii.  168. 


516 


Siphons  in  Ancient  Egypt. 


[Book  V. 


writers  of  the  last  century  attributed  them  to  Ctesibius,  (see  page  268,) 
because  they  were»used  in  some  of  his  water-clocks,  and  no  earlier  appli¬ 
cation  of  them  was  then  known.  For  the  same  reason  the  invention  of 
toothed  wheels  has  been  erroneously  ascribed  to  him.  All  the  informa¬ 
tion  extant  respecting  the  ancient  nations  of  the  East  is  exceedingly 
limited,  while  of  their  arts  and  details  of  their  mechanism  we  know  next 
to  nothing.  The  greater  part  of  our  ordinary  machines  cannot  be  traced 
to  a  higher  source  than  Greece,  but  Greece  itself  was  colonized  by  Egyp¬ 
tians  ;  and  however  much  the  children  of  Cadmus  may  have  refined  on 
some  departments  of  the  useful  arts,  the  general  mechanism  of  their 
ancestors  is  believed  to  have  passed  through  their  hands  to  those  of  the 
Romans,  and  from  the  latter  to  us  with  little  alteration.  This  was  cer¬ 
tainly  the  case  with  their  hydraulic  and  hydro-pneumatic  devices.  The 
siphon  is  an  example.  The  name  of  this  instrument  is  taken  from  a  Greek 
word,  which  signifies  simply  a  tube  ;  but  it  has  been  ascertained  that  the 
word  is  of  a  remoter — of  an  oriental  origin,  being  derived  from  siph  or 
sif,  to  imbibe  or  draw  up  with  the  breath,  and  whence  comes  our  expres¬ 
sion  to  sip.  Now  if  it  can  be  proved  that  the  siphon  was  in  use,  and  was 
charged  by  sucking  before  the  times  of  Grecian  history,  we  may  safely 
conclude  that  a  more  ancient  people  furnished  the  Greeks  with  both  the 
instrument  and  its  name. 

The  researches  of  Rosellini  and  Wilkinson  have  settled  this  point. 
These  gentlemen  have  brought  to  light  irresistible  evidence  that  siphons 
were  used  in  Egypt  at  least  as  early  as  1450  years  before  Christ.  In  a 
tomb  at  Thebes,  which  bears  the  name  of  Amunoph  II,  who  reigned  at 
the  period  just  named,  they  are  delineated,  and  in  a  manner  too  distinct 
to  admit  of  any  doubts.  See  No.  235.  Several  jars  are  represented 
upon  a  frame  or  stand.  Into  three  of  them  siphons  are  inserted  ;  two 
apparently  in  operation,  and  a  man  is  in  the  act  of  charging  the  other  by 
sucking  :  the  contents  of  the  jars  being  transferred  into  a  large  vase  sup¬ 
ported  upon  an  ornamental  stand. 


Mr.  Wilkinson  supposes  that  siphons  were  invented  in  Egypt,  and  were 
used  to  decant  the  Nile  water  from  one  vessel  to  another.  He  says  it  is 
necessary  to  let  this  water  stand  for  some  time  before  being  used,  that  the 
mud  suspended  in  it  may  settle  to  the  bottom.  On  this  account  vases 
containing  it  cannot  be  moved  without  rendering  it  again  turbid,  and  the 
same  effect  is  produced  by  dipping  ;  hence  the  use  of  siphons.  The  con- 


Chap.  6.] 


Common  in  Kitchens. 


517 


jecture  may  be  correct,  but  it  does  not  derive  much  support  from  the 
use  of  those  instruments  figured  at  No.  235;  for  unless  tlfire  was  Tome 
contrivance  to  prevent  the  ends  of  the  siphons  from  going  too  near  the 
bottom  of  the  jars,  scarce  y  any  thing  would  more  effectually  disturb  and 
draw  off  the  sediment  with  the  water.  The  tubes  were  obviously  of 
some  flexiWe  material,  and  from  the  manner  in  which  they  are  held  it 
wou  d  be  impossible  for  the  person  using  them  to  regulate  by  hand  the 

epth  to  which  the  short  legs  were  immersed.  Moreover,  another  indi¬ 
vidual  (omitted  in  our  illustration)  is  represented  pouring  a  liquid  into 
one  of  the  jars,  an  operation  that  would  effectually  disturb  the  sediment. 

nstead  of  water,  jars  so  small  probably  contained  wines,  and  the  artist 
designed  to  exhibit  the  mode  of  mixing  them  ;  a  common  practice  of  old 
and  one  referred  to  in  several  parts  of  the  scriptures.  The  Egyptians 
were  much  given  to  luxurious  living,  and  especially  with  regard  to  wine 
a  fact  which  the  sculptures  corroborate,  for  scenes  of  gross  excess,  and  in 
emales  too,  are  portrayed  The  Jews  we  know  carried  with  them  into 
Palestine  not  only  the  arts  but  many  of  the  worst  habits  of  the  Egyptians 
and  the  excessive  indulgence  of  mixed  wines  was  one.  “Woe  unto  them 
that  are  mighty  to  drink  wine,  and  men  of  strength  to  mingle  strong 
drink.  Isaiah  v,  22  “  She  hath  mingled  her  wine,  she  hath  also  furnished 

“k  T  -X’  »  ;;  tar^  at  wine,  they  that 

go  to  seek  mixed  wine.”  Ibid  xxm,  30.  J 

Other  examples  of  the  early  use  of  siphons  are  met  with.  In  the  tomb 
of  Remeses  III.  who  flourished-  1235  B.  C.,  is  a  representation  of  an 
Egyptian  kitchen,  with  the  various  operations  of  slaying  animals,  cutting 
up  the  joints  and  preparing  them  for  cooking— kneading  dough  with  the 
met  and  paste  with  the  hands— making  cakes  and  confectionary,  &c  — 
■Of  kitchen  furniture,  there  are  tables,  jars,  plates,  cauldrons,  bellows 
ovens,  molds,  pestle  and  mortar,  knives,  baskets,  &c.,  and  suspended 
on  ropes  or  rods,  a  number  of  siphons ;  showing  evidently  that  those 
instruments  were  in  constant  requisition.  See  No.  236.  These  were 
probably  adapted  for  jars  of  certain  depths,  unlike  those  in  the  preceding 
figure,  which  seem  to  have  been  appropriated  to  different  sized  vessels 
and  their  shape  altered  as  occasions  might  require. 

How  singular  that  these  philosophical  instruments  should  have  been 
more  common  before  the  siege  of  Troy  than  at  the  present  day  !  And 

*  ow  Precious  are  those  monumental  records  that  have  preserved  this  and 
■other  facts  of  the  kind  1 

The  circumstance  of  siphons  having  been  used  in  Egypt  at  so  early  a 
period  may  be  deemed  conclusive  that  other  nations  were  not  ignorant  of 
them.  With  Egypt,  all  the  famous  people  of  antiquity  maintained  an 
intercourse ;  and  enterprising  men  flocked  from  all  parts  to  acquire  a 
tin  £  .  e  ar.ts  and  sciences  that  were  cultivated  on  the  banks  of 

the  Nile.  Their  neighbours,  the  Jews,  as  a  matter  of  course,  were  ac- 
quainted  with  siphons,  and  there  is  probably  a  reference  to  them  in  John 
11.  “  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  fill  the  water  pots  with  water.  And  they 
tilled  them  to  the  brim.  And  he  said  unto  them,  draw  out  now  and  bear 
unto  the  governor  of  the  feast,  and  they  bare  it.”  How  did  they  draw 
this  liquid  1  Certainly  not  by  inclining  the  jars  and  pouring  it  out;  nor 
yet  does  it  appear  to  have  been  done  by  dipping:  for  as  the  large  pots 
were  filled  to  the  very  brim,  this  would  have  caused  the  liquid  to  over¬ 
flow.  It  is  more  reasonable  to  suppose  that  small  siphons  were  used  on 

aT  llTl°ru*nd  ?aJ.they  Were  char£ed  by  sucking,  as  represented  in 
,  ..  and  tin*  only  clearly  accounts  for  the  fact  that  those  who 

Alaewthe  liquid  were  first  aware,  as  they  must  have  been,  of  the  chancy  it 


518 


[Book  Y. 


Siphons  from  Heron's  Spiritaiia. 

had  undergone.  This  change  does  not  seem  to  have  affected  the  color, 
for  not  till  he  tasted  of  it  was  the  presiding  officer  himself  sensible  of  its 
being  wine.  “  When  the  ruler  of  the  feast  had  tasted  the  water  that  was 
made  wine,”  he  “  knew  not  whence  it  was,  but  the  servants  that  drew  the 
water  knew.” 

No.  235  probably  was  designed  to  represent  one  of  Pharaoh’s  butlers 
engaged  in  that  part  of  his  duty  which  required  him  to  draw  and  mix  the 
king’s  drink.  Such  officers  formed  part  of  large  establishments  among 
the  ancients,  and  so  they  do  in  modern  times.  Switaer,  speaking  of  small 
siphons  observes,  “  the  insinuation  of  air  is  such  that  wine  will  not  always 
keep  on  its  regular  ascent,  without  the  butler  puts  his  mouth  sometimes  to 
it,  to  give  it  a  new  suction.” 

One  of  the  modes  by  which  Ctesibius  applied  siphons  to  clepsydrae, 
will  be  found  figured  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

Were  the  old  philosophers  of  Egypt  acquainted  with  the  principle  on 
which  the  siphon  acts  l  Doubtless  they  were,  else  they  could  never  have 
diversified  its  form  and  adapted  it  with  such  admirable-  ingenuity  to  the 
great  variety  of  purposes  both  open  and  concealed,  which  we  know  they 
did.  In  connection  with  bydromancy  it  was  made  to  play  an  important 
part.  Magical  goblets  were  often  nothing  else  than  modifications  of  siphons  ; 
and  from  the  Spiritaiia  we  learn  that  they  formed  the  basis  of  more  com¬ 
plex  and  imposing  apparatus.  The  tricks  connected  with  the  glass  tomb 
of  Belus,  and  the  miraculous  vases  in  the  temple  of  Bacchus  probably 
depended  upon  siphons  ;  and  most  writers  on  the  vocal  statue  of  Memnon 
have  introduced  them  as  essential  parts  of  the  supposed  machinery  ;  imi¬ 
tating  in  this  respect  the  apparatus  described  by  Heron  for  producing 
mysterious  sounds  from  the  figures  of  men,  birds,  &c. 

Heron  is  more  diffuse  on  the  subject  of  siphons  than  any  other  writer. 
Upwards  of  twenty  problems  in  his  Spiritaiia  relate  to  or  are  illustrrated 
by  them ;  and  from  him  we  learn  that  these  instruments  were  in  his  time 
employed  on  a  large  scale  in  draining  and  irrigating  land,  via.  by  transfer¬ 
ring  water  over  hills  from  one  valley  to  another.  .  This  use  of  the  siphon 
was  probably  quite  as  common  under  the  Pharaohs  as  under  the  Ptolemies; 
for  Heron  does  not  intimate  that  it  was  novel  in  his  time  any  more  than 
the  instrument  itself. 


The  above  figures  are  illustrations  of  the  first,  second,  third,  and  thirtieth 
problems  of  Heron’s  work.  , 


Chap.  6.] 


Liquids  of  different  Specific  Gravities. 


519 

r„50'  237  (tae  fi(St  ?Pr5  the  SP!rit?,!a)  represents  an  ordinary  siphon 
resting  ovei  the  handle  of  a  vase,  within  which  the  short  leg  is  inserted 

1  his  instrument  was  charged  by  sucking,  as  the  more  ancient  ones  in  the’ 
last  cut. 

No.  23S  exhibits  another  form  of  the  siphon,  consisting  of  two  straight 
and  separate  tubes,  the  smaller  one  of  which  is  inserted  through  the  bot¬ 
tom  of  the  covered  vase,  and  reaches  as  high  within  it  as  the  liquid  is 
required  to  stand.  Over  this  tube  another  one  is  slipped  whose  upper 
end  is  closed  air-tight.  _  Hence  it  is  obvious  that  when  the  liquid  is  higher 
han  the  orifice  of  the  inner  tube  which  forms  the  long  leg,  it  will  ascend 
between  the  tubes  and  continue  to  be  discharged  as  in  the  common  siphon 
until  the  surface  descends  below  the  lower  end  of  the  outer  tube,  or  short 
leg.  Here  the  liquid  is  discharged  from  the  bottom  of  the  vessel  not 
over  its  rim  as  in  the  preceding  figure.  The  siphon  admits  of  a  areat 
variety  of  modifications,  some  of  which  in  the  hands  of  ancient  jugglers 
contributed  not  a  little  to  amaze  the  ignorant.  The  contents  of  the  large 
vases,  often  permanently  fixed  in  temples,  could  and  doubtless  often  were 
secretly  emptied  by  contrivances  of  this  kind  ;  the  siphons  of  course  being- 
concealed  in  the  ornaments,  handles,  or  other  adjuncts.  The  six  vessels 
of  wine  placed  daily  m  the  temple  of  Bel,  which  the  priests  clandestinely 
emptied  every  night,  might  have  been  more  neatly  robbed  of  their  contents 
by  concealed  siphons,  than  by  entering  through  a  secret  passage  under  the 
altar  ;  but  as  the  abstraction  of  the  more  solid  food  which  the  priests  pre¬ 
tended  was  consumed  every  day  by  the  brazen  deity,  (forty  sheep  and 
twelve  measures  of  floor,)  required  some  contrivance  like  the  latter  •  the 
vases  were  emptied  at  the  same  time.  [Story  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon.] 
I  he  romantic  account  by  Herodotus  of  the  robbery  of  Rhampsinitus’ trea¬ 
sury,  shows  to  what  extent  the  system  of  secret  passages  was/ carried,  and 
the  ingenuity  with  which  they  were  made  and  concealed. 

The  velocity  with  which  water  flows  from  an  ordinary  siphon  necessarily 
diminishes  as  the  surface  in  the  reservoir  falls.  In  some  cases  a  uniform 
discharge  is  desirable.  No.  239  shows  how  ancient  engineers  accomplished 
this.  A  float  or  hollow  dish  was  attached  to  the  end  of  the  short  lea-,  so 
that  the  instrument  descended  with  the  water.  The  long  leg  was  passed 
loosely  through  two  openings  in  projecting  pieces  that  preserved  it  in  the 
proper  position. 

1  he  difference  in  the  specific  gravity  of  liquids  was  a  fruitful  source 
of  deception. .  Many  capital  tricks  were  based  upon  it,  especially  when 
the  lighter  fluids  employed  were  of  the  same  color  as  those  on  which  they 
reposed.  If  for  example,  a  vessel  contained  oil,  wine  and  water,  these 
liquids  could  be  discharged  by  a  siphon  like  No.  239  in  the  same  order; 
and  by  secretly  raising  or  lowering  an  ordinary  one,  or  the  moveable  tube 
in  No.  238,  any  one  liquid  could  be  drawn  off.  Fresh  water  being  lio-hter 
than  salt  is  often  found  some  distance  at  sea;  and  sailors,  like  old  jugglers, 
can  draw  up  either,  according  to  the  depth  to  which  their  buckets  are' 
immersed.  Four  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  the  fresh  water 
is-  about  two  feet  deep,  and  at  ten  miles  it  may  be  obtained  by  careful 
dipping. 

In  problem  XXX  of  the  Spiritalia,  Heron  shows  how  siphons  may  be 
concealed  within  the  figures  of  oxen  or  other  animals  in  the  act  of  drink¬ 
ing  ;  the  orifice  of  the  short  leg  being  at  the  mouth,  and  that  of  the  Iona 
one  in  one  of  the  feet.  See  No.  240.  When  the  bore  of  the  siphon  is 
properly  adjusted *to  the  quantity  of  water  flowing  into  a  basin,  the  animal 
will  appear  to  drink  the  whole. 


520 


Tantalus'  Cups — Magic  Pitchers.  [Book  V. 


The  following  represent  a  number  of  Tantalus’  cups,  magic  goblets,  &c. 
In  No.  241,  tbe  long  leg  of  the  siphon  passes  through  the  bottom  of  the 
vessel,  and  the  short  one  remains  above  ;  so  that  when  the  liquid  rises 
over  the  bend,  it  will  be  discharged  by  the  siphon  into  the  cavity  below. 


No.  241.  No.  242.  No.  243.  No.  244.  No.  245 

Devices  of  this  kind  admit  of  numerous  modifications  by  which  the  tube 
may  be  concealed.  When  it  is  enclosed  within  the  figure  of  a  man,'  (the 
water  entering  at  one  foot  slightly  raised,  and  passing  out  through  the 
other,)  the  vessel  is  named  a  Tantalus'  cup ,  and  the  liquid  instead  of  enter¬ 
ing  the  mouth,  as  in  No.  240,  only  rises  to  the  chin,  and  then  runs  away — 
illustrating  the  classical  fable,  which  represents  Tantalus  suffering  the 
tortures  of  thirst  in  the  midst  of  water  that  reached  to  his  lips,  but  which 
on  his  attempting  to  taste  sunk  below  his  reach  ;  hence  the  origin  of  our 
word  tantalize ,  and  its  relatives. 

Next,  suff’ring  grievous  torments,  I  beheld 

Tantalus  :  in  a  pool  he  stood,  his  chin 

Wash’d  by  the  wave ;  thirst  parch’d  he  seem’d,  but  found 

Nought  to  assuage  his  thirst ;  for  when  he  bow’d 

His  hoary  head,  ardent  to  quaff,  the  flood 

Vanish’d  absorb’d,  and  at  his  feet,  adust 

The  soil  appear’d,  dried  instant,  by  the  gods. 

Odys.  xi.  Cowper. 

It  is  supposed  the  fable  was  intended  to  illustrate  the  influence  of  ava¬ 
rice,  by  which  misers  in  the  midst  of  plenty  often  deny  themselves  the 
necessaries  and  comforts  of  life. 

Sometimes  the  sides  and  bottom  of  Tantalus’  cups  are  made  hollow  and 
the  siphon  formed  within  them.  No.  242  is  one  of  these.  An  examina¬ 
tion  of  it  will  sufficiently  explain  the  construction.  A  small  opening  near 
the  bottom  (which  may  easily  be  concealed)  communicates  with  a  passage 
formed  by  a  partition,  above  the  top  of  which  the  liquid  must  rise  beforg 
it  can  pass  down  the  other  side  into  the  base  of  the  cup. 

In  No.  243  the  siphon  is  formed  within  the  handle.  The  short  leg 
communicates  with  the  lower  part  of  the  cup  at  the  swell,  so  as  not  easily 
to  be  detected,  and  the  long  one  with  the  cavity  formed  below.  The 
figure  represents  a  Tantalus’  cup  in  our  possession. 

A  liquid  is  retained  in  one  of  these  as  in  an  ordinary  goblet,  so  long  as 
the  surface  does  not  reach  above  the  highest  part  of  the  siphon  ;  but  if 
the  cup  be  once  inclined  so  as  to  set  the  latter  in  operation,  the  contents 
will  gradually  be  transferred  to  the  hollow  base,  and  this  whether  the 
vessel  be  replaced  in  an  upright  position  or  not.  Thus  tankards  have 


Chap.  6.]  Goblet  for  unwelcome  Guests.  521 

been  so  contrived  that  the  act  of  applying  them  to  the  lips  charged  the 
siphon,  and  the  liquid  instead  of  entering  the  mouth  then  passed  through 
an  illegal  passage  into  the  cavity  formed  for  its  reception  below  By 
making  the  capacity  of  the  siphon  sufficiently  large,  a  person  ignorant  of 
t  le  device  would  find  it  a  difficult  matter  even  to  taste  the  contents  how¬ 
ever  thirsty  he  might  be.  In  the  dark  ages,  simple  people  would  naturally 
on  such  occasions  give  credit  to  legends  respecting  mischievous  demons 
loving  beer  and  taking  these  opportunities  to  get  it.  Dishonest  publicans 
whose  sign-boards  announced  “  entertainment  for  man  and  beast  ”  are 
said  to  have  occasionally  thus  despoiled  travelers  of  a  portion  of  their  ale 
or  mead,  as  well  as  their  horses  of  feed.  Oats  were  put  into  a  perforated 
manger,  and  a  large  part  forced  through  the  openings  into  a  receptable 
below,  by  the  movements  of  the  hungry  animal’s  mouth. 

Martial  the  Roman  poet  refers  to  tricks  of  ancient  publicans,  and  what 
will  surprise  some  readers,  he  complains  of  having  had  wine  foisted  on 
him  instead  of  water.  Ravenna  was  originally  built  like  Venice  on  piles 
and  was  a  sea-port,  though  now  several  miles  inland.  Water  has  always 
been  extremely  scarce  at  this  city,  and  probably  was  more  so  formerly 
than  at  present  In  the  poet’s  time  it  seems  to  have  brought  a  hi°her 
price  than  inferior  kinds  of  wine.  Hence  his  complaint : 

By  a  Ravenna  vintner  once  betray’d, 

So  much  for  wine  and  water  mix’d  I  paid ; 

But  when  I  thought  the  purchas’d  liquor  mine, 

The  rascal  fobb’d  me  off  with  wine.  L.  iii,  Ep.  57.  Addison. 

v  No.  244,  a  magical  pitcher,  from  the  eighth  problem  of  the  Spiritalia. 
The  siphon  is  nut  employed,  but  the  device  is  allied  to  the  preceding 
ones.  A  horizontal  partition  or  diaphragm  perforated  with  minute  holes 
divides  the  vessel  into  two  parts.  The  handle  is  hollow  and  air-ti<ffit, 
and  at  the  place  where  its  lower  end  is  connected  to  the  pitcher,  a  tube 
proceeds  from  it  and  reaches  nearly  to  the  bottom.  At  the  upper  part  of 
the  handle  a  small  hole  is  drilled,  where  the  thumb  or  finger  can  readily 
cover  it.  It  should  be  disguised  by  some  neighboring  ornament  or  scroll. 
If  this  pitcher  be  half  filled  with  water  and  inverted,  the  liquid  would  be 
retained  as  long  as  the  small  hole  in  the  handle  was  closed — being  sus¬ 
pended  as  in  the  atmospheric  sprinkling  pot,  No.  69  and  70,  and  in  Tutia’s 
sieve,  No.  74.  If  the  lower  part  be  filled  with  water  and  the  upper  with 
wine,  the  liquids  will  not  mix  as  long  as  the  small  hole  in  the  handle  is 
closed  ;  the  wine  can  then  either  be  drunk  or  poured  out.  If  the  hole  be 
left  some  time  open,  a  mixture  of  both  liquors  will  be  discharged.  With 
a  vessel  of  this  kind,  says  an  old  writer,  “  You  may  welcome  unbidden 
guests.  Having  the  lower  part  already  filled  with  water,  call  to  your  ser¬ 
vant  to  fill  your  pot  with  wine  ;  then  you  may  drink  unto  your  guest, 
drinking  up  all  the  wine  :  when  he  takes  the  pitcher  thinking  to  pledge 
you  in  the  same,  and  finding  the  contrary,  will  happily  stay  away  until 
he  be  invited,  fearing  that  his  next  presumption  might  more  sharply  be 
rewarded.” 

Another  old  way  of  getting  rid  of  an  unwelcome  visiter,  was  by  offering 
him  wine  in  a  cup  resembling  No.  245.  The  sides  were  double,  and  an 
air-tight  cavity  formed  between  them.  When  the  vessel  was  filled,  some 
of  the  liquid  entered  the  cavity  and  compressed  the  air  within  ;  so  that 
when  the  pup  was  inclined  to  the  lips  and  partly  emptied,  the  pressure 
being  diminished,  the  air  expanded,  and  drove  part  of  the  contents  in  the 
face  of  the  drinker.  Porta,  in  his  Natural  IVIagic,  (Eng.  translation.  1658,) 
mentions  several  similar  devices,  but  they  are  all  to  be  found  in  one  form 

66 


522 


Siphons ,  A.  D.  1511.  [Book  V. 

or  another  in  the  Spiritalia.  One  goblet  was  so  contrived  that  “  no  man 
can  drink  out  of  it  but  he  who  knows  the  art.”  The  liquid  was  suspended 
in  cavities  and  discharged  by  admitting  or  excluding  air  through  secret 
openings.  Another  one  “  for  making  sport  with  them  that  sit  at  table  with 
us,”  a  cup  into  which  wine  was  poured  in  the  presence  of  the  drinker,  but 
who  could  derive  from  it  nothing  but  water,  &c. 

The  necromancers  of  the  Tartars  and  Cathayans,  [Chinese,]  says 
Purchas,  “  are  exceedingly  expert  in  their  divellish  art.  They  cause  that 
the  bottles  in  the  hall  of  the  great  ldian  doe  fill  the  bowls  [cups]  of  their  own 
accord,  which  also  without  man’s  help  pass  ten  paces  through  the  ayre  into 
the  hands  of  the  great  khan  ;  and  when  he  hath  drunke,  in  like  sort  they 
returne  to  their  place.”  The  cups  were  doubtless  filled  and  moved  by 
some  ingenious  device  ;  but  this  being  concealed,  the  whole  was  of  course 
miraculous. 

Among  the  antiquities  of  Lunenburg  was  a  magical  goblet  or  ewer, 
“  une  aiguiere  dans  laquelle  il  y  a  un  secret  hydraulique.”  (Le  Curieux 
Antiquaire,  a  Leide,  1729,  tom  ii,  495.) 

From  the  time  of  Heron  up  to  the  16th  and  17th  centuries  little  specific 
information  respecting  siphons  is  to  be  met  with.  They  were  of  course 
known  to  the  Homans.  Sir  Wm.  Gell  supposes  some  modification  of  them 
was  employed  in  connecting  the  large  boilers  in  which  water  was  heated 
fer  the  public  baths.  It  appears  from  discoveries  made  in  Pompeii  that 
these  vessels  were  closed  on  alb  sides  and  bore  some  resemblance  to  the 
bodies  of  modern  stills ;  and  that  to  economize  the  heat,  three  of  them 
were  placed  upon  each  other.  The  lowest  one  in  contact  with  the  fire 
was  the  largest,  and  named  “  the  caldarium,  that  above  it  the  tepidarium, 
and  the  uppermost  which  was  supplied  with  cold  water  directly  from  the 
aqueduct  or  other  reservoir  the  frigidarium  ;  and  they  were  so  contrived, 
by  means  of  something  of  the  nature  of  a  siphon,  that  when  the  water  of 
the  lowest  was  drawn  off  for  the  bath,  an  equal  quantity  descended  simul¬ 
taneously  from  the  second  to  the  lowest  cauldron,  and  from  the  uppermost 
to  the  second.”  Julius  Pollux,  who  lived  in  the  second  century,  informs 
us  that  siphons  were  used  for  tasting  wine.  They  are  also  referred  to  by 
other  ancient  writers,  but  as  several  instruments  were  designated  by  the 
same  name,  it  is  difficult  to  determine  with  precision  what  particular  one 
was,  in  every  case,  intended.  It  is  very  probable,  from  the  remark  of 
Pollux,  which  is  corroborated  by  the  illustration  No.  235,  that  siphons 
were  employed  by  ancient  vintners  and  private  gentlemen  for  decanting 
wine,  just  as  the  same  classes  use  them  at  this  day. 


No.  246.  A.  D.  151 1.  No.  247.  A.  D.  1511. 

The  earliest  modern  figures  of  siphons  that  we  have  met  with  are  in  the 
German  translation  of  Vegetius,  Erffurt,  1511.  The  above  figures,  Nos. 


Chap.  6.] 


Modern  Siphons. 


523 

246  and  247  are  copies.  Both  are  designed  to  show  the  application  of 
these  instruments  for  transferring  large  Quantities  of  wateTover  rbinf 

rloT^’,  “  Tntl°fu  by  Her0n’  No'  246  is  fomi'-'d  entirely  of  wooden 
planks  strongly  nailed  together.  The  upper  ends  of  the  two  trunks  or 

charQ7,hU"  t.  ‘I  a  SqUa- 6  a”d  Cl0Se  b0X-  by  mea"s  of  which  they  were 
charged  through  the  opening  on  the  top.  The  lower  orifices  were  tern 

h^  w!  yi°  °SedfiV  ?  T’  bel°W  With  Sh°rt  roPes  a«ached.  When 

the  whole  was  filled,  the  hole  at  the  top  was  closed  by  driving  in  the  stem 

meansQf  the  ropes"’  *he"  ‘h6  tWO  P'UgS  be‘°W  Were  withdrawn  by 

There  is  little  doubt  that  large  siphons  made  of  planks  and  jointed  or 
ed .  w  lth  pitch  would  work  well,  even  if  they  were  not  perfectly  ti<ffit 
provided  the  orifice  of  the  discharging  leg  was  considerably  lower  than 
the  surface  of  the  water  in  which  the  short  leg  was  placed  ^ 

Tn  d*rected  large  siphons  to  be  filled  through  a  funnel  at  the  top 
a  Mo  °nbCeS  C  0sed  below,  as  represented  in  Nos.  246  and  247.  1  ’ 

bo*  °'rb47  ^  °f  metia1,  .buf  charged  like  the  last  by  means  of  a  wooden 
ox  the  opemng  to  admit  the  water  and  its  stopper  being  clearly  repre¬ 
sented.  There  appears  no  device  for  closing  the  lower  ends^of  ffiis 
siphon;  and  as  they  enter  the  water  perpendicularly,  the  plugs  and  ropes 
used  in  No.  246  would  hardly  apply.  Probably  the  short  leg  was  closed 
by  a  valve  opening  upwards  at  the  bottom  of  the  box,  on  which  account 
the  latter  was  made  conical  to  afford  room  for  it  to  play.  This  valve 
would  be  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  charging  the  siphon,  provided  the 
upper  part  of  the  box  was  higher  than  any  other  part  of  the  instrument. 

e  therefore  suppose  that  the  disproportionate  size  of  the  box  and  its 
being  figured  below  the  bend  are  errors  of  the  artist. 

.  Of  modern  improvements,  the  addition  of  sucking  tubes  by  which  small 
siphons  are  now  commonly  charged  was  the  first.  It  is  uncertain  when 
or  by  whom  they  were  introduced.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
much  used,  if  at  all,  before  the  early  part  of  the  last  century  ;  for  all  the 
siphons  described  in  old  treatises  on  chemistry,  distilling,  &c.  invariably 
consist  of  single  tubes,  which  were  either  charged  by  immersing  them,  or 
by  drawing  out  the  air  from  the  orifice  of  the  discharging  leg  by  the 

mouth.  It  may  contribute  to  some  future  history  of  the  siphon  to  preserve 
a  few  of  these.  r 


The  first  two  are  from  the  English  translation  of  one  of  Conrad  Gesner’s 
works,  Lond.  1599.  (See  page  381  of  this  volume.)  Speaking  of  draw¬ 
ing  oft  water  from  the  head  of  a  still,  the  author  observes,  “  You  may  put 
certaine  d, raying  pipes  into  the  cover  such  as  you  see  here  livelie  portray¬ 
er  •  CoPies  of  the  same  are  inserted  in  several  other  old  works.  In 
“  Maison  Rustique,”  Paris,  1574,  folio  217,  they  are  to  be  seen,  and  the 
instruments  are  said  to  have  been  made  of  tinplate ,»  (tuyaux  de  fer  blanc.) 


»  This  beautiful (manufacture  (tin  plate)  which  contributes  so  largely  to  the  furnishing 

of  our  kitchens,  &c.  is  supposed  to  be  of  ancient  -date.  The  Germans  were  the  first 
makers  of  it  m  modern  times. 


524 


Sucking  Tube — Valve- Siphon.  [Book  V 

No.  250  is  from  the  “  Dictionnaire  CEconomique,”  Paris,  1732,  3d  edit. 
Tome  i,  S64.  It  is  obviously  copied,  with  the  distilling  apparatus  of  which 
it  forms  a  part,  from  some  older  work.  No.  248  differs  in  nothing  from 
those  belonging  one  of  the  Pharaohs,  (No.  236,)  while  the  forms  of  Nos. 
249  and  250  are  evidently  owing  to  the  material  of  which  they  are  made, 
viz.  tinned  iron;  the  legs  were  separate  pieces,  and  their  junction  formed 
an  acute  angle. 

The  sucking  tube  is  not  figured  by  Decaus,  Fludd,  Moxon,  Boyle,  Beli- 
dor  ;  nor  yet  by  Rohault,  Gravesande,  Desaguliers,  and  the  Abbe  Nollet, 
although  it  was  in  use  before  the  popular  works  of  the  last  named  authors 
were  published.  Switzer,  in  his  Hydrostatics,  1729,  has  figured  a  siphon 
for  transferring  water  over  a  hill  with  a  short  sucking  tube  attached  ;  but 
this  is  placed  near  the  top,  and  was  designed  to  draw  off  the  air  that 
miofht  accumulate  at  the  bend  after  the  instrument  had  been  some  time 
in  use. 

In  Martin’s  “  Philosophical  Grammar,”  Lond.  1762,  sixth  edit.  No.  251 
is  represented.  The  sucking  tube  appears  but  as  the  nucleus  of  the 
modern  one,  being  a  very  short  conical  piece  attached  to  the  extremity 
of  the  discharging  leg.  The  figure  we  suppose  was  in  the  previous  edi¬ 
tions  of  the  work.  It  was  copied  into  the  London  Magazine  for  1764, 
p.  5S4,  and  is  there  named  “  the  syphon  or  crane  in  common  use”  But 
the  sucking  tube  was  fully  developed  before  these  dates.  In  “  Arts  et 
Metieres,”  it  is  not  curtailed  of  its  fair  proportions.  The  treatise  on  the  Art 
of  the  Cooper,  (Art  du  Tonnelier,)  was  published  in  1763,  and  in  it  No. 
252  is  given  as  the  siphon  then  used  in  Paris  for  emptying  wine  casks,  &c. 
It  was  made  of  tin  plate,  and  for  the  convenience  of  hanging  it  up  when 
not  in  use,  a  ring  was  attached  to  the  upper  part.  “  Ce  siphon  est  connu 
sous  le  nom  d e  pompe.”  (Folio  edit.  p.  47.) 

“  L’Art  du  Distillateur  Liquoriste,”  was  published  in  1775.  In  it 
another  valuable  modification  of  the  siphon  is  exhibited.  See  No.  253. 
This  in  its  outline  resembles  the  preceding  one,  being  made  of  the  same 
material.  It  has  no  sucking  tube,  but  the  discharging  leg  is  closed  by  a 
cock,  and  the  receiving  one  by  a  light  valve  opening  inwards ;  hence 
when  once  charged,  this  siphon  would  always  remain  so  while  the  cock 
was  kept  shut :  it  could  be  moved  from  one  vessel  to  empty  another  at 
pleasure,  for  as  soon  as  the  end  of  the  short  leg  was  immersed  and  the 
cock  opened,  it  would  commence  to  act.  This  instrument  was  named 
“  siphon  a  clapet.”  (Folio  edit.  p.  140.) 

The  more  common  form  of  the  siphon  as  now  used  is  shown  at  No.  254, 
a  valve  in  the  short  leg  being  dispensed  with.  Small  instruments  are 
so  easily  charged,  that  little  or  no  advantage  is  derived  from  keeping  them 
filled.  Liquids  confined  in  them  become  insipid,  and  in  some  cases  tainted 
by  the  material  of  the  tube  ;  besides,  as  small  siphons  are  required  to 
decant  different  liquids,  their  contents  must  be  discharged  every  time  the 
liquid  is  changed.  On  these  accounts  the  valve  has  been  dropped.  The 
junction  of  the  sucking  tube  with  the  discharging  leg  must  always  be  kept 
below  the  surface  of  the  fluid  to  be  drawn,  as  the  virtual  length  of  the  leg 
there  terminates.  By  means  of  the  cock  the  discharge  can  always  be 
regulated,  and  when  a  receiving  vessel  is  filled — entirely  stopped  until 
another  vessel  is  prepared. 

Siphons  with  small  syringes  attached  for  the  purpose  of  charging  them, 
are  frequently  made  by  silversmiths  for  decanting  wine  from  ordinary 
bottles,  & c.  See  No.  255.  The  capacity  of  the  syringe  should  equal 
that  of  the  siphon,  as  one  stroke  only  (an  upward  one)  of  the  piston  can 
be  used.  Atmospheric  and  forcing  pumps  are  often  used  to  charge  very 


525 


Chap.  6.]  Wirtemburg  and  Argand's  Siphon. 

long  siphons  ;  the  former  being  applied  to  the  discharging,  and  the  latter 
to  the  receiving  orifice. 

Of  devices  for  stopping  and  renewing  the  discharge  without  either  cocks 
or  valves,  the  Wirtemburg  siphon  is  the  oldest.  It  was  so  named  from 
its  invention  in  that  city.  The  legs  are  of  equal  length,  and  to  prevent 
the  admission  of  air  when  the  instrument  is  not  in  use,  their  ends  are  bent 
upwards.  See  No.  256.  (For  the  convenience  of  discharge,  one  end  is 
commonly  recurved.)  The  alledged  advantages  of  this  siphon  over  others 
were  more  imaginary  than  real.  It  was  at  one  time  announced  as  “  a  very 
extraordinary  machine,  performing  divers  things  which  the  common  siphon 
cannot  reach.  Thus,  when  the  legs  were  inserted  in  different  vessels,  it 
was  said  to  preserve  the  liquid  at  the  same  level  in  both  ;  and  although 
the  legs  were  of  equal  length,  water  rose  indifferently  up  one  and  descend¬ 
ed  through  the  other,  besides  other  properties  which  in  fact  are  common 
to  all  siphons.  Its  only  peculiarity  consists  in  the  ends  of  the  legs  being 
turned  upwards,  so  as  to  retain  the  fluid  within,  and  thus  be  always  ready 
for  use  :  but  this  retention  of  the  contents,  although  theoretically  true,  is 
in  practice  hardly  attainable,  since  it  requires  the  orifices  to  be  always 
preserved  on  the  same  horizontal  line — a  condition  extremely  difficult  to 
perform,  except  with  very  small  instruments,  and  whose  ends  are  turned 
considerably  up.  If  the  ends  reach  only  to  a  level  with  the  upper  side  of 
the  flexure,  the  slightest  change  of  position  makes  one  leg  longer  than  the 
other  ;  air  is  admitted,  and  in  a  moment  the  whole  contents  are  expelled. 
A  siphon  thus  made  of  inch,  or  f  inch  tubing,  could  not  be  moved  from 
one  vessel  to  another,  or  hung  against  a  wall,  without  the  contents  being 
displaced.  Disks  or  stoppers  placed  over  the  orifices  would  prevent  this, 
but  they  would  virtually  be  valves.  The  Wirtemburg  siphon  is  conse¬ 
quently  seldom  seen  except  in  the  lecture  room.  (See  Phil.  Trans,  xv, 
846—7,  and  Lowthorp’s  Abridg.  i,  537—9.) 

In  1808,  M.  Argand,  the  inventor  of  lamp  burners  that  go  under  his 

name,  devised  a  “  valve  siphon”  precisely 
similar  to  No.  253.  From  remarks  made 
in  the  journals  of  the  time,  he  seems  to  have 
been  considered  the  introducer  of  the  valve 
— an  erroneous  idea.  As  regards  the  con¬ 
struction  of  his  siphon  all  that  could  be  claim- 
by  or  for  him  was  the  mode  of  connecting 
the  legs  to  the  horizontal  part  by  screws,  so 
that  they  might  easily  be  separated,  either 
for  the  purpose  of  cleaning  or  more  con¬ 
veniently  packing.  But  Argand’s  mode  of 
charging  his  siphon  was  novel.  It  was 
effected  on  the  same  principle  as  water  is 
raised  by  the  canne  hydraulique ,  (page  372,)  viz.  by  moving  the  instru¬ 
ment  perpendicularly  up  and  down  in  the  liquid,  until  it  became  filled. 
Instead  of  imparting  motion  to  the  whole  instrument,  which  in  larger  ones 
would  be  inconvenient,  M.  Hachette  suggests  that  the  lower  part  of  the 
receiving  leg  be  connected  to  the  upper  part  by  a  flexible  tube  of  leather 
or  cloth  impermeable  to  liquids,  so  that  the  part  in  which  the  valve  is 
situated  need  only  be  moved.  See  No.  257. 

Siphons  are  necessary  in  numerous  manipulations  of  the  laboratory,  and 
modern  researches  in  chemistry  have  given  rise  to  several  beautiful  devices 
for  charging  them,  and  also  for  interrupting  and  renewing  their  action. 
When  corrosive  liquids  or  those  of  high  temperatures  are  to  be  transferred 
by  siphons,  it  is  often  inconvenient,  and  sometimes  dangerous  to  put  them 


No.  256. 


No.  257. 


526 


Siphons  used  by  Chemists.  [Book  V. 

in  operation  by  the  lungs.  Moreover  cocks  and  valves  of  metal  are  acted 
on  by  acids,  and  in  some  cases  would  affect  or  destroy  the  properties  of 
the  fluids  themselves. 


No.  25S  shows  how  hot  or  corrosive  liquids  may  be  drawn  off  from  a 
wide  mouthed  bottle  or  jar.  The  short  leg  of  a  siphon  is  inserted  through 
the  cork  ;  and  also  a  small  tube,  through  which  the  operator  blows,  and 
by  the  pressure  of  his  breath  forces  the  liquid  through  the  siphon. 

No.  259  represents  a  siphon  sometimes  employed  by  chemists.  When 
used,  the  short  leg  is  first  placed  in  the  fluid  to  be  decanted,  the  flame  of 
a  lamp  or  candle  is  then  applied  to  the  underside  of  the  bulb  ;  the  heat 
rarefies  the  air,  and  consequently  drives  out  the  greater  part  of  it  through 
the  discharging  orifice.  The  finger  is  applied  to  this  orifice,  and  as  the  bulb 
becomes  cool  the  atmosphere  drives  up  the  liquid  into  the  void  and  puts 
the  instrument  in  operation. 

No.  260  is  a  siphon  by  M.  Collardeau.  It  is  charged  by  pouring  a 
quantity  of  the  fluid  to  be  decanted  into  the  funnel ;  the  bent  pipe  attached 
to  which  terminates  near  the  top  of  the  discharging  leg.  The  fluid  in 
descending  through  this  leg  bears  down  the  air  within  it,  on  the  principle 
of  the  trombe,  and  the  atmosphere  drives  up  the  liquid  in  the  reservoir 
through  the  short  leg.  In  experiments  with  this  instrument  we  invariably 
found  the  contents  of  the  charging  tube  drawn  into  the  siphon  whenever 
the  orifice  of  the  discharging  leg  was  not  made  smaller  than  the  bore  of 
the  receiving  one.  By  not  attending  to  this,  such  siphons  will  only  act  as 
long  as  water  is  poured  into  the  funnel. 

No.  261.  A  glass  siphon  for  decanting  acids,  &c.  It  is  charged  by 
sucking,  and  to  guard  against  the  contents  entering  the  mouth,  a  bulb  is 
blown  on  the  sucking  tube.  The  accumulation  of  a  liquid  in  this  bulb 
being  visible,  the  operator  can  always  withdraw  his  lips  in  time  to  pre¬ 
vent  his  tasting  it. 

No.  262  is  designed  to  retain  its  contents  when  not  in  use,  so  that  on 
plunging  the  short  leg  deep  into  a  liquid  the  instrument  will  operate.  This 
effect  however  will  not  follow  if  the  end  of  the  discharging  leg  descend 
below  the  flexure  near  it,  and  if  its  orifice  be  not  contracted  nearly  to  that 
of  a  capillary  tube. 

No.  263  is  a  siphon  by  which  liquids  may  be  drawn  at  intervals,  viz. 
by  raising  and  lowering  the  end  of  the  discharging  leg  according  to  the 
surface  of  the  liquid  in  the  cistern. 

Our  own  labors  have  developed  some  novel  modifications  of  the  siphon. 
No.  264  is  ' charged  by  an  apparatus  designed  as  a  substitute  for  the 
syringe.  (See  No.  255.)  The  sucking  tube  of  an  ordinary  siphon  is  made 
to  pass  through  the  centre  of  a  much  larger  pipe.  This  is  closed  at  the 
bottom,  open  at  top,  and  its  length  equal  to  that  of  the  short  leg.  A  move- 
able  tube  open  at  bottom  and  closed  above  is  fitted  to  slide  in  the  last,  and 
is  of  such  a  bore  that  the  space  between  its  sides  and  the  exhausting  tube 


Chap.  6.  |  Embank’ s  Siphons.  5<>y 

equals  the  capacity  of  the  siphon.  To  use  this  instrument,  fill  the  wide 
tube  with  water  or  some  other  fluid,  and  place  the  short  leg  into  the  liquid 
to  be  decanted  ;  then  close  the  orifice  of  the  long  leg  with  the  finder,  and 
raise  the  moveable  tube  (by  the  ring  attached  to  it)  and  the  siphon  will 
be  charged.  In  using  this  instrument,  the  fluid  by  which  it  is  charged 
does  not  mix  with  that  which  is  decanted,  as  in  No.  260.  The  apparatus 
is  more  simple  than  a  syringe  and  is  not  liable  to  be  deranged.  By  usincr 
mercury  both  the  length  and  bore  of  the  charging  tubes  may  be  greatly 
reduced.  As  these  tubes  themselves  constitute  a  siphon,  (see  No.  238,) 
the  upper  end  of  the  small  exhausting  one  should  extend  a  little  above 
that  which  contains  the  charging  fluid,  lest  this  should  occasionally  rise 
over  the  orifice — in  which  case  the  whole  would  be  drawn  off.  A  descrip¬ 
tion  of  this  siphon  was  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute 
for  November,  1834. 


Nos.  265-6  represent  another  mode  of  charging  siphons  on  the  same 
piinciple,  but  the  apparatus  is  more  simple  and  is  accompanied  with  some 
peculiar  advantages.  The  siphon  itself  has  no  exhausting  pipe  attached 
to  it,  but  is  a  bent  tube  simply.  It  is  put  in  operation  by  means  of  a 
moveable  tube  of  about  the  same  length  as  the  discharging  leg,  and  having 
the  bottom  closed  and  a  lip  or  spout  formed  on  its  upper  edge.  This 
tubular  vessel  is  filled  with  water  (or  other  fluid)  and  the  long  leg  of  the 
siphon  inserted  into  it.  The  short  leg  is  then  placed  into  the° liquid  to  be 
decanted  and  the  moveable  tube  drawn  gently  down.  The  air  within 
becomes  rarefied  and  the  instrument  charged  in  consequence  of  the  vacuity 
,  left  in  the  long  leg  by  the  receding  liquid.  The  moveable  tube  may  then 
be  wholly  withdrawn  or  not  as  circumstances  may  dictate.  If  the  liquid 
is  to  be  decanted  at  intervals,  or  the  stream  increased  or  diminished,  the 
tube  should  be  used  ;  thus,  to  lessen  or  stop  the  discharge,  slide  up  the 
tube  and  as  the  lip  approaches  to  a  level  with  the  surface  in  the  reservoir 
the  stream  will  become  less  and  less,  and  by  raising  it  still  higher,  as  in 
No.  265,  entirely  stopped.  Hence  the  instrument  acts  as  a  perfect  cock , 
by  which  the  liquid  may  be'  discharged  in  single  drops  or  in  a  full  stream' 
and  unlike  the  ordinary  brass  taps,  it  can  never  leak  nor  require  repairs. 

The  apparatus  also  performs  the  part  of  a  guage,  viz.  by  accurately  indi¬ 
cating  the  surface  of  the  fluid  within  any  vessel  to  which  it  is  attached. 
Suppose  we  wish  to  know  the  quantity  of  liquid  remaining  in  a  demijohn, 
or  other  close  vessel,  after  drawing  off  part  by  one  of  these  siphons ;  all 
that  ts  required  is  to  slide  up  the  tube  till  the  liquid  barely  drops  from  the 
bp  its  surface  in  the  tube  will  then  be  on  the  same  level  as  in  the  demi¬ 
john.  If  the  moveable  tube  be  made  of  glass,  the  quantity  left  can  always 
be  known  at  sight,  because  its  surface  in  the  tube  would  always  be  visible. 
A  device  of  this  kind  might  be  employed  to  draw  off  and  to  guage  the 


528 


Ewhank's  Siphons.  .  [Book  V. 

contents  of  standing  casks.  It  would  be  better  to  make  the  discharging 
leg  of  this  siphon  of  rather  larger  bore  than  the  short  one,  since  the  rare¬ 
faction  would  then  be  more  perfect.  The  discharging  leg  must  always 
be  inserted  in  the  moveable  tube  before  the  short  one  is  placed  in  the 
liquid  to  be  transferred.  (See  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  for  July 
and  November,  1834.) 

No.  267  is  formed  of  a  conical  tube,  and  charged  by  the  act  of  placing 
it  in  the  fluid  to  be  transferred.  The  end  of  the  long  leg  is  first  closed 
tight  by  the  finger,  and  the  short  one  then  immersed  as  deep  as  can  be 
conveniently  in  the  liquid.  The  air  being  thus  confined  prevents  the  liquid 
from  entering,  but  when  the  finger  is  withdrawn,  it  is  urged  up  the  short 
leg  by  the  hydrostatic  pressure  of  the  column  over  the  orifice  of  the  latter, 
and  the  momentum  of  the  large  volume  contained  in  the  lower  part  drives 
sufficient  over  the  bend  to  put  the  instrument  in  operation.  The  action 
of  this  siphon  depends  upon  the  same  principle  as  the  spouting  tubes 
described  in  the  last  chapter.  This  siphon  is  in  fact  merely  one  of  these 
bent  into  a  proper  form.  The  bend  should  be  a  regular  curve  in  order  to 
present  as  little  obstruction  as  possible  to  the  liquid  in  passing  over  :  it 
should  also  be  short ,  so  as  to  require  less  of  the  passing  fluid  to  fill  it  than 
a  longer  one.  The  proportions  of  the  different  parts  of  these  siphons 
should  approach  those  represented  in  the  cut.  Small  siphons  on  this  plan 
are  limited  in  their  application  to  those  cases  where  the  short  legs  can  be 
immersed  half  their  depth  or  more ;  but  the  application  of  large  instruments 
increases  with  the  depth.  (See  No.  226  and  remarks  upon  it,  page  499.) 

Nos.  268-9  are  bloioing  siphons,  being  charged  by  blowing  with  the 
mouth  through  the  tubes  connected  to  the  orifices  of  the  discharging  legs. 
This  mode  of  producing  a  vacuum  in  one  pipe  by  blowing  air  through 
another  is  sufficiently  explained  in  a  previous  chapter.  In  No.  269,  the 
junction  of  the  siphon  with  the  blowing  tube  is  flush  or  smooth  in  the 
interior  of  the  latter,  and  whenever  this  is  the  case  a  conical  ajutage  must 
be  added  as  represented,  or  the  instrument  cannot  be  charged.  (See 
remarks  on  blowing  tubes,  pp.  486-7.)  The  better  way  is  to  make  the 
siphon  like  No.  268,  in  which  a  part  of  the  leg  projects  into  the  blowing 
tube  and  diverts  the  current  of  air  from  the  lungs  over  the  orifice,  as  in 
Nos.  205-’6,  ’7,  and  ’13.  These  are  more  readily  charged  than  the  others, 
and  although  they  will  operate  without  the  conical  ajutage,  they  are  much 
easier  charged  with  it.  By  such  siphons  water  may  be  raised  one  or  two 
feet  by  a  smart  puff.  They  are  safe  and  convenient  to  transfer  acids,  &c. 
as  there  is  not  the  least  danger  of  receiving  any  portion  into  the  mouth, 
as  when  sucking  siphons  are  used. 

Siphons  are  now  used,  as  they  were  by  the  Egyptians  in  Heron’s  time, 
to  convey  water  to  considerable  distances.  When  they  are  laid  over 
ground  that  is  elevated  from  20  to  25  feet  above  the  spring,  a  quantity  of 
air  is  disengaged  from  the  water  at  the  highest  parts  of  the  tube,  and  accu¬ 
mulating  there  is  very  apt  to  cause  the  action  to  cease.  To  prevent  this, 
a  close  vessel,  furnished  with  a  cock  and  funnel  at  the  top,  should  be  con¬ 
nected  at  its  bottom  to  the  highest  part  of  the  siphon  by  a  stop  cock  or 
valve.  The  air  evolved  from  the  water  will  collect  in  this  vessel  and 
should  be  occasionally  drawn  off  in  the  following  manner.  Shut  the  lower 
cock  and  open  the  one  attached  to  the  funnel ;  then  expel  the  air  by  filling 
the  vessel  with  water  and  turn  the  cocks  as  at  first.  As  fresh  portions  of 
air  arise  from  the  liquid,  they  will  enter  the  vessel  and  drive  the  water 
down  the  discharging  leg.  When  the  ground  is  very  uneven  at  the 
highest  parts,  the  several  eminences  of  the  siphon  should  be  connected  by 
small  tubes  to  the  air-chamber. 


Chap.  6.]  Water  conveyed  over  rising  grounds  by  Siphons.  529 

We  have  known  siphons  from  a  quarter  to  half  a  mile  in  length,  and 
formed  of  leaden  pipes  only  half  an  inch  in  the  bore  continue  runnino-  from 
nine  to  fifteen  months  without  once  stopping,  although  no  air-vessels  were 
attached  to  them.  In  one  case  the  pipe  was  1200  feet  in  length,  the  orifice 
of  the  discharging  leg  was  but  five  or  six  feet  below  that  of  the  receiving 

one  and  the  highest  part  of  the  tube  was  from  12  to  15  feet  above  the 
surface  of  the  spring. 

An  opinion  is  current  with  some  writers,  that  the  extreme  elevation  to 
which  water  can  be  carried  by  siphons  was  unknown  to  the  ancients,  and 
that  Heron,  the  most  celebrated  writer  of  antiquity  upon  these  instru¬ 
ments,  was  not  himself  aware  of  its  limitation  to  about  30  feet.  It  is  not 
clear  that  Heron  was  thus  ignorant;  but  if  he  were,  it  would  only  show 
that  in  this  department  of  the  arts  he  was  no  practical  man.  That  ancient 
plumbers  and  pump-makers,  who  prepared  and  laid  large  siphons  were 
aware  of  the  limitation  there  can  be  no  doubt,  just  as  the  same  class  of 
mechanics  were  in  modern  times  with  regard  to  pumps,  before  philosophers 
were  informed  of  the  fact  or  able  to  account  for  it.  As  however  siphons 
for  conveying  water  over  hills  and  to  great  distances  have  always  been 
of  rare  occurrence,  (comparatively  speaking,)  it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that 
even  some  hydraulic  engineers  should  have  been  thus  ignorant  with  regard 
to  them,  although  familiar  with  the  extent  to  which  water  can  be  raised  by 
atmospheric  pumps.  If  some  of  these  men  have  talked  of  conveying 
water  by  siphons  over  mountains,  we  never  hear  them  speak  of  raisins  it 
to  equal  elevations  through  the  suction  pipes  of  pumps.  Daily  experience 
in  applying  the  latter  to  various  depths  prevented  them  from  falling  into 
the  error. 

Baptist  Porta,  in  the  19th  Book  of  his  Natural  Magic,  speaks  of  raising 
water  by  a  siphon  to  the  top  of  a  high  tower,  and  several  old  writers  have 
the  same  conceit.  This  was  in  accordance  with  the  ancient  doctrine  of  the 
plcnists ,  who  denied  the  possibility  of  a  vacuum.  They  attributed  the  ascent 
of  liquids  through  siphons  to  nature’s  abhorrence  of  a  void,  and  imagined 
the  elevation  to  be  unlimited.  But  these  men  were  philosophers,  whose 
practical  knowledge  was  confined  to  portable  experiments;  had  they  been 
working  pump-makers  they  would  have  known  better;  they  would  have 
become  advocates  for  the  opposite  doctrine — vacuists.  So  long  was  the 
error  of  the  plenists  maintained,  observes  Switzer;  “  that  I  have  seen  a 
book  of  Machines,  written  even  in  Queen  Elizabeth’s  time,  by  one  Ward, 
an  engineer,  who  ventur’d  to  give  a  sketch  of  a  high  hill,  and  a  house  at  the 
bottom  or  side,  over  which,  by  a  vast  extended  syphon,  the  water  was  to 
be  convey’d  from  one  vale  to  another.”  The  author  of  the  old  treatise, 
entitled,  ‘  Art  and  Nature,’  quoted  at  pp.  321,  375,  was  of  the  same  opi¬ 
nion.  “  How  to  convey  water  over  a  mountain  :  this  experiment  is  as  easie 
to  be  performed  as  any  of  the  former,  and  indeed  after  the  same  manner, 
for  you  must  lay  a  pipe  of  lead  over  the  mountain,  with  one  end  in  the* 
spring  or  wate$  that  you  desire  to  convey,  and  the  other  end  must  lie 
somewhat  lower;  then  open  the  pipe  at  the  top  of  the  mountain;  stop 
both  ends  of  the  pipe,  and  with  a  tunnell  fill  the  pipe  full  of  water;  then 
close  it  up  exactly  that  neither  aver  nor  water  may  come  out  thereat ;  then 
unstop  both  the  ends  of  the  pipe,  and  the  water  will  run  continually,” 

(p.  10.)  Decaus  appears  to  have  been  better  informed,  if  we  may  judge 
from  his  remarks  respecting  the  perpendicular  length  of  pipes  of  atmo¬ 
spheric  pumps.  In  large  engines,  he  recommends  that  they  be  not  made 
over  20  feet ;  and  including  the  working  cylinders,  he  says,  “  I  am  of 
opinion  that  it  [the  water]  must  not  be  constrained  to  rise  more  than  thirty 
feet  in  height.”  The  second  plate  of  his  “  Forcible  Movements”  repre- 

67 


530 


Discharging  Water  alone  its  Source  by  Siphons. 


[Book  V. 


sents  two  atmospheric  pumps  placed  one  above  the  other,  and  the  lowest 
one  raised  it  frfom  “24  to  30  feet,”  and  the  upper  one  “may  raise  it  from 
thence  24  or  30  feet”  higher.  The  “  Forcible  Movements,”  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  published  about  thirty  years  before  the  discovery  of 
atmospheric  pressure. 

Contrivances  for  discharging  water  from  the  highest  part  of  siphons 
have  often  been  proposed.  They  are  to  be  met  with  in  several  old  authors, 
and  the  principle  of  most  of  them  may  be  found  in  the  Spiritalia.  They 
are  however  seldom  employed,  because  circumstances  on  which  they  de¬ 
pend  rarely  occur  ;  and  other  devices  are  preferable  even  under  those 
circumstances.  A  descriptive  account  of  a  few  of  them  may  interest  some 
machinists,  and  be  serviceable  to  others,  viz  :  by  preventing  them  from 
expending  their  energies  in  devising  similar  things.  Indeed  in  this  respect 
books  which  contain  accounts  only  of  the  best  machines  are  not  always  the 
most  useful  to  inventors.  In  whatever  department  of  the  arts  these  men 
exercise  their  talents  they  are  almost  certain  to  fall  at  one  time  or  another 
on  old  devices,  which  appear  to  them  both  new  and  equal  to  similar  plans 
in  common  use.  Books  therefore  which  describe  rejected  and  antiquated 
contrivances  are  not  so  worthless  as  some  persons  imagine. 

One  plan  to  raise  water  by  a  siphon  consists  in  enlarging  or  swelling  it 
out  at  or  near  the  bend,  or  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  connecting 
the  legs  to  an  air-tight  vessel ;  and  when  this  becomes  filled  the  commu¬ 
nication  between  it  and  the  legs  is  cut  off  by  valves  or  cocks,  and  the 
contents  drawn  off.  When  this  is  done  the  vessel  remains  filled  with  air, 
which  if  admitted  into  the  legs  would  stop  the  action  of  the  siphon.  It 
must  therefore,  in  order  to  expel  the  air,  be  filled  with  some  liquid  to 
replace  that  drawn  out.  Suppose  a  siphon  of  this  kind  be  designed  to 
raise  water  for  the  supply  of  a  dwelling,  in  or  near  which  the  vessel  is 
placed,  it  may  then  be  refilled  with  refuse  or  impure  water,  which  on 
adjusting  the  cocks  will  pass  down  the  discharging  leg.  Then  after  a 
short  time  elapses,  the  vessel  will  again  be  filled  with  fresh  water,  which 
may  be  again  exchanged  for  the  same  quantity  of  impure. 

In  locations  where  river,  salt,  or  any  other  water  can  thus  be  exchanged 
for  fresh,  and  it  is  desirable  to  do  so,  such  devices  are  applicable.  (In 
breweries,  distilleries,  &c.  the  descent  of  one  liquid  may  thus  be  made  to 
raise  another.)  It  should  however  be  observed  that  an  equal  quantity  must 
be  given  for  that  received,  and  it-must  descend  rather  more  than  the  latter 
rises.  But  when  circumstances  allow  these  conditions  to  be  fulfilled,  the 
apparatus  is  not  always  to  be  depended  upon  ;  air  insinuates  itself  through 
the  minutest  imperfections  in  the  pipes  and  cocks,  and  often  deranges  the 
whole.  One  of  these  siphons  is  described  in  Nicholson’s  Journal,  4to. 
vol.  iv,  and  in  vol.  ii,  of  Gregory’s  Mechanics.  Another  in  the  Biblio- 
theque  Phisico-Economique,  which  is  copied  in  vol.  x,  of  the  Repertory 
of  Arts,  2d  series.  Another  is  figured  in  Art  and  Nature,  A.  D.  1633, 
with  two  close  reservoirs  at  the  top;  and  Porta,  in  cap.  3,  book  xix,  of  his 
Magic,  describes  another,  with  the  close  vessel  on  the  top  of  a  tower  :  the 
discharging  leg  is  described  as  terminating  in  another  close  vessel  of  the 
same  size  as  the  one  above,  and  furnished  with  a  cock  and  funnel  through  . 
which  to  fill  it,  and  another  cock  jto  discharge  the  contents  :  this  charg¬ 
ing  vessel  from  his  description  appears  to  have  been  placed  on  the  ground 
a  little  below  the  spring  and  then  emptied — if  so,  the  apparatus  could  not 
act.  He  does  not  appear  to  have  been  aware  of  the  necessity  of  the  con¬ 
tents  of  the  lower  vessel  being  discharged  from  the  orifice  of  a  pipe  a3 
much  below  as  the  receiving  vessel  on  the  tower  was  above  the  spring. 
The  device  (which  he  probably  imperfectly  copied  from  some  older  author) 


Chap.  6.] 


Ram  Siphon. 


531 

would  then  be  tne  same  ns  the  siphon  for  raising  water  which  Gravesande 
has  figured  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Philosophy,  p.  39,  plate  74 

wear  of  , Z  of ‘hese  de™es  only  subject  to  derangement  by  the 

wear  of  the  cocks  and  valves,  and  want  of  care  in  opening  and  closing  {hem 

{nffi re  rPer  TSB'  T  f  €y  7Tre  almost  as  --ch  attendance  as  w  ould 
suffice  to  raise  the  water  directly  from  the  spring.  On  this  account  various 

contrivances  have  been  proposed  to  render  them  self-acting 

gazhie  'fofrny8  olS  ^  ^  J"?  *?  "“  ”  the  Gentleman's  Ma- 
gazine  lor  1747,  p  582.  It  is  named  a  “  lifting  siphon.”  Water  from  a 

spring  is  received  into  an  open  cistern,  from  the  bottom  of  which  a  Tne 

descends  to  a  perpendicular  depth  of  33  feet.  The  bore  of  this  pipers 

osed I  and  opened  by  two  stop-cocks,  one  at  its  lower  end  and  the  other 

near  the  upper,  or  just  below  its  junction  with  the  cistern.  A  close 

noTeit £3£Tao  ftTT r  eh is  -° be  fixed  at  an^  re^“ired 

not  exceeding  30  feet  above  the  cistern  :  and  from  its  bottom  »  ™  ’ 

descends  to  within  two  inches  of  the  bottom  of  the  cistern  This 

avTT8  the  Sh°ri5  °f  tHue  Siph°n’  and  its  uPPer  orifice  is  covered  by 
th  e  °rP'event  l^e  water  that  ascends  through  it  from  returning  From 
he  top  of  the  close  vessel  a  small  or  exhausting  pipe  proceeds ^  down  m 

ThuT6  TT  the  C1Stiern  and  18  connected  to  it  below  the  upper  cock 
Thus  united  they  may  be  considered  as  the  long  leg  of  the  mUon  al- 

ough  water  only  descends  through  the  lower  branch  and  air  through’ the 
upper  one.  The  apparatus  for  alternately  opening  and  closing  the^cocks 
(upon  which  the  action  of  the  machine  depends)  is  somewhaf  similar  in 
principle  to  that  represented  at  page  354.  A  bucket  containing  water  is 
the  prime  mover  ;  a  rope  attached  to  it  is  passed  twice  round  two  rollers 
and  a  counterpoise  is  suspended  from  the  other  end  of  the  rope.  When 
•  the  bucket  is  partly  filled  it  preponderates,  and  when  it  is  emptied  the 
counterpoise  prevails  ;  hence  an  alternating  movement  is  imparted  to  the 

r  ofthe,w° cocks- as  shanks  °f 

A  plan  for  making  siphons  of  this  description  self-acting  by  means  of 
four  vessels  placed  one  over  the  other,  and  each  provided  with  a  sTphon 
y  hmh  its  contents  may  be  discharged,  was  proposed  by  Mr.  Wm. 
Close,  in^Nicholson  s  Journal  before  referred  to. 

M.  Hachette  has  combined  the  ram 
of  Montgolfier  with  the  siphon,  in  order 
to  discharge  water  from  the  apex  of  the 
latter  :  see  the  annexed  figure.  A  the 
short  leg  and  R  the  long  or  discharg¬ 
ing  one.  The  upper  end  of  each  termi¬ 
nates  in  a  close  chamber  within  which 
two  valves  attached  to  a  perpendicular 
rod  are  made  to  work.  The  upper 
valve  closes  an  opening  in  the  horizon¬ 
tal  partition  that  separates  the  interior 
of  the  chamber  from  the  air-vessel  and 
jet  pipe  above.  The  seat  of  the  lower 
valve  is  at  the  orifice  of  R.  The  dis¬ 
tance  between  the  valves  is  such  that 
when  one  is  closed  the  other  is  open. 
Their  movements  are  produced  as  in 
the  ram ;  a  coiled  spring  keeps  the 
upper  one^closed  till  the  momentum  of 
the  fluid  in  passing  through  the  siphoD 


No.  270.  Ram  siphon. 


532 


Fountains  and  Jets  d’eau. 


[Book  V. 

shuts  the  lower  one.  The  lower  end  of  R  is  furnished  with  a  cock,  and 
that  of  A  with  a  valve  opening  outwards,  for  the  purpose  of  charging  the 
siphon  through  an  opening  at  B.  When  in  operation,  the  water  after 
running  a  little  while  acquires  sufficient  momentum  to  shut  the  lower  valve, 
upon  which  a  portion  rushes  into  the  air-vessel  and  escapes  in  a  jet ;  the 
spring  then  closes  the  upper  valve,  and  the  fluid  descends  through  R  till 
the  lower  valve  is  again  closed  and  another  jet  produced. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Fountains:  Variety  of  their  forms,  ornaments  and  accompaniments — Landscape  gardeners — Curious 
fountains  from  Decaus — Fountains  in  old  Rome — Water  issuing  from  statues — Fountains  in  Pompeii — 
Automaton  trumpeter — Fountains  by  John  of  Bologna  and  M.  Angelo — Old  fountains  in  Nuremberg, 
Augsburg  and  Brussels — Shakespeare,  Drayton  and  Spencer  quoted — Fountains  of  Alcinous — The 
younger  Pliny’s  account  of  fountains  in  the  gardens  of  his  Tuscan  villa — Gating  in  gardens — Alluded 
to  in  Solomon’s  Song — Cato  the  Censor — Singular  fountains  in  Italy — Fonntains  described  by  Marco 
Paulo  and  other  old  writers — Predilection  for  artificial  trees  in  fountains — Perfumed  and  musical  foun¬ 
tains — Fountains  within  public  and  private  buildings — Enormous  cost  of  perfumed  waters  at  Roman 
feasts — Lucan  quoted — Introduction  of  fountains  into  modern  theatres  and  churches  recommended- 
Fountains  in  the  apartments  of  Eastern  princes — Water  conveyed  through  pipes  by  the  ancients  into 
fields  for  the  use  of  their  cattle — Three  and  four-way  cocks. 

Artificial  fountains  and  jets  d’eau  are  of  extreme  antiquity  :  although 
they  were  not  (like  natural  ones)  objects  of  worship  among  the  ancients, 
they  were  at  least  held  in  great  estimation,  and  unusual  care  was  often 
taken  in  designing  and  decorating  them.  Indeed  no  other  hydraulic 
deviceshave  ever  been  so  greatly  and  so  variously  enriched  with  ornament. 
The  pipes  of  supply  were  concealed  in  columns,  &c.  and  their  orifices 
wrought  into  numerous  emblematic  figures,  (see  page  119,)  while  the 
basins  that  received  the  fluid  were  generally  of  polished  marble.  Some¬ 
times  the  pipes  terminated  in  statues  of  men,  women,  children,  animals, 
birds,  fishes,  vases,  gods,  goddesses,  &c.  From  them  the  fluid  spouted 
high  in  the  air,  or  was  discharged  directly  into  receivers,  or  broken  in  its 
descent  by  intervening  objects  :  oftentimes  it  was  made  to  flow  over  the 
rim  of  a  vase,  to  issue  from  others  that  seemed  to  have  been  accidentally 
overturned,  and  not  infrequently  the  figure  of  a  female  poured  it  from  a 
pitcher. 

From  the  facility  of  applying  water  as  a  motive  agent  another  feature 
was  added.  Various  automata  were  put  in  motion  by  mechanism  con¬ 
cealed  in  the  base  or  pedestal  from  which  the  fluid  issued — figures  of 
men  blew  trumpets  and  played  on  organs,  and  automaton  birds  warbled 
forth  notes  on  adjacent  trees.  (Such  devices  are  described  by  Heron.) 
All  the  senses  were  often  gratified  at  these  fountains ;  the  sultry  atmo¬ 
sphere  was  cooled  and  rendered  grateful  to  the  feeling — the  sparkling 
liquid  quenched  the  thirst — sight  was  gratified  in  contemplating  the  design 
and  execution  of  the  whole,  and  noticing  the  ever-changing  forms  assumed 
by  the  moving  fluid — the  pleasure  derived  from  the  sound  of  falling  water 
has  ever  been  noticed  by  poets — and  not  to  forget  the  sense  of  smelling, 
in  those  fountains  that  were  designed  only  to  moderate  the  temperature  of 
the  air,  the  water  was  often  j>erfumed. 


Chap.  7.] 


Fountains  in  Decaus — others  in  Rone . 


533 

The  taste  of  old  landscape  gardeners  for  fountains  and  cascades,  ser¬ 
pentine  streams,  and  other  “  pieces  of  water-works”  although  derived 
from  the  East,  had  its  origin  in  nature.  “  Even  as  Paradise  itself  (says 
witzer)  must  have  been  deemed  an  immodelled  and  imperfect  plan,  had 
it  not  been  watered  by  the  same  Omnicient  hand  which  first  made  it,  so 
our  gardens  and  fields,  the  nearest  epitomy  and  resemblance  to  that  happy 
place  which  is  to  be  met  with  here  below,  cannot  be  said  to  be  any  way 
perfect  or  capable  of  subsisting  without  it.”  These  men  contemplating 
the  world  as  a  garden  endeavored  to  copy  it  in  miniature.  They  con¬ 
structed  lawns  for  deer  and  reared  diminutive  forests  for  game— they 
formed  lakes  and  stocked  them  with  fish— walks  were  made  on  the  margin 
of  brooks,  torrents  fell  from  artificial  mountains,  and  tiny  streams  wound 
their  way  through  labyrinths  of  reeds  and  of  sedge.  Springs  were  seen 
bursting  out  of  rocks  rudely  piled  up,  as  if  thrown  together  by  nature 
while  aquatic  birds  sported  in  basins  below.  But  they  went  further  for 
ascending  jets  were  thrown  up  so  as  to  resemble  bundles  of  reeds,  others 
were  crested  like  wheat  sheafs,  or  branched  out  like  trees.  Sometimes 
the  streams  were  directed  so  as  to  form  avenues  and  alcoves,  as  of  chrystal 
which  when  the  sun  shone  produced  a  magical  effect.  Even  hedges  and 
borders  of  gardens  were  imitated.  “  The  hedge  of  water  (says  Evelyn) 
m  forme  of  lattice-worke  which  the  fontanier  caused  to  ascend  out  of  the 
earth  by  degrees  exceedingly  pleased  and  surprised  me.” 

Giving  the  reins  still  more  to  their  imaginations,  these  artists  were  hur- 
ned  into  singular  puerilities.  They  made  the  fluid  to  spout  from  the  sides 
of  ships,  the  mouths  of  birds,  and  other  incongruous  figures.  Swarms  of 
heathen  deities  were  also  pressed  into  their  service  ;  and  not  content  with 
a  Triton  blowing  water  through  his  shell,  or  Neptune  pouring  it  from  an 
urn,  figures  of  the  latter  were  made  to  rise  from  the  bottom  of  deep  basins, 
and  drawn  by  spouting  dolphins  and  accompanied  with  Amphitrite  and  a 
legion  of  sea  nymphs,  sailed  over  his  fluid  domains  to  allay  the  tempest 
that  called  him  up  !  r 

Old  treatises  on  water-works  are  full  of  such  things.  In  “  Art  and 
Nature,”  Neptune  is  figured  “  riding  on  a  whale,  out  of  whose  nostrils,  as 
also  out  of  Neptune’s  trident  the  water  may  bee  made  to  spin  thorow  small 
pin  holes.”  Other  devices  consisted  of  “  divers  forms  and  shapes  of  birds, 
beasts,  or  fishes ;  dragons,  swans,  whales,  flowers,  and  such  like  j pretty 
conceits,  having  very  small  pin  holes  thorow  them  for  the  water  to  spin 
out  at.”  The  15th  and  16th  plates  of  Decaus’  Forcible  Movements 
represent  the  mechanism  of  “  an  engin  by  which  Galatea  is  drawn  upon 
the  water  by  two  dolphins,  going  in  a  right  line  and  returning  of  herself, 
while  a  Cyclope  plaies  upon  a  flajolet.”  And  the  17th  and  18th  plates 
shew  Neptune  drawn  by  sea  horses,  preceded  and  followed  by  Tritons, 
sailing  round  a  rock  on  which  Amphitrite  is  reposing,  and  from  which 
water  js  gushing  forth. 

Fountains  for  supplying  the  inhabitants  of  tovms  and  cities  are  frequently 
mentioned  in  scripture,  but  it  is  difficult  to  discriminate  between  artificial 
ones  and  those  that  were  natural.  In  the  early  history  of  Rome  some  are 
mentioned.  The  news  of  the  victory  obtained  over  the  Tarquins  and  the 
people  of  Latium  was  conveyed  in  an  incredibly  short  time  by  two  young 
men,  said  to  have  been  Castor  and  Pollux,  who  were  met  “  at  the  fountain 
in  the  marliet-place,  at  which  their  horses  foaming  with  sweat  were  drink¬ 
ing'*  (Plutarch  in  Paulus  ArCmilius.)  Statues  of  Jupiter  Pluvius,  of  the 
Egyptian  g°d  Canopus  and  others,  were  erected  over  fountains,  the  liquid 
tssuing  from  different  and  sometimes  from  air  parts  of  the  bodies.  On  the 
day  Julius  Cassar  was  assassinated,  he  was  implored  by  Calphurnia  in 


534 


Ancient  and  Modern  Fountains. 


[Book  V. 

consequence  of  a  dream,  to  remain  at  home  instead  of  meeting  the  sena 
tors  according  to  appointment,  a  circumstance  to  which  Shakespeare  thus 
alludes  : — 

Decius.  Most  mighty  Caesar,  let  tne  know  some  cause, 

Lest  I  be  laughed  at  when  I  tell  them  so. 

Caesar.  Calphurnia  here,  my  wife,  stays  me  at  home  ; 

She  dreamt  to-night  she  saw  my  statue, 

Which  like  a  fountain,  with  a  hundred  spouts, 

Did  run  pure  blood,  and  many  lusty  Romans 
Came  smiling,  and  did  bathe  their  hands  in  it. 

Pliny  (xxxi,  2.)  speaks  of  a  fountain  from  which  water  ran  “  at  many 
pipes.”  From  excavations  made  at  Pompeii,  it  appears  that  in  almost  every 
street  there  was  a  fountain,  and  that  bronze  statues,  through  which  the 
water  issued  were  common.  Several  have  been  found — four  or  five  are 
boys  of  beautiful  workmanship  ;  the  fluid  issued  from  vases  resting  on  their 
shoulders  or  held  under  their  arms,  and  in  some  cases  from  masks.  Paint¬ 
ings  of  elegant  fountains,  from  which  the  water  issued  in  perpendicular 
jets  from  vases,  have  also  been  discovered  both  at  Herculaneum  and 
Pompeii. 

A  circumstance  mentioned  by  Suetonius  in  his  Life  of  Claudius,  the 
successor  of  Caligula,  although  not  directly  related  to  this  part  of  our  sub¬ 
ject,  shows  that  Roman  engineers  were  quite  at  home  in  devices  analogous 
to  those  moving  and  musical  statues,  which  two  centuries  ago  were  so 
common  in  European  fountains.  Previous  to  drawing  off  the  waters  of 
the  lake  Fucinus,  the  emperor  exhibited  a  naval  conflict,  in  which  19,000 
criminals  were  engaged  against  each  other  in  two  fleets.  An  immense 
multitude  of  spectators  attended.  Claudius  presided  dressed  in  a  coat  of 
mail,  and  with  him  was  Agrippina  in  a  mantle  of  cloth  of  gold.  When 
the  two  fleets  were  ready  to  engage,  a  Triton  of  silver  rose  up  in  the  midst 
of  tire  lake  and  pounded  the  charge. 

Of  modern  street  fountains  many  curious  ones  are  to  be  seen  in  Italy, 
France  and  Germany,  while  descriptions  of  others,  no  longer  extant,  may 
be  found  in  Misson,  Blainville,  and  other  writers  of  the  last  century.  Thirty 
folding  plates,  representing  some  of  the  most  remarkable,  are  attached  to 
Switzer’s  Hydrostatics.  A  colossal  statue  of  Jupiter  Pluvius,  in  a  singu¬ 
lar  stooping  position,  was  designed  for  a  fountain  at  Tratolino,  by  John  of 
Bologna.  The  extremities  are  of  stone,  but  the  trunk  is  formed  of  bricks 
overlaid  with  cement  that  has  acquired  the  hardness  of  marble.  A  num¬ 
ber  of  apartments  are  constructed  within  it — one  in  the  head  is  lighted 
through  the  eye-balls,  which  serve  as  windows.  To  add  to  the  extraordi¬ 
nary  effect,  a  kind  of  crown  is  formed  by  little  jetteux  that  drop  on  the 
shoulders  and  trickle  down  the  figure,  shedding  a  sort  of  supernatural 
lustre  when  irradiated  by  the  sun.  One  hand  of  the  figure  rests  on  the 
rock  as  if  to  support  itself,  while  the  other  is  placed  on  the  head  of  a  lion, 
from  the  mouth  of  which  the  principal  stream  issues. 

A  fountain  designed  by  Michael  Angelo  is  described  by  Sir  Henry 
Wotton  as  ‘  a  matchless  pattern,’  being  ‘the  figure  of  a  sturdy  woman,  wash¬ 
ing  and  winding  linen  clothes ;  in  which  act  she  wrings  out  the  water  that 
made  the  fountain,  which  was  a  graceful  and  natural  conceit  in  the  arti¬ 
ficer,  implying  this  rule  that  all  designs  of  this  kind  should  be  proper.’ 

Of  remarkable  fountains  at  Nuremberg,  Blainville  has  noticed  several. 
Of  one  he  observes,  “  Its  basin  is  an  octagon  in  the  middle  of  which  stands 
a  large  brass  pillar  ;  from  its  chapiters  project  six  muzzles  of  lions,  each 
of  which  spurts  water  into  the  air  out  of  a  twisted  pipe.  On  the  cornish 
are  the  six  cardinal  virtues,  which  squirt  water  from  their  breasts.  On  tl  is 


535 


Chap.  7.]  Shakespeare,  Drayton  and  Spencer  quoted. 

pillar  stands  a  less  one  fluted,  upon  which  are  six  infants,  every  one  of 
whom  leans  on  an  escutcheon  bearing  the  arms  of  the  empire,  those  of 
Nuremberg  and  other  towns  ;  they  are  all  of  them  sounding  trumpets,  out 
of  which  water  jets  in  plenty.  On  the  top  of  this  second  pillar  is  a  fine 
statue  of  J ustice,  with  her  sword  in  one  hand  and  her  balance  in  the  other ; 
she  likewise  sends  water  from  her  breasts,  and  supports  herself  upon  a 
large  ostrich  which  spouts  water  most  bountifully.  All  this  is  in  brass 
surrounded  with  an  iron  grate  carved  and  gilt.”  (Travels,  i,  197.) 

Another  at  Augsburg  he  thus  describes  :  “  In  the  middle  of  the  basin  is 
a  double  pedestal,  at  the  foot  of  which  are  several  sphinxes  and  statues 
jetting  water  into  the  basin,  some  by  the  mouth,  others  by  their  breasts, 
and  three  by  trumpet-marines.  On  the  four  corners  of  the  first  pedestal 
are  four  fine  statues  big  as  life  ;  their  feet  rest  upon  four  very  large  shells 
into  which  they  pour  water,  some  out  of  vases,  others  in  another  fashion. 
Upon  the  top  of  the  second  pedestal  is  a  Hercules  combating;  the  Lernean 
Hydra.”  (Ibid.  291.) 

Old  writers  represent  Brussels  as  well  supplied  with  water  150  years 
ago  as  Rome  itself.  There  were  twenty  public  fountains  at  the  corners 
of  the  principal  streets,  and  all  adorned  with  statues.  In  the  herb-market 
were  figures  of  four  beautiful  females  “squeezing  water  out  of\their 
breasts”— a  favorite  device,  and  another  equally  popular  was  adopted  in 
a  splendid  fountain  near  the  Carmelite  church  in  the  same  city  :  “  Tout 
pres  de  cette  Eglise  est  le  Manneke-pis,  c’est  la  statue  d’un  gar5on,  elevee 
sur  une  colonne  ;  du  haut,  de  laquelle  il  jette  de  1’eau,  comme  s’il  pissoit, 
par  sa  pipe,  jour  et  nuit,  dans  un  bassin  qui  est  au  pied  de  la  colonne. 
C’est  une  des  sept  merveilleuses  fontaines  de  la  ville.”  (Le  Curieux 
Antiquaire,  tome  i,  175.) 

Shakespeare  often  alludes  to  the  figures  of  old  English  fountains.  In 
Winter’s  Tale,  Act  iv,  Scene  I,  he  compares  the  old  shepherd  to  “  a  weather 
bitten  conduit  of  many  king’s  reigns  that  is,  to  a  statue  from  which  the 
water  flowed.  .Henley  in  commenting  on  the  passage  observes  :  “  Con¬ 
duits  representing  a  human  figure  were  heretofore  not  uncommon.  One 
of  this  kind,  a  female  form,  and  weather  beaten  still  exists  at  Hoddesdon  in 
Herts.”  In  As  You  like  It,  Rosalind  says,  she  will  weep  “  like  Diana  in 
the  fountain” — an  allusion  to  that  erected  at  Paul’s  Cross,  where,  after  the 
religious  images  had  been  destroyed,  (see  page  106,)  “  there  was  set  up 
a  curious  wrought  tabernacle  of  gray  marble,  and  in  the  same  an  alabaster 
image  of  Diana,  and  water  conveyed  from  the  Thames,  prilling  from  her 
naked  breast,” 

Drayton,  a  poet  contemporary  with  Shakespeare,  alludes  to  fountains 
and  their  basins  in  his  Quest  of  Cynthia. 

At  length  I  on  a  fountain  light, 

Whose  brim  with  pinks  was  platted, 

The  banks  with  daffodilies  dight 
With  grass,  like  sleave  was  matted. 

And  Spencer  in  the  Fairy  Queen — 

And  in  the  midst  of  all  a  fountaine  stood, 

Of  richest  substance  that  on  earth  might  bee, 

So  pure  and  shiny,  that  the  silver  flood 
Through  every  channel  running  one  might  see. 

Fountains  have  always  been  indispensable  adjuncts  in  oriental  gardens, 
and  they  doubtless  formed  conspicuous  objects  in  those  of  Babylon.  The 
two  fountains  in  the  gardens  of  Alcinous,  from  their  elevated  position  and 


536  Fountains  in  Pliny’s  Gardens.  [Book  V 

the  abundance  of  water  they  poured  forth,  must  have  greatly  contributed 
to  the  beauty  and  effect  of  the  surrounding  scenery. 

Two  plenteous  fountains  the  whole  prospect  crown’d  : 

This  through  the  garden  leads  its  streams  around, 

Visits  each  plant  and  waters  all  the  ground  ; 

While  that  in  pipes  beneath  the  palace  flows, 

And  thence  its  current  on  the  town  bestows.  Ody.  vii.  Pope. 

The  younger  Pliny’s  description  of  his  Tuscan  villa  contains  the  only 
detailed  account  extant  of  an  ancient  Roman  garden.  As  might  be  sup¬ 
posed,  fountains  and  jets  d’eau  frequently  occur.  The  front  of  the  house 
faced  the  south  and  had  several  porticos.  The  terrace  was  embellished 
with  hedges  of  box,  and  the  lawn  overspread  with  the  soft  acanthus.  At 
one  end  of  the  front  portico  a  dining  room  opened  on  the  terrace,  and 
opposite  the  centre  of  the  portico  there  was  a  small  area  shaded  by  four 
plane  trees,  “  in  the  midst  of  which  a  fountain  rises,  from  whence  the 
water  running  over  the  edges  of  a  marble  basin,  gently  refreshes  the  sur¬ 
rounding  plane  trees  and  the  verdure  underneath  them.”  In  the  same 
vicinity  he  describes  “  a  little  fountain  playing  through  several  small  pipes 
into  a  vase.”  Speaking  of  the  view  from  the  front  windows  of  a  spacious 
chamber,  he  observes,  they  look  “  upon  a  cascade,  which  entertains  at  once 
both  the  eye  and  the  ear,  for  the  water  dashing  from  a  great  height  foams 
over  the  marble  basin  that  receives  it  below.” 

After  mentioning  bathing  rooms  and  other  apartments,  walks,  meadows, 
groves,  trees,  &c.  Pliny  continues — “  In  one  place  you  have  a  little  mea¬ 
dow,  in  another  the  box  is  cut  into  a  thousand  different  forms,  sometimes 
into  letters,  expressing  the  name  of  the  master,  sometimes  that  of  the  artist ; 
whilst  here  and  there  little  obelisks  rise,  intermixed  alternate  with  fruit 
trees  ;  when  on  a  sudden  in  the  midst  of  this  elegant  regularity  you  are 
surprised  with  an  imitation  of  the  negligent  beauties  of  rural  nature.  In 
the  centre  is  a  spot  surrounded  with  a  knot  of  dwarf  plane  trees.  Beyond 
these  is  a  wall  planted  with  the  smooth  and  twining  acanthus,  where  the 
trees  are  also  cut  into  a  variety  of  names  and  shapes.  At  the  upper  end 
is  an  alcove  of  white  marble  shaded  with  vines,  supported  by  four  small 
Carystian  pillars.  From  the  bench  [or  triclinium,  a  species  of  couch  on 
which  the  Romans  reclined  to  eat]  the  water  gushing  through  several 
little  pipes,  as  if  it  mere  pressed  out  by  the  weight  of  the  persons  who 
repose  themselves  upon  it,  falls  into  a  stone  cistern  underneath,  whence  it 
is  received  into  a  fine  polished  marble  basin,  so  artfully  contrived  that  it 
is  always  full  without  ever  overflowing.  When  I  sup  here  this  basin 
serves  for  a  table,  the  largest  sort  of  dishes  being  placed  round  the  margin, 
while  the  smaller  ones  swim  about  in  the  form  of  little  vessels  and  water- 
fowls.  Corresponding  to  this  is  a  fountain  which  is  incessantly  emptying 
and  filling  ;  for  the  water  which  it  throws  to  a  great  height,  falling  back 
into  it,  is  by  means  of  two  openings  returned  as  fast  as  it  is  received.” 
This  must  have  been  either  a  modification  of  Heron’s  fountain,  (No.  163,) 
in  which  the  water  would  appear  to  be  returned,  or  some  concealed  force 
pump  threw  it  back. 

The  practice  of  eating,  and  even  of  sleeping,  in  gardens  during  the 
summer  months,  has  always  been  more  or  less  common  in  the  East.  In 
Solomon’s  Song  it  is  obviously  alluded  to.  “  Thou  that  dwellest  in  the 
gardens,”  that  “  feedeth  among  the  lilies,  in  a  fountain  of  gardens,”  or 
rather  a  garden  of  fountains.  Indeed  a  great  part  of  this  song  seems  to 
refer  to  that  season,  (and  anxiety  for  its  approach,)  when  the  custom  was 
for  the  wealthy  to  remove,  like  Pliny,  to  their  country  villas.  It  was  very 
common  with  the  rich  Greeks  and  Romans,  as  well  as  with  the  Jews  and 


537 


Chap.  7.]  Singular  Fountains  at  Pratolino. 

other  Asiatics,  “  when  the  winter  was  past,  the  rain  over  and  gone  •  when 
the  flowers  appeared  on  the  earth,  and  the  time  of  the  singing  of  birds 
was  come,  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle  heard  in  the  land  ;  when  the  fio-  tree 
put  forth  her  green  figs,  and  the  vines  with  the  tender  grapes  gave  a&<mod 
smell  —to  hie  away  to  their  villas,  and  in  the  figurative  language  of  the 
.Last,  to  dwell  in  gardens  and  feed  among  lilies.  The  custom  is  based  on 
some  of  the  finest  feelings  of  our  nature,  and  it  is  on  such  occasions  only 
that  we  can  realize  some  of  the  most  exquisite  pleasures  which  our  pro¬ 
genitors  in  Eden  enjoyed.  Motezuma,  we  are  informed  by  Solis,  took 
peculiar  pleasure  in  supping  m  his  gardens,  in  which  were  numerous  foun 
tarns  and  flowers  “  of  delightful  variety  and  fragrance.” 

That  the  Jews  had  fountains  in  their  gardens  and  often  washed  in  the 
basins  during  the  heats  of  summer,  we  learn  from  the  accounts  of  Bath- 
sheba  and  Susannah.  The  fountains  doubtless  being  shaded  with  foliage 
and  trees  like  those  mentioned  by  Pliny.  ° 

Cato  the  censor,  that  terrible  scourge  of  the  luxurious  Romans,  ren¬ 
dered  himself  generally  obnoxious  by  the  reformations  he  introduced 
Among  other  measures,  “  he  cut  off  the  pipes  by  which  people  conveyed 
water  from  the  public  fountains  into  their  houses  and  gardens ,”  probably 
on  account  of  its  excessive  waste  in  ornamental  water-works.  Plutarch 
has  quoted  an  epigram,  from  which  we  learn  that  the  physiognomy  of  this 
celebrated  man,  like  that  of  Socrates  and  Phocion,  was  not  very  pre¬ 
possessing.  J  1 

With  eyes  so  grey  and  hair  so  red, 

With  tusks  so  sharp  and  keen, 

Thou  ’1  fright  the  shades  when  thou  art  dead, 

And  hell  wont  let  thee  in.  Langhorne' s  Trans 

To  give  an  account  of  modern  street  and  garden  fountains  would  be 
an  endless  task.  Descriptions  of  the  most  remarkable,  as  those  in  the 
gardens  of  Frescati  and  Versailles,  are  too  common  to  need  repetition  here. 
We  shall  therefore  merely  notice  a  few  singular  ones. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  general  features  and  essential  parts  of  ancient 
fancy  water-works  were  preserved  in  those  of  modern  Italy,  whence  they 
were,  including  water-organs,  spread  over  the  rest  of  Europe.  A  sketch 
of  those  in  the  gardens  at  Pratolino  will  give,  says  an  old  writer,  a  o-eneral 
idea  of  other  Italian  works  of  the  kind.  “  Besides  Tritons,  Cupids,  and 
other  statues  which  on  a  sudden  cover  you  with  water,  other  streams 
issue  from  between  rows  of  trees,  &c.  You  are  led  into  a  grotto,  of 
which  the  roof  alone  is  said  to  have  cost  30,000  ducats,  being  all  of  coral, 
mother  of  pearl,  and  other  costly  materials  ;  the  walls  are  lined  with  the 
same,  and  the  pilasters  adorned  with  an  organ,  which  by  means  of  water 
plays  several  tunes.  Here  your  eyes  are  diverted  with  a  great  variety 
of  moving  figures  :  the  god  Pan  strikes  up  a  melodious  tune  with  his 
mouth,  at  the  sight  of  his  mistress  standing  before  him.  In  another  grot, 
an  angel  carries  a  trumpet,  puts  it  to  his  mouth,  and  gives  you  a  tune  upon 
it.  In  another,  a  clown  carries  a  dish  of  water  to  a  serpent  ,  which  lifts  up 
its  head  and  drinks  it.  Here  you  have  a  mill  grinding  olives — in  another 
a  paper  mill  with  the  hammers  going.  The  grotto  of  Galatea  shows  her 
coming  out  of  a  door  in  a  sea  chariot  with  two  nymphs,  and  having  sailed 
a  while  upon  the  water  she  returns  the  way  she  came.  In  the  basin  is  a 
large  dolphin  carrying  a  naked  woman  on  his  back,  and  swimming  about 
with  several  other  figures,  all  moving  as  if  alive.  In  another  place,  you 
see  a  curious  round  table  fit  to  receive  fifteen  guests,  having  a  fountain 
pia^ing  in  the  midst,  while  other  streams  play  between  every  two  persons 
and  supply  them  with  water  to  cool  their  wine.  The  woman  of  Samaria 

63 


538 


Musical  Fountains — Artificial  Trees. 


[Book  V. 


appears  next,  coming  out  of  her  house  with  two  buckets,  and  having  filled 
them,  goes  back  the  same  way.  Meantime  you  are  diverted  with  smiths 
thumping,  mills  going,  and  birds  chirping  on  trees — all  which  are  set  to 
work  by  the  water.” 

In  Dr.  H.  Brown’s  Travels,  (Lond.  1685,)  are  figures  of  one  or  two 
ancient  fountains — one,  in  Carinthia,  of  the  form  of  a  dragon,  from  whose 
mouth  the  water  issued. 

In  the  year  916,  an  embassy  proceeded  from  Constantinople  to  Bagdad 
and  was  received  with  much  pomp  by  the  Caliph  Moctader.  “  In  the 
midst  of  the  great  hall  in  which  he  gave  audience  to  the  ambassadors 
was  a  tree  of  massy  gold ,  which  had  (amongst  others)  eighteen  principal 
branches,  whereon  were  birds  of  gold  and  silver,  which  clapped  their 
wings,  and  warbled  various  notes.” — (Martigny’s  History  of  the  Arabians, 
iii,  323.) 

Marco  Paulo,  in  the  13th  century,  mentions  a  fountain  in  the  gardens 
of  the  “  Old  man  of  the  Mountain,”  which  gave  out  wine,  milk,  and  a 
mixture  of  honey  and  water. 

Rubriques,  in  the  same  century,  saw  a  silver  tree  at  the  court  of  the 
Great  Khan,  which  poured  forth  milk  and  wines  of  different  kinds.  At 
the  foot  were  four  lions,  through  each  of  which  passed  a  tube.  On  the 
summit  was  the  figure  of  an  angel  holding  a  trumpet,  and  which  by  some 
interior  mechanism  was  made  to  sound.  It  was  the  work  of  a  French 
goldsmith. 

This  predilection  for  trees  as  ornaments  for  fountains  and.  gardens  seems 
to  have  been  of  a  more  ancient  date.  The  palm  tree  of  brass ,  which  was 
consecrated  to  Apollo  by  Nicias,  and  placed  in  a  field  or  garden  purchased 
by  him,  probably  served  for  a  fountain.  It  must  have  been  of  enormous 
dimensions,  since  a  fragment  that  was  blown  off  by  a  storm  of  wind,  “  fall¬ 
ing  upon  a  large  statue  demolished  it.”  (Plutarch  in  Nicias.)  The 
pedestal  of  this  statue  has  been  discovered.  A  golden  statue  of  Pallas, 
Plutarch  observes,  was  erected  in  the  temple  of  Delphi  on  a  palm  tree 
of  brass ,  which  had  golden  fruit.  There  are  two  other  celebrated  trees 
mentioned  in  history,  but  their  uses  are  not  indicated.  We  learn  from 
Herodotus,  vii,  27,  that  Pythius,  a  native  of  Lydia,  presented  Darius  with 
a  plane  tree  of  gold.  It  was  worth  5^  millions  sterling  according  to  Mont- 
faucon.  The  golden  vine  of  Aristobolus  was  valued  at  400  talents.  It 
was  carried  through  Rome  in  Pompey’s  third  triumph,  and  afterward 
deposited  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus.  Another  one,  which 
Alexander  took  at  the  sack  of  Thebes,  was  preserved  at  Rome  in  the 
temple  of  Apollo  in  Pliny’s  time.  This  author  has  a  remark  on  the  decay 
of  the  art  of  working  brass,  which  may  here  be  noticed.  He  observes, 
m  former  times  the  artists  worked  to  win  fame  and  glory,  “  but  now  as  in 
all  things  else  for  gain  and  lucre  only,”  (xxxiv,  chap.  2.) 

One  of  the  fountains  at  Versailles  was  in  the  form  of  an  oak  tree,  from 
which  the  liquid  was  dispersed  in  all  directions.  (It  is  figured  in  one  of 
the  plates  attached  to  Switzer’s  work.) 

_  Among  the  garden  water- works  at  Chatsworth  were,  “  1.  Neptune  with 
his  nymphs,  who  seem  to  sport  in  the  waters,  let  out  by  a  cock  in  several 
columns,  and  falling  upon  sea- weeds  ;  2.  a  pond  where  sea-horses  con¬ 
tinually  roll ;  3.  a  tree  of  copper,  resembling  a  willow,  and  by  the  turning 
of  a  cock  every  leaf  drops  water,  which  represents  a  shower;  4.  a  grove 
of  cypress  and  a  cascade  with  two  sea  nymphs  at  top  with  jars  under 
their  arms  ;  5.  at  the  bottom  of  the  cascade  a  pond  with  an  artificial  rose, 
through  which  by  the  turning  of  a  cock  the  water  ascends,  and  hangs  in 


Fountains  in  Ancient  Theatres. 


539 


Chap.  7.] 

the  air  in  the  figure  of  that  flower ;  6.  another  pond  with  Mercury  point¬ 
ing  at  the  gods  and  throwing  up  water.” — Lond.  Mag.  1752,  p.  7. 

Bell,  in  his  account  of  the  Russian  embassy  to  Ispahan,  notices  those  in 
the  gardens  of  the  Scah.  In  front  of  the  Hall  of  Audience  was  “  a  large 
fountain  of  pure  water,  which  springs  upward  in  three  pipes  and  falls 
into  a  basin  filled  with  roses,  jessamines,  and  many  other  fine  flowers.” 

In  one  of  the  public  gardens  of  Brussels,  among  other  water- works  was 
an  hydraulic  organ. — (Le  Curieux  Antiquaire,  tome  i,  175.) 

The  old  device  of  artificial  music  combined  with  fountains,  is  thus  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  17th  Proposition  of  Worcester’s  Century  of  Inventions  : _ 

“  How  to  make  upon  the  Thames  a  floating  garden  of  pleasure,  with  trees, 
flowers,  banqueting  houses  and  fountains,  stews  for  all  kinds  of  fishes,  a 
reserve  for  snow  to  keep  wine  in,  delicate  bathing  places  and  the  like  ; 
with  music  made  with  mills,  and  all  in  the  midst  of  the  stream  where  it  is 
most  rapid. 

Fountains  were  often  placed  within  ancient  public  buildings  as  well  as 
near  them.  They  were  common  appendages  to  temples,  and  the  custom, 
as  mentioned  in  our  first  book,  is  still  retained  by  the  Turks  and  other 
Asiatics.  Henry  Blount  visited  Adrianople  in  1624,  and  in  describing 
the  mosque,  says,  there  were  “  tetine  conduits  with  cocks  on  the  north 
side,  and  as  many  on  the  south  for  people  to  wash  before  divine  ser¬ 
vice  ;  to  which  use  also  on  the  west  side  in  the  church-yard,  are  thirty  or 
forty  cocks  under  a  fountain,  so  sumptuous,  as  excepting  one  at  Palermo, 
I  have  not  seen  a  better  in  Christendome.” — (A  Voyage  into  the  Levant' 
Lond.  1638.)  ° 

During  hot  weather,  Augustus  the  Roman  emperor  slept  (observes 
Suetonius)  with  his  chamber  doors  open,  “and  frequently  in  a  portico  with 
waters  playing  around  him.” 

“In  the  middle  of  the  square  of  the  Coliseum  is  a  pretty  remarkable 
piece  of  antiquity,  (says  Blainville,)  though  very  little  minded  by  most 
people.  Here  stood  anciently  a  beautiful  fountain,  adorned  with  the  finest 
marbles  and  columns  ;  and  on  the  top  was  a  bronze  statue  of  Jupiter, 
from  which  issued  great  plenty  of  water,  as  may  be  seen  on  the  reverse 
of  one  of  Titus’  medals.  They  called  it  Meta  Sudans  :  meta ,  because  it 
was  made  in  the  form  of  a  goal  ;  and  sudans,  sweating,  because  of  the 
water  running  from  the  several  parts  of  the  statue.  This  fountain  was  of 
great  use  both  to  the  spectators  and  the  gladiators  in  the  amphitheatre  to 
refresh  themselves.  Pope  Alexander  VII.  caused  it  to  be  repaired,  but 
since  his  time  it  has  been  entirely  neglected.” — (Travels,  vol.  ii,  535.) 

.  The  theatres  of  the  Romans  were  fitted  up  with  numerous  concealed 
pipes  that  passed  in  every  direction  along  the  walls,  and  were  connected 
to  cisterns  of  water  or  to  machines  for  raising  the  latter.  Certain  parts  of 
the  pipes  were  very  minutely  perforated,  and  were  so  arranged  that  by 
turning  one  or  more  cocks,  the  liquid  escaped  from  them  and  descended 
upon  the  audience  in  the  form  of  dew  or  extremely  fine  rain.  This  effec¬ 
tually  cooled  the  heated  air,  and  must  have  been  exceedingly  refreshing 
to  the  immense  multitudes,  especially  in  such  a  climate  as  Italy.  On 
some  occasions  the  water  was  scented  with  the  richest  perfumes.  Thus 
Hadrian,  in  honor  of  Trajan  his  father,  commanded  water  impregnated 
with  saffron  and  balsam  to  be  sprinkled  on  the  people  at  the  theatres. 
The  dining  rooms  of  Nero’s  golden  house  were  ceiled  in  such  a  manner, 
that  the  attendants  could  make  it  rain  either  flowers  or  liquid  perfumes. 
At  one  feast  100,000  crowns  were  expended  in  perfumed  waters.  Sue¬ 
tonius  says  they  were  discharged  from  “’’secret  pipes.”  The  statues  that 
adorned  the  interior  of  the  theatres  were  made  to  sweat  perfumes  on  the 


540 


Fountains  in  Theatres  and  Churches  recommended.  [Book  V. 


audience.  This  was  accomplished  by  making  them  hollow,  drilling  in 
them  an  infinite  number  of  small  holes,  and  connecting  them  by  secret 
tubes  to  reservoirs  of  scented  waters.  The  practice  is  alluded  to  by  several 
authors,  and  among  others  by  Lucan  in  the  following  passage  : — 

As  when  mighty  Rome’s  spectators  meet 
In  the  full  theatre’s  capacious  seat; 

At  once  by  secret  pipes  and  channels  fed 
Rich  tinctures  gush  from  every  antique  head  ; 

At  once,  ten  thousand  saffron  currents  flow, 

And  rain  their  odors  on  the  crowd  below. 

Sometimes  rich  people  left  by  their  wills  sums  of  money  to  furnish 
these  perfumes  and  the  apparatus  for  dispersing  them.  An  example  is 
given  by  Maffei  in  his  ‘  History  of  Ancient  Amphitheatres.’  (Lond.  1730, 
p.  168.)  A  Roman  lady  bequeathed  funds  to  celebrate  a  hunting  of  wild 
beasts  in  the  amphitheatre,  and  she  ordered  that  salientes  should  be  made. 
This  term  Maffei  understood  to  mean  “  those  hidden  channels  or  pipes  by  ' 
which  with  wonderful  artifice,  [as  is  twice  mentioned  by  Seneca,]  they 
caused  odoriferous  liquid  to  spring  up  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the 
amphitheatre,  which  then  jetted  and  spread  itself  in  the  air  like  a  very 
fine  shower  of  rain.” 

The  custom  might  be  adopted  with  advantage  in  modern  theatres  :  it 
would  render  visits  to  these  crowded  places  more  agreeable  and  less  in¬ 
jurious  to  health.  Why  can’t  the  managers  announce  it  in  their  “bills,” 
among  other  inducements,  just  as  their  predecessors  did  eighteen  centuries 
since  '{  One  of  the  notices  of  a  public  entertainment  in  Pompeii  has  been 
found  written  on  the  walls  of  a  bath  in  that  city.  It  is  in  these  words  : — 

“  On  occasion  of  the  dedication  of  the  baths,  at  the  expense  of  Cnaeus 
Alleius  Nigidius  Maius,  there  will  be  the  chase  of  wild  beasts,  athletic 
contests,  sprinkling  of  perfum.es ,  and  an  awning.” — (Pompeii,  vol.  i,  148.) 

Fountains  for  cooling  the  air  should  constitute  part  of  the  ordinary  ap¬ 
pendages  to  churches,  as  much  as  apparatus  for  heating  and  lighting  them. 
They  should  be  considered  by  us,  as  they  were  by  the  ancients,  essential  to 
the  health  as  well  as  comfort  of  large  assemblies  of  people.  They  certainly 
are  as  necessary  here,  especially  in  the  Southern  states,  as  they  were  in 
southern  Europe.  Their  construction  is  so  simple,  their  modifications  so 
various,  their  application  so  universal,  and  their  effects  so  beneficial  and 
cheap,  that  it  is  surprising  they  have  not  been  introduced.  We  don’t  see 
why  a  person  might  not  be  as  innocently  employed  in  pumping  water 
during  worship  to  supply  a  fountain  or  jet  d’eau,  as  in  pumping  air  into  the 
pipes  of  an  organ.  But  it  is  unnecessary,  for  where  the  fluid  would  not 
rise  sufficiently  high  from  public  reservoirs  or  pipes  that  pass  through  the 
streets,  it  might  be  elevated  into  a  reservoir  in  the  roof  the  day  previous 
to  the  sabbath.  In  this  use  of  fountains  ancient  architects  were  clearly 
in  advance  of  ours. 

The  custom  of  cooling  the  air  in  private  apartments  is  of  great  antiquity 
in  Asia,  and  is  still  kept  up  in  the  dwellings  of  princes.  See  a  plate 
in  Generale  Histoire,  tome  xiii,  p.  311,  representing  a  private  apartment 
in  the  seraglio  of  one  of  the  generals  of  Aurengzebe.  An  octagon  basin 
with  a  handsome  jet  is  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  with  images  of  birds 
floating  in  the  water.  On  the  borders  of  the  basin  are  trays  with  refresh¬ 
ments,  and  the  company  reclining  around  on  carpets,  much  in  the  same 
manner  in  which  Pliny  represents  himself  and  friends  feasting  around  a 
fountain  in  his  garden. 

Henry  Blount  describing  one  of  the  palaces  at  Cairo  in  1624,  observes, 

“  In  the  chiefe  dining  chamber,  according  to  the  capacitie  of  the  roome,  is 


541 


Chap.  7.J  Ancient  Fountains  for  Cattle. 

made  one  or  more  richly  gilt  fountains,  which  through  secret  pipes  sup¬ 
plies  in  the  middle  of  the  roome  a  daintie  poole,  which  is  so  neatly  kept, 
the  water  so  cleare,  as  makes  apparent  the  exquisite  mosaik  at  the  bot- 
tome.  Herein  are  preserved  fish  which  have  often  taken  bread  out  of  mv 
hand.”  J 

Sometimes  the  jet  is  made  to  fall  into  basins  filled  with  flowers,  the 
odor  of  which  is  dispersed  in  the  spray.  Bell  describes  the  hall  of  audi¬ 
ence  at  Ispahan  as  a  most  magnificent  room,  lined  with  mirrors  of  various 
sizes,  the  floor  covered  with  carpets  of  silk  interwoven  with  branches 
and  foliage  of  gold  and  silver.  In  the  centre  were  two  basins  in  which 
several  pipes  spouted  water  that  fell  among  roses  and  other  flowers  and 
produced  a  fine  effect.  Another  fountain  at  the  entrance  threw  the  water 
so  high  that  it  fell  like  a  thick  rain  or  dew  which  concealed  the  Schah  from 
those  on  the  opposite  side. 

See  remarks  on  the  introduction  of  portable  fountains  into  private  dwel¬ 
lings  at  page  361. 


No.  271.  Ancient  fountain  for  cattle. 


That  ancient  farmers  occasionally  conveyed  water  through  pipes  into 
fields  for  the  use  of  their  stock,  as  is  now  sometimes  done,  appears  from 
the  above  cut,  from  a  basso  relievo  preserved  in  one  of  the  museums  at 
Rome. — (D’Agincourt’s  History  of  the  Fine  Arts.  Sculp.  Plate  I.) 

It  has  already  been  remarked,  (pp.  163,  170,)  that  the  old  Mexicans  and 
Peruvians  had  fountains,  from  which  the  fluid  issued  through  figures  of 
snakes  and  crocodiles. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  three  and  four  way-cocks  were  anciently 
employed  in  fountains  :  they  are  to  be  found  in  the  old  water-works  of 
Italy  and  France. — (See  L’Art  du  Plombier  in  Arts  et  Metieres,  4to.  edit, 
p.  560,  planche  xiii.) 


542 


Clepsydra — Sun-Dials —  Slow  Matches. 


[Book  V. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Clepsydrae  and  Hydraulic  Organs:  Time  measured  by  the  sun — Obelisks — Dial  in  Syracuse — 
Time  measured  in  the  night  by  slow  matches,  candles,  &c. — Modes  of  announcing  the  hours — “  Jack  of 
the  clock” — Clepsydr® — Their  curious  origin  in  Egypt — Their  variety — Used  by  the  Siamese,  Hindoos, 
Chinese,  &e. — Ancient  hour-glasses — Indexes  to  water-clocks — Sand  clocks  in  China— Musical  clock  of 
Plato — Clock  carried  in  triumph  by  Pompey — Clepsydra  of  Ctesibius — Clock  presented  to  Charles  V. — 
Modern  Clepsydr® — Hour-glasses  in  coffins — Dial  of  the  Peruvians.  Hydraulic  Organs:  Imperfectly 
described  by  Heron  and  Vitruvius — Plato,  Archimedes,  Plutarch,  Pliny,  Suetonius,  St.  Jerome — Organs 
sent  from  Constantinople  to  Pepin — Water  organs  of  Louis  Debonnaire — A  woman  expired  in  ecstacies 
while  hearing  one  play — Organs  made  by  monks — Old  Regal. 

Clepsydrae  and  water  organs  are  not  strictly  included  in  the  general 
design  of  this  volume  ;  but  as  they  are  ancient  devices  in  which  water 
performed  an  important  part,  and  as  they  undoubtedly  contributed  to  the 
improvement  of  hydraulic  machinery,  and  moreover  gave  rise  to  clocks 
and  watches,  we  were  unwilling  to  omit  them. 

Sun-dials  were  the  earliest  means  employed  to  note  the  lapse  of  time. 
Country  people  in  all  ages  have  marked  the  passing  hours  by  the  shadow 
of  a  tree,  a  post,  the  corner  of  a  house,  or  any  other  permanent  object ; 
these  were  natural  gnomons,  while  the  ground  upon  which  their  shadows 
were  thrown  served  as  dials.  In  cities,  artificial  objects  were  necessary  ; 
hence  the  obelisks  of  the  Egyptians  and  other  ancient  people.  These  gno¬ 
mons  were  placed  in  open  and  conspicuous  places  for  public  convenience, 
and  many  of  them  from  their  great  elevation  threw  their  shadows  to  a 
considerable  distance.  Sometimes  their  pedestals  formed  magnificent 
buildings.  When  Dion,  after  delivering  the  Syracusans,  spake  to  them 
on  the  tyranny  of  Dionysius,  Plutarch  says,  he  stood  upon  a  lofty  sun-dial 
erected  by  the  tyrant :  “  at  first  it  was  considered  by  the  soothsayers  a 
good  omen  that  Dion,  when  he  addressed  the  people,  had  under  his  feet 
the  stately  edifice  which  Dionysius  had  erected  ;  but  upon  reflecting  that 
this  edifice  on  which  he  had  been  declared  general,  was  a  sun-dial,  they 
were  apprehensive  his  present  power  might  fall  into  speedy  decline.” 
“  The  dial  of  Ahaz”  seems  to  have  been  a  public  building  of  a  similar 
description.  The  governors  of  provinces  in  China  assemble  on  the  “  time¬ 
telling  towers”  on  public  occasion.  (Atlas  Chinensis  of  Montanus,  p.  594.) 
The  Peruvians  had  pillars  erected  for  measuring  time  by  the  sun.  Small 
dials  were  anciently  made  of  brass  or  other  metals  and  placed  upon  columns, 
or  were  attached  to  public  buildings.  Vitruvius  has  described  several 
in  book  ix.  of  his  Architecture,  and  among  them  one  by  Berosus  the 
Chaldean. 

But  dials  are  only  serviceable  while  the  sun  shines.  During  cloudy 
weather  and  after  sun-set  they  are  useless ;  other  devices  are  therefore 
required  to  mark  the  fleeting  hours.  Of  ancient  contrivances  for  this  pur¬ 
pose  there  were  two  whose  action  depended  one  upon  fire  and  the  other 
on  water,  viz  :  by  burning  slow  matches,  powder,  or  candles,  and  by 
water-clocks.  The  former  were  used  by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  (see  p.  350,) 
and  are  still  common  in  Japan,  and  probably  other  Asiatic  countries. 
Nieuhoff,  in  his  account  of  the  Dutch  embassy  to  China,  says,  the  Chinese 


543 


Chap.  8.]  Striking  the  Hours — Ancient  Water- Clocks. 

have  instruments  to  show  the  hour  of  the  day  which  operate  by  fire  and 
water.  Those  that  depend  upon  fire  “  are  made  of  perfumed  ashes.” 
(Ogilby’s  Trans.  1673,  p.  159.)  This  is  too  vague  to  convey  an  idea  of 
their  construction  ;  but  from  Thunberg’s  account  of  those  he  saw  in  Japan, 
we  at  once  learn  what  they  were.  For  the  mensuration  of  time,  observes 
that  enlightened  traveler,  the  Japanese  use  the  bark  of  the  skimmi  (anise 
tree)  finely  powdered.  A  box,  12  inches  long,  being  filled  with  ashes, 
small  furrow  s  are  made  in  the  ashes  from  one  end  of  the  box  to  the  other, 
and  so  on  backwards  and  forwards  to  a  considerable  number.  In  these 
furrows  is  strewed  fine  powder  of  skimmi  bark,  and  divisions  are  made 
for  the  hours.  The  powder  is  ignited  at  one  end  of  a  groove,  it  consumes 
very  slowly,  and  the  hours  are  proclaimed  by  striking  the  bells  of  the 
temples.  (Travels,  iii,  228.)  Time  is  also  measured  in  Japan  by  burn¬ 
ing  matches,  twisted  like  ropes  and  divided  by  knots.  When  one  of  these 
after  being  lighted  has  burned  down  to  a  knot,  and  thereby  denoted  the 
lapse  of  a  certain  portion  of  time,  an  attendant  announces  it  by  a  certain 
number  of  strokes  on  bells  near  their  temples,  if  in  the  day  time  ;  but  in 
the  night,  by  striking  two  pieces  of  wood  against  each  other. — (Ibid.  88.) 

In  all  ancient  devices,  the  passing  hours  were  announced  by  men  ap¬ 
pointed  for  the  purpose,  a  custom  still  continued  over  all  Asia.  Sometimes 
it  was  done  by  the  voice.  Thus  the  Turks  have  an  officer  (with  strong 
lungs)  on  the  top  of  every  mosque  who,  stopping  his  ears  with  his  fingers, 
proclaims  with  a  loud  voice  the  break  of  day,  noon,  three  in  the  afternoon, 
and  twilight.  Martial  the  Roman  satirist,  refers  to  a  similar  practice,  and 
Athenasus  mentions  “  a  mercenary  hour-teller.”  Allusions  to  the  same 
custom  are  to  be  found  in  the  Bible — that  which  ye  have  spoken  in 
closets  “  shall  be  proclaimed  upon  the  house  tops.”  But  the  more  general 
mode  was  that  which  is  still  so  common  in  the  East,  viz.  by  striking  a  bell, 
drum,  gong,  or  some  other  sonorous  instrument,  and  distinguishing  the 
different  hours,  as  in  our  clocks,  by  the  number  of  strokes.  In  modern  ages 
in  Europe  before  the  striking  parts  of  town  clocks  were  invented,  men 
struck  the  hour  on  a  bell,  and  long  after  these  officers  were  dispensed  with 
figures  of  men- were  made  as  ornaments  to  perform  the  same  duty.  To 
these  “  Jacks  of  the  clock,”  Shakespeare  and  other  writers  of  his  age  often 
refer.  Such  clocks  are  still  extant :  the  one  attached  to  St.  Dunstan’s 
church  near  Temple  Bar,  London,  is  often  mentioned  by  writers  of  the 
last  century,  and  we  believe  is  still  to  be  seen. 

Some  authors  attribute  the  invention  of  water-clocks  to  Ctesibius,  and 
others  suppose  they  were  first  used  under  the  Ptolemies  ;  but  both  are 
mistakes  :  they  were  doubtless  greatly  improved  by  the  Alexandrian 
mathematician,  and  probably  reached  the  acme  of  perfection  under  the 
successors  of  Alexander.  In  India,  Egypt,  Chaldea  and  China,  clepsydrae 
date  back  beyond  all  records.  They  were  known  at  an  early  period  in 
Greece.  Plutarch  mentions  them  in  his  life  of  Alcibiades,  who  flourished 
in  the  fifth  century  B.  C.  when  they  were  employed  in  the  tribunals  at 
Athens  to  measure  the  time  to  which  the  orators  were  limited  in  their 
addresses  to  the  judges.  Demosthenes  and  his  great  rival  .Eschines 
allude  to  this  use  of  them.  Plato  had  water-clocks,  and  to  him  was  attri¬ 
buted  their  introduction  into  Greece.  Plutarch  in  his  Philosophy,  observes, 
that  Empedocles  illustrated  the  act  of  respiration  by  “  a  clepsidre  water 
hour-glass.”  (Opin.  of  Philos.)  Julius  Cassar  found  the  Britons  in  pos¬ 
session  of  them.  Pliny  (book  vii,  60.)  says,  men  announced  with  the  voice 
the  hours  from  the  shadow  of  the  sun,  and  that  Scipio  Nasica  set  up  the  first 
clepsydra  “  to  divide  the  hours  of  both  day  and  night  equally,  by  water 
distilling  and  dropping  out  of  one  vessel  into  another.” 


544 


Egyptian ,  Siamese,  and  Hindoo  Water- Clocks.  [Book  V. 

The  ancients  had  various  modifications  of  water-clocks,  some  were  ex¬ 
ceedingly  simple,  and  others  elaborately  constructed,  and  the  forms  and 
decorations  wonderfully  diversified  ;  but  the  principle  was  more  or  less 
the  same  in  all,  viz.  water  trickling  through  a  minute  channel  from  one 
vessel  into  another.  The  instruments  were  made  of  various  materials 
from  glass  to  gold,  and  of  sizes  differing,  like  modern  clocks,  from  large 
ones  permanently  erected  for  public  use  to  such  as  were  carried  in  the 
hand. 

Valerianus,  who  wrote  in  the  16th  century,  says  the  priests  of  Egypt 
divided  the  day  into  twelve  hours,  because  the  cynocephalus,  a  sacred  ani¬ 
mal,  was  observed  to  make  a  violent  noise  at  those  times,  and  to  void  urine 
as  often.  Cicero  mentions  a  tradition  of  Trismegistus  observing  the  same 
thing.  The  Egyptians,  therefore,  ornamented  their  water-clocks  with 
figures  of  apes,  and  some  were  of  the  form  of  those  animals  urinating ; 
hence  it  would  seem  that  this  singular  people  not  only  derived  enemas 
from  studying  the  habits  of  the  ibis,  but  were  led  to  construct  clepsydrae 
from  noticing  those  of  monkeys. 

As  it  is  impossible  to  give  anything  like  a  history  of  these  machines  in 
this  volume,  we  shall  notice  a  few  only,  but  sufficient  to  give  a  general  idea 
of  their  construction  and  variety.  Sometimes  an  empty  basin  with  a 
minute  opening  through  its  bottom  was  placed  floating  in  a  cistern  of 
water;  the  fluid  gradually  entering  filled  it  in  an  hour,  half  an  hour,  or 
some  other  determinate  time.  It  was  then  emptied  and  allowed  to  swim 
as  before  ;  as  soon  as  it  became  filled,  a  gong  or  other  instrument  was 
sounded  for  the  information  of  the  public. 

“  The  Siamese  measure  their  time  by  a  sort  of  water-clock,  not  like  the 
clepsydra  of  old,  wherein  the  water  descended  from  above,  but  by  forcing 
it  upwards  through  a  small  hole  in  the  bottom  of  a  copper  cup  placed  in 
a  tub  of  water.  When  the  water  has  sprung  up  so  long  that  the  cup  is 
full,  it  sinks  down,  and  those  that  stand  by  it,  forthwith  make  a  noise  with 
basons,  signifying  that  the  hour  is  expired.”  (Ovington’s  Voyage  to  Surat 
in  1639,  p.  281.) 

The  ghurree  al,  or  clepsydra  of  the  Hindoos,  consists  of  a  thin  brass  cup 
having  a  hole  in  the  bottom.  “A  large  vessel  is  filled  with  water  and  this 
cup  placed  on  the  surface  ;  the  water  rises  through  the  hole,  and  when  it 
has  reached  a  height  marked  by  a  line  previously  adjusted,  the  watchman 
strikes  the  hour  with  a  wooden  mallet  on  a  pan  of  bell  metal.” — (Sho- 
berl’s  Hind,  v,  157.) 

In  other  devices,  time  was  measured  by  emptying  the  vessel.  Valeria¬ 
nus  observes,  that  the  priests  of  Acanta,  a  town  beyond  the  Nile,  poured 
water  every  day  into  a  vessel,  by  the  dropping  of  which  through  a  small 
hole  they  measured  the  hours. — (Harris’  Lex.  Tech.) 

Dr.  Fryer,  who  visited  India  in  the  17th  century,  observed  the  Hin¬ 
doos  measuring  time  “  by  the  dropping  of  water  out  of  a  brass  basin.”— 
(Travels,  1S6.) 

It  is  obvious  that  by  adapting  the  size  of  an  opening  in  the  bottom  of  a 
vessel,  the  entire  contents  of  the  latter  might  be  made  to  flow  out  in  a 
certain  time  and  with  tolerable  accuracy  ;  but  in  refilling  it  great  care 
was  required  to  introduce  precisely  the  same  quantity.  To  accomplish 
this,  both  the  vessel  and  receiver  were  closed  on  all  sides  and  connected 
together,  so  that  when  the  proper  quantity  of  fluid  was  once  introduced, 
it  could  neither  escape  by  leakage  or  evaporation.  Both  vessels  were 
shaped  like  a  pear  and  united  at  the  smaller  ends,  through  which  the  passage 
for  the  fluid  was  made  ;  and  sometimes  sand  was  used  instead  of  water. 
Hence  the  hour-glass  of  modern  days,  the  only  modification  of  ancient 


545 


Chap.  8.]  Ancient  Hour-Glasses— Chinese  Sand  and  Water- Clocks. 


clepsydrae  which  modern  nations  continue  to  use.  Nieuhoff  observes  of 
Chinese  water-clocks,  “  they  bear  a  resemblance  to  some  great  hour¬ 
glasses  in  shape and  he  says,  in  several  sand  was  used  instead  of  water. 
On  an  ancient  bas-relief  at  Rome,  representing  the  marriage  of  Thetis  and 
Peleus,  Morpheus  holds  an  hour-glass  ;  and  from  Athenaeus  we  learn  that 
the  ancients  carried  portable  ones  about  with  them  somewhat  as  we  do 
watches. 

In  another  variety  of  clepsydras,  the  sides  of  the  vessel  from  which  the 
fluid  escaped  were  graduated,  somewhat  like  chemists’  measuring  glasses, 
and  the  hours  announced  as  the  descending  surface  of  the  fluid  reached 
the  marks.  If  the  vessel  was  of  a  cylindrical  or  cubical  figure  the  distance 
between  the  marks  was  not  uniform,  because  the  water  escaped  fastest  at 
first,  in  consequence  of  the  greater  pressure  of  the  column  over  the  orifice, 
which  pressure  constantly  diminished  with  the  efflux  ;  the  surface  of  the 
fluid  could  not  therefore  descend  through  equal  spaces  in  equal  times. 
When  such  formed  vessels  were  used,  the  relative  distances  of  the  marks 
were  probably  determined  by  experiment,  although  they  might  have  been 
by  calculation.  Sometimes  the  vessels  were  funnel-shaped,  the  angle  of 
their  sides  being  so  adjusted  that  an  equal  distance  could  be  preserved 
between  the  marks — unequal  quantities  of  the  fluid  escaping  in  equal 
times.  These  instruments  were  generally  made  of  glass,  and  a  cork  or 
some  floating  image,  to  which  a  needle  was  secured,  pointed  out  the  hour 
as  the  water  sunk.  Pancirollus  says,  the  small  holes  were  edged  with 
gold. 


In  some  clepsydrae  the  fluid  was  received  into  a  separate  vessel  to  raise 
a  floating  image  that  pointed  as  an  index  to  the  hours.  Sometimes  a  boy 
with  a  rod,  Time  with  his  scythe,  and  Death  with  a  dart.  In  this  variety 
of  the  instrument,  it  was  desirable  that  the  quantity  of  fluid  discharged  into 
the  vessel  should  be  uniform  at  all  times  ;  and  to  effect  this,  the  floating 
siphon,  No.  239,  was  sometimes  used.  Such  we  presume  was  the  clepsydra 
of  Orontes,  which  was  made  “  in  the  form  of  a  small  ship  floating  on  the 
water,  and  which  emptied  itself  by  means  of  a  siphon  placed  in  the  middle 
of  it.”  Dr.  Harris,  not  aware  of  the  property  of  a  floating  siphon,  could 
not  perceive  how  the  hours  were  made  equal  by  this  contrivance,  which, 
he  observes,  Orontes  devised  to  remedy  the  unequal  flow  of  water  from 
an  open  vessel. — (Lex.  Tech.) 

Nieuhoff  noticing  the  numerous  towns  in  China,  upon  the  greater  part 
of  which,  he  observes,  were  clepsydrae,  says,  “  upon  the  clock-house  tur¬ 
rets  stands  an  instrument  which  shows  the  hour  of  the  day  by  means  of 
water,  which  running  from  one  vessel  into  another  raises  a  hoard ,  upon 
which  is  portrayed  a  mark  for  the  time  of  day  ;  and  you  are  to  observe, 
there  is  always  a  person  to  notice  the  time,  who  every  hour  signifies  the 
same  to  the  people  by  beating  upon  a  drum,  and  hanging  out  a  board  with 
the  hqur  writ  upon  it  in  large  letters.”  (Ogilby;  Trans.  196.)  Montanus 
says  these  letters  were  “  a  foot  and  a  half  long.”  See  also  Purchas’Pil- 
grimage,  499. 

In  another  class  of  ancient  clepsydrae,  the  water  dropped  upon  an  over¬ 
shot  wheel,  which  turned  an  index  in  the  centre  of  a  circle,  round  which 
the  hours  were  marked  ;  hence  our  clock  and  watch  dials.  “  The  Chinese 
have  other  instruments  to  know  the  hour  of  the  day,  being  somewhat  like 
our  clocks  with  wheels,  and  they  are  made  to  turn  with  sand  as  mill¬ 
wheels  are  with  water.”  (Nieuhoff.)  At  last  solid  weights  were  intro¬ 
duced  in  place  of  water,  and  by  means  of  cords  gave  motion  to  the  index, 
and  thus  opened  the  way  still  more  for  the  introduction  of  modern  clocks. 

It  would  appear  from  the  description  of  clepsydrae  by  Vitruvius  and 

69 


546 


Water-Clock  carried  in  Pompey's  Triumph.  [Book  V. 

other  writers,  that  the  ancients  had  carried  these  machines  to  very  great 
perfection  ;  and  as  regards  ornament,  they  probably  excelled  many  of 
our  mantel  time  pieces.  They  were  even  combined  with  music.  Thus 
Plato  had  one  that,  during  the  night,  when  the  index  of  the  dial  could  not 
be  seen,  announced  the  time  by  playing  upon  flutes.  Athenaeus  also  con¬ 
structed  one  that  indicated  the  hours  by  sounds,  produced  by  the  com¬ 
pression  and  expulsion  of  air  by  water — the  same  principle  as  Plato’s. 
Petrarch  in  enumerating  the  spoils  of  Asia  which  Pompey  exhibited  at 
his  third  triumph,  besides  cups,  chests  and  beds  of  gold,  a  mountain  of  the 
same  metal,  with  statues  of  harts,  lions  and  other  beasts  ;  trees,  and  all 
kinds  of  fruits  formed  of  pearls  suspended  from  golden  branches,  &q. 
continues,  “Of  the  same  substance,  there  was  a  cloche,  so  cunningly 
wrought  that  the  woorkmanshyp  excelled  the  stuffe,  and  which  conti¬ 
nually  moved  and  turned  about — a  right  woonderfuli  and  strange  sight.” 
— (“  Phisicke  against  Fortune,”  translated  by  T.  Twyne.  Lond.  1579, 
F.  120.) 

The  want  of  uniformity  in  the  going  of  ancient  water-clocks  was  noticed 
by  Seneca,  and  compared  to  the  differences  of  opinions  entertained  by 
philosophers  ;  and  Charles  V.  after  shedding  rivers  of  blood  to  make  men 
believe  the  dogmas  he  wished  to  impose,  amused  himself  in  his  retire¬ 
ment  in  the  construction  of  watches,  and  was  surprised  that  he  could  not 
make  two  go  alike. 

No.  272  represents  one  of  the  improved  clepsydrae  of  Ctesibius,a  from 
Perrault’s  Translation  of  Vitruvius.b  It  presents  several  interesting  par¬ 
ticulars  relating  to  the  state  of  the  useful  arts  upwards  of  twenty  centuries 
ago,  and  is  better  calculated  to  impart  information  to  mechanics  respect¬ 
ing  the  ingenuity,  and  even  the  workshops  and  tools,  of  their  ancient 
brethren,  than  reams  of  letter-press.  Besides  carving,  turning,  found¬ 
ing,  &c.  &c. — it  shows  the  practical  application  of  water  to  move  over¬ 
shot  wheels — the  art  of  transmitting  motion  and  of  changing  its  direction 
by  toothed  wheels — it  exhibits  the  same  principle  of  measuring  time  as 
practised  by  our  clock  and  watch-makers,  viz.  by  proportioning  the  num¬ 
ber  of  teeth  on  wheels  to  those  on  the  pinions  between  which  they  work. 
The  application  of  the  siphon  is  also  interesting,  being  the  same  as  is  used 
to  illustrate  the  action  of  intermitting  springs.  Upon  this  instrument  the 
renewal  of  the  diurnal  movements  of  the  machinery  depended  :  its  ^effect 
being  similar  to  that  of  winding  up  an  ordinary  clock. 

This  clepsydra  consisted  of  a  cylindrical  column  placed  on  a  square 
pedestal,  within  which  the  mechanism  was  concealed.  The  hours  for 
both  day  and  night  were  marked  upon  the  column  ;  their  inequality  at 
different  seasons  being  measured  by  unequal  distances  between  the  curved 
lines  and  by  the  revolution  of  the  column  round  its  axis  once  a  year.  Ou 
the  pedestal  are  seen  the  figures  of  two  boys,  one  of  which  was  immove¬ 
able,  but  the  other  rose  and  pointed  out  the  different  hours  with  his  wand. 
Water  (supplied  from  some  reservoir  by  a  concealed  pipe)  continually 
dropped  from  the  eyes  of  the  figure  on  the  left,  and  falling  into  a  dish 
was  conveyed,  by  a  horizontal  channel,  under  the  feet  of  the  other  figure, 
where  it  trickled  into  a  deep  vessel,  or  large  vertical  tube,  whose  lower 
end  was  closed.  In  this  tube  a  float  was  made  to  rise  and  fall  with  the 
water,  and  being  attached  to  the  feet  of  the  figure  with  the  wand  caused 
it  to  rise  also,  and  thus  to  indicate  the  lapse  of  time.  At  the  end  of  24 


*  There  was  another  ancient  philosopher  of  the  same  name,  Ctesibius  of  Chalcis. 
b  In  Barbaro’s  Vitruvius,  Venice,  1567,  there  are  figures  of  two  others  equally  inge¬ 
nious,  but  rather  more  complex. 


547 


Chap.  8.]  Water-  Clock  of  Ctesibius — Hydraulic  Organs. 

hours  the  tube  would  be  filled,  and  the  figure  near  the  top  of  the  column. 
It  was  then  that  the  siphon  came  into  play.  Its  short  leg,  as  represented 

in  the  cut,  was  connected  to  the  lower  part 
of  the  tube  that  contained  the  float,  and  its 
bend  reached  as  high  as  the  upper  end  of 
the  tube.  When  the  latter  therefore  was 
full  the  siphon  would  be  charged,  and  the 
contents  of  the  tube  discharged  by  it  into 
one  of  the  buckets  of  the  wheel.  The  figure 
with  the  wand  would  then  descend,  having 
nothing  to  support  it.  The  wheel  having  ' 
six  buckets  only,  performed  a  revolution  in 
six  days.  To  its  axis  was  secured  a  pinion  of 
six  teeth  that  worked  into  a  wheel  with  sixty, 
and  on  the  shaft  of  this  wheel  a  pinion  of 
ten  teeth  drove  a  wheel  of  sixty-one  teeth, 
which  last  wheel  by  its  axis  turned  the 
column  round  once  in  365  days. 

As  the  accuracy  of  such  a  clock  depended 
upon  the  size  of  the  orifices  in  the  weeping 
figure,  whence  the  water  escaped,  to  pre¬ 
vent  their  enlargement  by  the  friction  of  the 
liquid,  Ctesibius  bushed  them  with  jewels. 

About  the  year  807,  the  Caliph  Haroun 
sent  some  valuable  presents  to  Charlemagne, 
and  among  them  a  water-clock,  which  struck 
the  hours  by  means  of  twelve  little  brass 
balls  falling  on  a  bell  of  the  same  metal. 
There  were  also  twelve  figures  of  soldiers, 
which  at  the  end  of  each  hour  opened  and 
shut  doors  according  to  the  number  of  the 
hour. — (Martigny’s  Hist.  Arabians,  iii.  92.) 

There  is  a  very  simple  clepsydrainKircher’s 
Mundus  Subterraneus,  tom.  i,  157.  M.Amon- 
tons  devised  another.  Mem.  Acad.  Science, 

A.  D.  1699,  p.51.  See  also  Phil. TranS.  vol.  xlv, 
p.  171,  and  Fludd’s  Simia.  Decaus  has  given 
a  clepsydra  in  the  fifth  plate  of  his  Forcible 
Movements.  A  water  pendulum  is  figured 
in  Ozanam’s  Recreations,  p.  388. 

Hour-glasses  were  formerly  placed  in  coffins  and  buried  with  the  corpse, 
probably  as  symbols  of  mortality — the  sands  of  life  having  run  out.  See 
Gent.  Mag.  vol.  xvi,  646,  and  xvii,  264.  Lamps  found  in  ancient  sepul¬ 
chres  were  possibly  interred  with  the  same  view — to  indicate  the  lamp 
of  life  having  become  extinguished. 

Garcilasso  mentions  a  dial  by  which  the  Peruvians  ascertained  the  time 
when  the  sun  entered  the  equinox  :  whether  these  people  or  the  Mexicans 
had  water-clocks  we  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain. 

Hydraulic  Organs  do  not  appear  to  be  of  so  high  antiquity  as  clepsydra, 
but  their  origin  is  equally  uncertain.  Perhaps  they  were  derived  from 
musical  water-clocks. 

The  first  organs  were  probably  nothing  more  than  simple  combinations 
of  flutes,  pipes,  and  other  primitive  wind  instruments.  What  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  were  that  led  to  the  idea  of  uniting  a  number  of  these,  and 
supplying  them  with  wind  from  bellows  instead  of  the  mouth  can  hardly  be 


No.  272.  Clepsydra  by  Ctesibius. 


548 


Variety  of  Water-Organs.  [Book  V. 

conjectured.  The  first  step  was  probably  bag-pipes,  and  the  second  the 
addition  of  keys  or  valves.  In  process  of  time,  the  instruments,  instead 
of  being  made  of  reeds  or  other  natural  tubes,  were  formed  of  metal ;  and 
their  number,  variety,  and  dimensions  increased  until  organs  became  the 
most  powerful  and  harmonious,  and  consequently  the  most  esteemed  of 
all  musical  machines.  The  organs  mentioned  in  the  Bible  were  probably 
portable  ones,  similar  to  the  modern  regal.  The  ancients  divided  them 
into  two  classes — -pneumatic  and  hydraulic ,  or  wind  and  water  organs. 
The  difference  consisted  merely  in  the  modes  of  supplying  the  wind — in 
one  it  was  by  means  of  water,  while  in  the  other  bellows  were  worked 
by  men. 

Water  was  employed  in  various  ways  in  ancient  hydraulic  organs. 

1.  By  falling  through  a  pipe,  it  carried  down  air  into  a  reservoir,  as  in 
the  trombe  or  shower  bellows,  (No.  198.)  Here  it  not  only  furnished 
the  air  but  forced  it  through  the  pipes.  According  to  Kircher,  it  was  then 
discharged  on  a  wheel,  and  gave  motion  to  drums  on  whose  peripheries 
were  projecting  pins,  which  depressed  the  keys  of  the  instrument,  as  in  the 
modern  barrel  organ. 

2.  It  was  discharged  upon  an  overshot  wheel,  and  by  cranks  and  levers 
merely  worked  common  bellows.  This  may  seem  strange  to  some  readers, 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  instruments  were  often  of  enormous 
dimensions.  Even  so  rude  a  people  as  the  Anglo-Saxons,  had  organs 
that  required  “  seventy  strong  men”  to  work  the  bellows. 

3.  Sometimes  water  was  only  used  in  an  open  tank  or  cistern,  into 
which  a  smaller  one  constituting  the  air-chamber  was  inverted.  The  air 
was  then  forced  by  ordinary  or  piston  bellows  into  the  latter,  and  dis¬ 
placing  the  water  caused  it  to  rise  in  the  outer  vessel,  where  its  constant 
pressure  urged  the  air  through  the  organ. — See  No.  110,  and  p.  245. 

4.  The  vapor  of  boiling  water  or  steam  was  also  used,  and  which  of 
course  supplied  the  place  of  both  wind  and  bellows.  The  extent  to  which 
steam  was  used  is  unknown.  It  was  probably  confined  chiefly  to  the 
temples. 

The  details  of  the  mechanism  of  ancient  organs  that  have  come  down 
are  very  imperfect.  Their  description  by  Vitruvius  and  Heron  is  obscure, 
and  in  some  parts  unintelligible  ;  and  they  admit  that  the  construction  was 
too  complex  to  be  easily  comprehended  except  by  those  familiar  witff 
them. 

The  earliest  distinct  notice  on  record  of  any  thing  like  a  water-organ, 
is  the  musical  clepsydra  of  Plato.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  it  was 
invented  by  him,  but  rather  the  contrary,  for  he  contemned  all  mechani¬ 
cal  speculations.  He  probably  met  with  it  in  Egypt,  and  having  intro¬ 
duced  it  to  his  countrymen,  was  (as  usual  with  them)  considered  its  author. 

Tertullian,  in  a  Treatise  on  the  Soul,  speaks  of  an  organ  invented  by 
Archimedes,  but  of  its  construction  little  is  known. 

From  Vitruvius’  account  of  hydraulic  organs,  and  from  the  last  two 
Problems  in  Heron’s  Spiritalia,  we  learn  that  they  were  very  elaborate 
machines.  Decaus  has  amplified  some  of  Heron’s  devices  for  producing 
music  by  water. 

Plutarch  in  comparing  Cato  and  Phocion,  after  observing  that  their 
severity  of  manners  was  equally  tempered  with  humanity,  and  their  valor 
with  caution  ;  that  they  had  the  same  solicitude  for  others,  and  the  same 
disregard  for  themselves  ;  the  same  abhorrence  of  every  thing  base  and 
dishonorable,  &c.  observes,  that  to  mark  the  difference  in  their  charac¬ 
ters  would  require  a  very  delicate  expression,  like  the  finely  discriminated 
sounds  of  the  organ.  This  is  supposed  by  Langhorne  to  have  been  a 


549 


Chap.  8.]  Nero's  Water- Organ — Others  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

water-organ.  The  elder  Pliny  refers  to  them  in  book  ix,  cap.  8.  Speak- 
*ng  of  dolphins,  he  observes,  they  are  fond  of  music,  especially  “  the  sound 
of  the  vjater  instrument ,  or  such  kind  of  pipes.”  AVe  noticed,  page  245, 
a  representation  of  an  hydraulic  organ  on  a  medal  of  Valentinian.  The 
silver  Iriton,  mentioned  in  the  chapter  on  Fountains,  that  by  machinery 
was  made  to  rise  out  of  the  lake  and  sound  a  trumpet,  may  be  considered 
a  modification  of  these  instruments,  and  so  may  the  whistling  clock  of 
Athenaeus  mentioned  in  the  last  one. 

Suetonius,  in  his  Life  of  Nero,  mentions  an  hydraulic  organ  which  that 
emperor  took  particular  pleasure  in.  It  must  have  been  a  magnificent 
affair,  since  even  Nero  deemed  it  of  sufficient  importance  to  form  the 
principal  object  vowed  by  him,  when  the  empire  was  in  danger  from  the 
rebellion  of  Vindex.  Inviting  some  of  the  chief  Romans  to  a  consultation 
on  public  affairs,  “  he  entertained  them  the  rest  of  the  day  with  an  organ 
of  a  new  kind,  and  showing  them  the  several  parts  of  the  invention,  and 
discoursing  about  the  nature  and  difficulty  of  the  instrument,  he  told  them 
he  designed  to  introduce  it  upon  the  theatre,  if  Vindex  would  permit  him.” 
In  this  passage  Suetonius  does  not  state  that  the  machine  was  a  water- 
organ  ;  but  in  a  subsequent  one  he  observes, — “  Towards  the  close  of 
Nero’s  life,  he  publicly  vowed  that  if  the  empire  was  secured  to  him  (by 
overcoming  the  rebels)  he  would  bring  out  at  the  games,  for  his  obtaining 
the  victory,  a  water-organ ,  a  chorus  of  flutes  and  bag-pipes,”  &c. 

The  author  of  a  letter,  attributed  to  St.  Jerome,  speaks  of  a  large  organ  at 
Jerusalem,  the  sounds  of  which  could  be  heard  at  the  distance  of  "a  thousand 
paces,  or  to  the  Mount  of  Olives.  It  consisted  of  two  elephant  skins,  or 
rather  perhaps  resembled  two  of  those  animals.  There  were  twelve  large 
bellows  and  fifteen  brass  pipes.  The  two  animals  were  said  to  represent 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments — the  pipes  the  patriarchs  and  prophets,  and 
the  bellows  the  twelve  apostles.  The  particulars  of  its  construction  are 
not  known. 

Organs  were  used  more  or  less  throughout  the  dark  ages,  during  which 
several  were  brought  into  Europe  from  the  East. 

In  757,  the  Greek  emperor  Constantine  sent  two  organs  to  Pepin,  king 
of  F ranee.  Mezeray  says,  they  were  the  first  seen  in  that  country. 
Another  was  sent  from  Constantinople  to  Charlemagne  in  812;  but  nothing 
is  known  of  their  construction,  except  that  the  last  imitated  the  sounds  of 
thunder,  the  lyre  and  cymbal. 

In  the  ninth  century,  Louis  Debonnaire  had  a  water-organ  made  for  his 
palace  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  by  a  Venetian  priest  named  George.  Another 
organ,  in  which  water  is  supposed  not  to  have  been  employed,  he  erected 
in  one  of  the  churches  of  that  city,  and  its  sounds  are  said  to  have  been  so 
ravishing,  that  a  woman  died  in  eestacy  under  their  influence. — (See  Pre¬ 
face  to  L’Art  du  Facteur  D’Orgues  ;  Arts  et  Metieres,  folio  edit.  1778.) 

At  page  401,  wre  mentioned  an  organ  made  by  Gerbert,  in  which  steam 
was  employed  instead  of  air. 

We  find,  says  Fosbroke,  organs  with  pipes  of  box-wood,  of  gold,  and 
organs  of  alabaster  and  glass  ;  and  some  played  on  with  warm  water. 
Brass  pipes  and  bellows  are  mentioned  by  William  of  Malmsbury.  “  The 
monks  of  Italy,  of  the  orders  devoted  to  manual  labor,  applied  themselves 
to  the  fabrication  of  organs  ;  and  in  the  tenth  century,  a  maker  was  sent 
into  France,  whence  they  insensibly  spread  over  all  the  western  churches.” 

Of  modern  hydraulic  organs  it  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge.  Several  have 
been  noticed  in  the  chapter  on  Fountains.  They  have  become  nearly 
extinct.  See  Kircher’s  Musurgia  Universalis,  Fludd’s  Simia,  Decaus* 
forcible  Movements;  Misson,  Blainville,  Breval,  and  Keysler’s  Travels. 


550 


Lead — Its  Ancient  Uses. 


[Book  V. 

The  old  Regal ,  a  diminutive  species  of  organ,  still  used  in  some  parts 
of  Europe,  was  sometimes  acted  on  by  water  ;  at  least  so  it  would  seem 
from  a  remark  of  Lord  Bacon  in  his  Sylva.  Speaking  of  music,  he  par¬ 
ticularizes  the  tones  from  the  percussion  of  metals ,  as  in  bells — of  air ,  as 
in  the  voice  while  singing,  in  whistles,  organs,  and  stringed  instruments — 
“  and  of  water,  as  in  the  nightingale  pipes  of  regalls ,  or  organs,  and  other 
hydraulics,  which  the  ancients  had,  ana  Nero  did  so  much  esteeme,  but 
are  now  lost.” — Cent,  ii,  102. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Sweet  Lead  :  Lead  early  known — Roman  pig  lead — Ancient  uses  of  lead — Leaden  and  iron  coffins — 
Casting  sheet  lead — Solder — Leaden  books — Roofs  covered  with  lead — Invention  of  rolled  lead — Lead 
sheathing.  Leaden  Pipes:  Of  great  antiquity — Made  from  sheet  lead  by  the  Romans — Ordinance  of 
Justinian — Leaden  pipes  in  Spain  in  the  ninth  century — Damascus — Leather  pipes — Modern  iron  pipes 
— Invention  of  cast  leaden  pipes — Another  plan  in  France — Joints  united  without  solder — Invention  of 
drawn  leaden  pipes — Burr’s  mode  of  making  leaden  pipes — Antiquity  of  window  lead — Water  injured 
by  passing  through  leaden  pipes — Tinned  pipes.  V  alves  :  Their  antiquity  and  variety — Nuremberg 
engineers.  Cocks  :  Of  great  variety  and  materials  in  ancieut  times — Horapollo — Cocks  attached  to  the 
laver  of  brass  and  the  brazen  sea — Also  to  golden  and  silver  cisterns  in  the  temple  at  Delphi — Found  ia 
Japanese  baths — Figure  of  an  ancient  bronze  cock — Superior  in.  its  construction  to  modern  ones — Cock 
from  a  Roman  fountain — Numbers  found  at  Pompeii — Silver  pipes  and  cocks  in  Roman  baths — Golden 
and  silver  pipes  and  cocks  in  Peruvian  baths — Sliding  cocks  by  the  author.  Water-Closets  .  (X 
ancient  date — Common  in  the  East.  Traps,  for  drains,  &c. 

A  few  subordinate  inventions,  but  such  as  are  of  some-  importance  in 
practical  hydraulics  have  been  reserved  for  this  chapter,  viz  :  sheet  lead, 
pipes,  valves  and  cocks,  water-closets  and  traps. 

Lead  was  probably  worked  before  any  other  metal.  Its  ores  abound 
in  most  countries,  and  frequently  reach  to  the  surface  ;  they  are  easily 
reduced  ;  the  metal  fuses  at  a  low  temperature  ;  it  is  soft  and  exceedingly 
plastic.  Lead  is  mentioned  as  common  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus.  It 
was  among  the  spoils  taken  by  the  Israelites  from  the  Midianites,  and 
articles  made  of  it  were  ordered  to  be  melted  up.  The  Phenicians  ex¬ 
ported  tin  and  lead  from  Britain.  Both  are  enumerated  in  the  graphic 
account  of  the  commerce  of  Tyre,  in  the  27th  chapter  of  Ezekiel.  The 
Romans  worked  lead  mines  in  France,  Spain  and  Britain  ;  Pliny  says, 
those  in  the  former  countries  were  deep  and  the  metal  procured  with 
difficulty;  but  in  Britain  it  was  abundant,  and  “  runneth  ebb  in  the  upper¬ 
most  coat  of  the  ground.”  Several  Roman  mining  tools  and  pigs  of  lead 
have  been  found  in  England.  In  1741,  two  pigs  were  dug  up  in  York¬ 
shire.  Their  form  was  similar  to  that  in  which  the  Missouri  lead  is  cast, 
but  more  than  twice  the  weight.  Each  weighed  150  lb.  and  was  inscribed 
in  raised  letters  with  the  name  of  the  reigning  emperor,  Domitian. — (Phil. 
Trans.  Abrid.  ix,  420.) 

The  uses  to  which  lead  was  put  by  the  ancients  were  much  the  same  a3 
at  present.  The  fishermen  of  Egypt  sunk  their  nets  with  it  just  as  ours 
do.  A  portion  of  a  net  with  “  sinkers”"  attached  is  preserved  in  the  Berlin 
Museum.  Leaden  statues  are  ancient.  There  was  one  of  Mamurius  at 
Rome.  They  probably  preceded  those  of  bronze,  and  perhaps  formed 
part  of  the  spoil  of  the  Midianites  mentioned  above.  The  Romans  had 
leaden  coffins  ;  a  device  adopted  more  or  less  in  all  ages.  Double  leaden 

J 


Chap.  9.]  Solder— Leaden  Roofs— Invention  of  Rolled  Lead.  551 

coffins  (observes  Fosbroke)  occur  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  era,  not  made  of 
plain  lead,  but  folded  in  a  very  curious  and  handsome  manner.  For  the 
mode  of  making  coffins  and  their  singular  forms,  consult  L’Art  du  Plom- 
bier,  Arts  et  Metieres,  tome  xiii,  a  Neuchatel,  1781 .» 

The  art  of  casting  lead  into  sheets  on  beds  of  sand,  as  now  practised  by 
plumbers,  is  of  immense  antiquity.  The  terraces  of  Nebuchadnezzar’s 
banging  gardens  were  covered  with  sheets  of  lead  soldered  together,  to 
retain  moisture  in  the  soil.  The  composition  of  ancient  solder  for  lead 
we  know  from  Pliny,  was  the  same  as  ours.  It  is  uncertain  whether  the 
art  of  uniting  lead  by  “  burning,”  that  is,  by  fusing  two  edges  together 
(without  solder)  was  known.  Pliny  says,  “two  pieces  of  lead  cannot 
possibly  be  soldered  without  tin  glass.”  Either  therefore  the  ancients 

had  not  the  art  of  “  burning”  pieces  of  lead  together,  or  Pliny  was  not 
aware  of  it.  J 

Tablets  of  lead  were  anciently  used  to  write  on.  Job  alludes  to  them. 
Pooks  composed  of  leaden  leaves  are  figured  by  Montfaucon.  To  such 
tablets,  we  presume,  Pliny  refers,  when  he  speaks  of  lead  “  driven  with 
the  hammer  into  thin  plates  and  leaves.” — (Nat.  Hist,  xxxiv,  17.) 

The  employment  of  sheet  lead  as  a  covering  for  roofs  ascends  to  the 
earliest  ages  in  the  East.  It  is  still  extensively  used  there.  Tavernier, 
m  speaking  of  the  mosques  at  Aleppo,  says  their  domes  were  covered 
with  lead,  and  so  was  the  roof  of  the  great  hall  of  the  Divan  at  Constanti¬ 
nople.  He  mentions  an  inn  or  caravansary,  the  roof  of  which  was  covered 
with  the  same  metal.  Henry  Blount,  who  traveled  in  Egypt  and  Turkey 
in  1634,  found  the  roofs  of  the  mosques  and  seraglios  at  Adrianople  covered 
with  lead.  Count  Caylus  mentions  ancient  sheet  lead  half  a  line  thick 
taken  from  the  inner  dome  of  the  Pantheon.  Gregory  of  Tours  describes 
an  old  temple  of  the  Gauls,  which  was  extant  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
Valerian,  and  had  a  leaden  roof.  (Montfauc.  Supp.)  Paulinus  built  a 
church  at  Catanck,  Eng.  which  was  burnt  by  the  Pagans  ;  he  built  another 
of  wood,  which  was  the  mother  church  of  British  Christianity,  “  and  en¬ 
closed  the  whole  building  with  a  covering  of  lead.”  The  churches  and 
castles  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages  were  almost  uniformly  covered  with 
this  metal.  In  a  statute  passed  in  the  fourth  year  of  Edward  I.  of  Eng¬ 
land,  (A.  D.  1276,)  to  ascertain  the  value  of  real  estate,  commissioners 
were  appointed  to  visit  “  castles,  and  also  other  buildings  compassed  about 
with  ditches  [to  determine]  what  the  walls,  buildings,  timber,  stone,  lead , 
and  other  manner  of  covering  is  worth.” — (Statutes  at  large.) 

Leaden  seals  on  woolen  cloth  were  used  in  Henry  IV.’s  reign. 

It  is  uncertain  whether  the  ancients  were  acquainted  with  the  process 
of  forming  lead  into  sheets  by  passing  it  between  rollers.  If  they  were, 
the  art,  like  many  others,  became  lost,  and  was  not  revived  till  the  17th 
century.  A  close  examination  of  specimens  of  ancient  sheet  lead  might 
determine  the  question.  b 

Polling  or  “  milling”  of  lead  was  invented  by  Mr.  Thos.  Hale,  in  1670, 
about  which  time  the  first  mill  was  erected  at  Deptford.  The  inventor 
met  with  violent  opposition  from  shipwrights,  because  the  lead,  from  its 
smooth  surface,  uniformity  of  thickness,  and  low  price,  began  to  be  gene¬ 
rally  adopted  for  sheathing  vessels,  in  place  of  the  old  wooden  and  leather 
sheathing.  And  as  it  was  used  also  for  gutters  and  roofs  of  houses,  “  the 


a  About  twenty  years  ago  iron  coffins  were  introduced  in  England  and  secured  by 
patent ;  but  they  were  not  then  by  any  means  a  new  thing  under  the  sun  :  for  the  Par- 
sees  of  India  for  ages  buried  their  dead  in  them.  l%  pes  idolatres  adorent  le  feu  comnie 
une  divmite,  considerant  le  bois  comme  sa  viande  ;  d’ou  il  vient  qu’ils  ns  mettent  pas 
tears  marts  dans  les  cercneils  de  bois,  mais  defer."— (C.  Antiquaire,  iii.  846.) 


552 


Ancient  Leaden  Pipes. 


[Book  V 


plumbers  were  as  industrious  as  the  shipwrights  to  decry  the  lead but 
finding  their  opposition  in  a  great  measure  fruitless,  “  some  of  them  now 
began  to  cry  it  up,  and  have  set  up  engines  to  mill  it  themselves.” — 
(Collier’s  Diet.  Art.  England.) 

A  paper  in  the  Phil.  Transactions,  1674,  erroneously  attributes  the  in¬ 
vention  to  Sir  Philip  Howard  and  Major  Watson.  These  gentlemen  were 
associated  with  Hale  in  the  patent,  and  merely  contributed  their  in¬ 
fluence  to  introduce  the  new  manufacture,  especially  to  sheathe  the  pub¬ 
lic  ships.  (Abrid.  i,  596.)  The  large  ship  built  by  Archimedes  was 
sheathed  with  lead. 

Pipes  for  the  conveyance  of  water  have  been  made  of  earthenware, 
stone,  wood  and  leather,  but  more  generally  of  lead  and  copper.  Leaden 
pipes  extend  back  to  the  dawn  of  history.  They  were  more  or  less  com¬ 
mon  in  all  the  celebrated  nations  of  old.  In  the  old  cities  of  Asia,  Egypt, 
Greece,  Syria,  &c.  they  were  employed  to  convey  water  wherever  the 
pressure  was  too  great  to  be  sustained  by  those  of  earthenware.  The 
same  practice  is  still  followed  :  thus  in  Aleppo,  both  leaden  pipes,  and 
those  of  stoneware  are  used,  and  in  all  probability  just  as  they  were  when 
this  city  was  known  to  the  Greeks  as  Bercea,  and  to  the  Jews  in  David’s 
time  as  Zobah.  Archimedes  used  pipes  of  lead,  to  distribute  water 
by  engines  in  the  large  ship  built  for  Hiero  ;  and  the  same  kind  were 
doubtless  employed  in  conveying  water  to  the  different  terraces  of  the 
famous  gardens  of  Babylon.  The  great  elevation  to  which  the  fluid  was 
raised  would  render  earthenware  or  wooden  pipes  entirely  inapplicable. 

We  have  no  information  respecting  the  mode  of  making  leaden  pipes 
previous  to  the  Roman  era  ;  but  as  that  people  adopted  the  arts  and  cus¬ 
toms  of  older  nations,  we  may  be  assured  that  their  tubes,  as  well  as  their 
pumps  and  other  engines,  were  mere  copies  of  those  made  by  the  plumbers 
of  Babylon  and  Athens,  Egypt  and  Tyre.  All  ancient  pipes  yet  dis¬ 
covered  are  said  to  have  been  made  from  sheet  lead  ;  viz  :  strips  of  suffi¬ 
cient  width  folded  into  tubes  and  the  edges  united  by  solder.  We  learn 
from  Vitruvius  that  Roman  plumbers  generally  made  them  in  ten  feet 
lengths,  the  thickness  of  the  metal  being  proportioned  to  their  bore,  accord¬ 
ing  to  a  rule  which  he  gives  in  book  viii,  cap.  7.  of  his  Architecture. 
Large  quantities  of  Roman  leaden  pipes  have  been  found  in  different  parts 
of  Europe,  varying  in  their  bore  from  one  to  twelve  inches.  Some  of 
them  are  very  irregularly  formed,  their  section  being  rather  egg-shaped 
than  circular.  Montfaucon  has  engraved  several  specimens.  On  large  ones 
belonging  to  the  public,  the  name  of  the  consul  under  whom  they  were 
laid  was  cast  upon  them.  Others  that  supplied  the  baths  of  wealthy  indi¬ 
viduals  have  the  owners’  names ;  and  sometimes  the  maker’s  name  was 
cast  on  them.  Of  small  leaden  pipes,  Frontinus  mentions  13,594  of  one 
inch  bore  that  drew  water  from  one  of  the  aqueducts.  Pompeii  was  but 
a  small  provincial  town,  of  which  not  more  than  one-third  has  been  ex¬ 
plored,  and  yet  a  great  many  tons  of  pipes  have  been  found.  The  con¬ 
sumption  of  lead  for  pipes  must  have  been  enormous  in  old  Rome,  not 
only  from  their  great  number,  but  on  account  of  the  large  dimensions  of 
the  principal  ones.  Pliny  might  well  observe,  “  Lead  is  much  used  with 
us  for  sheets  to  make  conduit  pipes.” — (xxxiv,  cap.  17.) 

An  ordinance  of  Justinian  respecting  a  bagnio  erected  at  Constantinople 
by  one  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  empire  is  extant :  “  Our  imperial  will  and 
pleasure  is,  that  the  leaden  pipes  conducting  the  water  to  the  Achillean 
bagnio,  contrived  by  your  wisdom,  and  purchased  by  your  munificence, 
be  under  the  same  regulations  and  management  as  have  been  appointed 
n  the  like  cases  ;  and  that  the  said  pipes  shall  only  supply  such  bagnios 


553 


Chap.  9.]  Cast  deaden  Pipes— First  Articles  of  Cast-Iron  in  England. 

and  nymphaaa  as  you  shall  think  fit,”  See.  Constantinople  has  for  affes 
been  supplied  with  water  through  leaden  pipes.  The  Sou-terazi  or  water 
towers,  are  mere  contrivances  to  facilitate  the  ascent  and  descent  of  the 
fluid  through  pipes. 

Leaden  pipes  have  been  uninterruptedly  employed  in  some  or  other  of 
Luropean  cities  since  the  fall  of  the  empire.  In  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century  water  was  conveyed  by  them  to  supply  Cordorva,  in  Spain,  under 
the  Caliph  Abdulrahman  II.  who  also  caused  that  city  to  be  paved.  This 
is  the  oldest  pavement  on  record  in  modern  cities.  Benjamin  of  Tudela 
who  visited  Damascus  in  the  12th  century,  says,  the  river  Pharpar  (see 
2  Kings,  chap,  v,)  slideth  by  and  watereth  the  gardens ;  “  but  Abana  is 
more  familiar  and  entereth  the  citie,  yea,  by  helpe  of  art  in  conduits  [pipes! 
visiteth  their  private  houses.” — (Purchas’  Pilgrim.)  J 

The  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  island  Arados  ingeniously  obtained  fresh 
water  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  They  sunk  down  over  the  spring  a 
large  bell  of  lead,  to  the  upper  part  of  which  was  attached  a  pipe  of  leather 
that  conveyed  the  fluid  to  the  surface. — (Pliny,  v,  31.) 

Some  of  the  Roman  earthenware  pipes  were  made  to  screw  into  each 
other  Old  leaden  pipes  laid,  A.  D.  1236,  to  supply  London,  are  men¬ 
tioned  at  page  294.  Most  modern  pipes  of  large  bore  are  now  made 
of  cast  iron.  The  largest  sizes  now  laying  to  supply  this  city,  are  nine 
feet  m  length,  three  feet  internal  diameter,  and  weigh  from  3500  to  3800 
pounds. 

The  first  improvement  on  the  ancient  mode  of  making  leaden  pipes  was 
matured  in  England  in  1539.  It  consisted  in  casting  them  complete  in 
short  lengths,  in  molds  placed  in  a  perpendicular  position.  After  a  number 
were  cast,  they  were  united  to  each  other  in  a  separate  mold,  by  pouring 
hot  metal  over  the  ends  until  they  run  together.  The  device  for  “  burn¬ 
ing  ’  or  melting  the  ends  was  exceedingly  ingenious,  and  such  pipes  are 
still  made  to  some  extent  in  Europe.  In  the  30th  year  of  Henry  VIII. 
(observes  Baker  in  his  Chronicles  of  the  Kings  of  England,)  “  the  manner 
of  casting  pipes  of  lead  for  conveyance  of  water  under  ground  without 
using  of  soder,  was  first  invented  by  Robert  Brocke,  clerk,  one  of  the 
king  s  chaplains,  a  profitable  invention  ;  for  by  this,  two  men  and  a  boy 
will  do  more  in  one  day,  then  could  have  been  done  before  by  many  men 
in  many  days.  Robert  Cooper,  goldsmith,  was  the  first  that  made  the 
instruments  and  put  this  invention  in  practice.” — (Edit,  of  1665,  p.  317.) 

Five  years  afterwards,  Ralph  Hage  and  Peter  Bawde  made  the  first 
articles  of  cast  iron  in  England. — (Ibid.) 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  of  France,  a  native  of  St.  Germain,  deviseu 
another  mode  of  casting  pipes  and  burning  them  together.  The  mold  was 
used  in  a  horizontal  position,  and  the  metal  poured  in  at  one  end.  When 
a  pipe  was  cast,  it  was  not  drawn  entirely  out  of  the  mold,  but  one  or  two 
inches  were  left  near  the  spout  where  the  metal  entered,  so  that  when 
another  length  was  cast,  the  hot  metal  running  over  the  end  of  the  pre¬ 
vious  pipe  fused  it,  and  both  became  as  one.  The  tube  was  then  drawn 
nearly  out  and  another  one  cast  and  united  to  it  in  like  manner,  and  so 
on  till  any  required  length  was  attained. — (See  Planche,  vii.  L’Art  du 
Plombier  in  Arts  et  Metieres.) 

Sometimes  pipes  formed  of  sheet  lead  have  their  seams  united  by 
“  burning.”  A  strip  of  pasteboard  is  packed  against  the  inside  of  the 
seam,  and  the  tube  (if  small)  filled  with  sand  ;  the  edges  are  then  melted 
with  a  soldering  iron,  and  the  deficiency  made  up  with  a  bar  of  lead,  in 
the  same  way  as  when  a  bar  of  solder  is  used.  The  old  mode  of  burning 
these  seams  was  by  pouring  hot  lead  upon  them,  and  generally  a  projec- 


554 


Drawn  Pipes — Burr's  Plan — Window  Lead.  [Book  V. 

tion  of  metal  was  left  along  the  seam.  The  ancient  pipes  figured  by 
Montfaucon  have  a  similar  projection. 

The  plan  of  drawing  leaden  pipes  through  dies  like  hollow  wire  was 
first  proposed  by  M.  Dalesme,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Fifench  Academy 
of  Sciences,  in  1705.  It  was  subsequently  brought  forward  by  M.  Fayolle 
in  1728;  but  it  was  not  till  1790  that  such  pipes  were  made.  In  that  year, 
Mr.  Wilkinson,  the  celebrated  English  iron  master,  took  out  a  patent  for 
drawing  them,  since  which  period  they  have  become  general  in  England, 
France,  and  the  U.  States. — (See  Reper.  of  Arts,  1st  series,  vol.  xvi.) 

In  1820,  a  singular  mode  of  making  leaden  pipes  was  patented  in  Eng¬ 
land  by  Mr.  T.  Burr.  A  large  and  very  strong  cast  iron  cylinder,  in  which 
a  metallic  piston  is  made  to  work,  is  secured  in  a  vertical  position.  To 
the  underside  of  the  piston  a  strong  iron  rod  is  fixed,  its  lower  end  being 
cut  into  a  screw  or  formed  into  a  rack  for  the  convenience  of  forcing  the 
piston  up,  either  by  means  of  a  steam  engine  or  any  other  suitable  first 
mover.  To  the  upper  side  of  the  piston  is  secured  a  polished  cylindrical 
rod,  rather  longer  than  the  cylinder,  and  of  the  same  diameter  as  the  bore 
of  the  pipe.  The  cylinder  forms  a  mold  in  which  the  pipe  is  first  cast, 
and  this  rod  is  the  core.  The  bottom  of  the  cylinder  may  be  open ;  but 
the  top  is  strongly  closed,  with  the  exception  of  a  circular  and  polished 
opening  at  the  centre,  of  a  size  equal  to  the  external  diameter  of  the  pipe. 
Suppose  the  piston  now  drawn  down  to  near  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder, 
the  upper  end  of  the  polished  rod  will  stand  a  little  above  the  circular 
opening,  and  an  annular  space  will  be  left  between  them  equal  to  the 
required  thickness  of  the  tube.  The  cylinder  is  then  to  be  filled  with 
fused  lead  through  an  opening  at  the  top,  (which  is  to  be  stopped  up  by 
a  screw-plug  or  any  other  device,)  and  as  soon  as  the  metal  begins  to 
assume  the  solid  state,  the  piston  is  slowly  raised  ;  this  necessarily  forces 
the  lead  through  the  annular  space  in  the  form  of  a  tube,  which  is  then 
wound  on  a  reel  as  fast  as  formed. 

Various  cylinders  are  employed  according  to  the  different  sized  tubes. 
For  half  inch  pipe,  one  18  inches  long,  six  or  seven  inches  internal  diame¬ 
ter,  and  the  sides  three  or  four  inches  thick  would  be  required.  Plates 
with  openings  of  different  sizes  may  be  adapted  to  one  cylinder.  They 
may  be  made  to  slide  in  recesses  cast  in  the  top. 

This  mode  of  forming  leaden  tubes  is  the  same  in  principle  as  that  by 
which  some  of  earthenware  have  been  made  :  the  clay  being  put  into  a 
square  and  close  trunk,  is  forced  by  a  piston  through  an  annular  space, 
adapted  to  the  thickness  and  bore  of  the  tubes  required.  At  first  sight 
the  process  appears  difficult.  It  also  seems  strange  that  solid  lead  can 
thus  be  squeezed  through  an  aperture  into  the  form  of  a  tube  ;  but  it  should 
be  remembered  that  this  metal  is  extremely  soft  when  heated  to  near  the 
fusing  point ;  and  that  the  mode  only  differs  from  that  of  making  clay 
pipes  in  requiring  a  greater  force.  Tubes  made  in  this  way  are  in  general 
more  solid  than  others.  This  arises  from  the  large  body  of  metal  of  which 
they  are  formed  being  poured  while  very  hot  into  the  cylinder,  so  that 
there  is  little  danger  of  flaws  or  fissures.  These  pipes  may  also  be  made 
in  much  greater  lengths  than  by  any  other  plan.  A  manufactory  of  them 
has  recently  been  established  in  Philadelphia. — (See  Repertory  of  Arts, 
for  1820,  vol.  xli,  p.  267.) 

From  the  quantities  of  pipes  used  of  old,  it  appears  singular  that  the 
art  of  drawing  them  was  not  discovered,  especially  as  the  Tire-Plomb  or 
glazier’s  vise  for  drawing  “window  lead”  is  of  ancient  date — a  most  beau¬ 
tiful  machine,  and  one  far  more  ingenious  and  interesting  than  the  draw- 
bench  ;  one  too  by  which  lead  is  worked  at  a  single  operation  into  very 


Chap.  9.] 


Tinned  Leaden  Pipes —  Valves. 


555 

difficult  forms,  and  such  as  require  the  metal  of  different  thickness  in  the 
same  piece.8  (See  L’Art  du  Vitrier,  pi.  v,  Arts  et  Metieres.) 

It  has  long  been  known  that  water  conveyed  through  leaden  pipes  be¬ 
comes  more  or  less  impregnated  with  a  poisonous  solution  of  that  metal  • 
a  fact  of  which  the  ancients  were  fully  aware,  and  which  made  them  very 
scrupulous  in  using  it  for  purposes  of  domestic  economy.  Hippocrates 
and  txalen  denounced  its  employment  both  for  cisterns  to  contain,  and 
tubes  through  which  to  conduct  water.  Ancient  architects  were  of  the  same 
opinion  ;  thus  Vitruvius  observes,  that  water  drawn  from  leaden  tubes  is 
very  pernicious,  and  adds,  “  we  should  not,  therefore,  conduct  water  in 
pmes  of  lead  if  we  would  have  it  wholesome.”  The  Medical  Transactions 
ot  modern  times,  and  works  on  mineral  poisons  abound  with  examples  of 
the  fatal  effects  of  drinking  water  from  reservoirs  and  pipes  of  this  metal. 

Several  modes  have  been  devised  to  render  leaden  pipes  innoxious.  In 
1S04,  an  English  patent  was  obtained  for  coating  their  interior  surfaces 
with  tin.  This  was  effected  in  the  following  manner  : — Suppose  a  work¬ 
man  engaged  in  making  tubes  of  half  an  inch  bore  ;  he  first  pours  lead  into 
an  iron  mold  and  forms  a  pipe  two  feet  long,  an  inch  thick,  and  nearly  an 
inch  in  the  bore  :  as  soon  as  the  lead  poured  in  becomes  solid,  he  with¬ 
draws  the  steel  mandril  which  formed  the  interior  of  the  tube,  throws  in 
a  little  rosin  dust,  and  inserts  a  half  inch  mandril,  between  which  and  the 
inside  of  the  tube  a  certain  space  is  left.  Into  this  space  he  then  pours 
melted  tin,  which  as  it  collects  below,  causes  the  rosin  to  float  on  its  sur¬ 
face,  as  it  rises  to  the  top,  and  lubricates  the  hot  sides  of  the  leaden  tube. 
Hoth  metals  thus  become  united,  and  when  the  tin  becomes  solid  the  man¬ 
dril  is  taken  out ;  and  the  tube,  thus  plated  with  tin,  is  passed  to  the  draw- 
bench,  and  drawn  out  to  the  required  length  like  an  ordinary  leaden  tube. 
Ihere  is  some  difficulty  in  making  the  tin  unite  uniformly  to  the  lead,  and 
when  this  does  not  take  place  the  pipes  are  apt  to  be  broken  in  drawing ; 
for  as  the  two  metals  do  not  stretch  equally,  the  thin  lining  of  tin  is  pulled 
apart ;  and  if  the  lead  does  not  separate  at  the  same  place,  its  surface  is 

exposed,  and  the  strength  of  the  tube  greatly  diminished  at  such  places. _ 

(Repertory  of  Arts,  2d  series,  vol.  v.) 

In  1820  another  English  patent  was  issued  for  a  similar  plan,  the  dif¬ 
ference  consisting  chiefly  in  a  mode  of  better  securing  the  union  of  the  tin 
with  the  lead. — Ibid.  vol.  xxxviii. 

In  1832,  the  author  of  this  volume  took  out  a  patent  for  coating  leaden 
pipes  with  tin,  by  passing  them,  after  being  drawn  and  otherwise  finished, 
through  a  bath  of  the  fluid  metal.  As  there  is  a  difference  in  the  fusing 
points  of  tin  and  lead  of  about  200°  Fahrenheit,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  the 
process.  By  this  plan  tubes  are  effectually  tinned  both  inside  and  out,  and 
any  imperfections  or  fissures  are  soldered  up.  The  operation  is  exceed¬ 
ingly  simple  and  the  expense  trifling.  The  process  is  patented  in  England, 
where  the  tubes  are,  we  believe,  more  extensively  used  than  in  this  coun¬ 
ty* — (See  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  for  November,  1832  and 
May,  1835.) 

Valves  and  Cocks  are  too  essential  to  hydraulic  engines  to  be  omitted 
in  this  work.  The  principle  of  the  valve  has  always  been  in  use  for  a 
variety  of  purposes.  Doors  are  valves,  and  were  so  named  by  the  ancients. 
Those  of  the  private  apartments  of  Juno  were  contrived  by  Vulcan  to  close 
of  themselves.  Thus  Homer  sings  : 


In  one  of  the  apartments  of  a  villa  at  Pompeii,  there  was  a  large  glazed  bow-win 
dow.  I  he  glass  was  thick,  tinged  with  green,  and  11  set  in  lead  like  a  modern  casement.” 
—(See  Encyc.  Antiq.  pp.  57,  398.) 


556 


Clocks —  Tubular  Valves — 'Nuremburg  Engineers.  [Book  V. 


Touched  with  the  secret  key,  the  doors  unfold  ; 

Self-closed  behind  her  shut  the  valves  of  gold.8  Iliad,  xiv. 

It  is  probable  that  all  valves  were  originally  in  the  form  of  doors  ;  that 
is,  mere  flaps  or  clacks  moving  on  a  hinge,  and  either  laying  horizontally 
like  a  trap-door,  inclined  like  some  of  our  cellar  doors,  opening  vertically 
as  an  ordinary  door,  or  suspended  by  hinges  from  the  upper  edge  ;  and 
sometimes  they  consisted  of  two  leaves  like  folding  doors.  Examples  of 
all  these  are  still  common.  Isis  was  represented  by  the  ancient  Egyptians 
with  “  the  key  of  the  sluices  of  the  Nile”  in  her  hand  ;  the  instrument  by 
which  the  doors  or  valves,  like  the  locks  in  our  canals  were  opened  and 
closed. 

The  most  ancient  musical  wind  instruments  known  in  the  Eastern  world 
are  provided  with  valves,  as  the  primitive  bag-pipes,  and  the  Chinese 
variation  of  this  instrument,  which  Toreen  describes  as  consisting  of  “  a 
hemisphere  to  which  thirteen  or  fourteen  pipes  are  applied,  and  catching 
the  air  blown  into  it  by  valves.”  The  pastoral  flute  of  Pan,  from  its 
expressing  thirty-two  parts,  he  supposes  to  have  been  of  a  similar  con¬ 
struction.  (Osbeck’s  Voyage,  ii,  248.)  Valves  were  of  course  employed 
in  the  organs  of  Jubal,  as  well  as  in  the  bellows  belonging  to  his  celebrated 
brother  and  other  antediluvian  blacksmiths.  The  ninth  problem  of  the 
Spiritalia  relates  to  valves.  Conical  metallic  valves  were  used  by  Ctesi- 
bius  in  the  construction  of  clepsydras.  In  most  of  the  old  representations 
of  pumps,  flaps  of  leather,  loaded  and  stiffened  with  pieces  of  wood  or 
lead  are  figured.  Agricola  has  given  figures  of  no  other.  These  clacks, 
as  they  are  named,  are  in  most  cases  preferable  to  the  most  perfect  spheri¬ 
cal  or  conical  valves  of  metal :  the  smallest  particle  of  sand  adhering  to  these 
makes  them  leak  ;  besides  which,  they  are  liable  to  stick.  We  have  known 
them  replaced  with  common  clacks.  Amontons,  in  experimenting  with 
a  forcing  pump,  found  the  valves,  which  were  of  highly  polished  metal 
and  well  fitted,  adhere  so  strongly  to  their  seats,  that  he  had  to  substitute 
leather  clacks  for  them. 

The  spindle  valve,  or  such  as  have  a  long  shank  to  prevent  their  rising 
too  high,  and  guiding  them  when  descending,  is  said  to  be  of  French 
origin. 

We  have  sometimes  used  a  simple  valve  on  the  lower  box  of  a  pump. 

It  consisted  of  a  short  pipe  of  thin  and  very  soft  leather  secured  to  the 
upper  side  of  the  box.  When  the  sucker  was  raised,  the  water  rushed 
through  this  pipe,  and  when  the  stroke  ceased,  it  was  instantly  collapsed 
by  the  pressure  of  the  fluid  above  it,  and  then  fell  down  on  one  side  of 
the  box. 

Cocks  are  a  species  of  valve,  but  not  self-acting  like  the  latter.  In 
pumps  and  bellows  the  momentum  of  the  entering  fluids  opens  the  valves, 

*  Doors  opened  and  closed  by  secret  machinery  were  formerly  much  in  vogue.  Heron 
made  those  of  a  temple  thus  to  act.  Vitruvius  speaks  of  doors  that  closed  by  themselves, 
(and  when  opened,  rose  sufficiently  high  to  clear  the  carpet.)  In  the  old  cities  of  Eu¬ 
rope,  the  gates  were  moved  by  concealed  mechanism  to  prevent  a  surprise.  Those  at 
Augsburg  were  famous.  A  single  person  only  could  enter  at  a  time,  and  he  was  inclosed 
between  two  gales  till  the  object  of  his  visit  was  ascertained.  As  soon  as  he  approached 
the  first  one,  it  opened  of  itself,  he  entered,  “  and  it  closed  upon  his  heels.”  On  reach¬ 
ing  the  second  it  acted  in  like  manner.  During  these  operations,  the  visitor  saw  no 
person,  although  he  was  exposed  to  the  scrutiny  of  officers  within.  The  magistrates  of 
Nuremburg,  desiring  to  have  a  gate  of  the  same  kind  for  the  security  of  their  city,  sent 
some  engineers  to  take  a  model ;  but  after  several  examinations,  they  returned  home 
and  reported  “  that  without  pulling  down  the  walls,  and  all  the  masonry,  it  was  not  in  | 
the  power  of  Beelzebub  himself  to  find  out  how  it  was  contrived,  or  to  make  one  like  it 
in  a  thousand  years.” — (Blainville’s  Travels,  i,  250.) 


557 


Chap.  9.]  Bronze  Cocks  of  great  Antiquity . 

while  their  own  weight  serves  to  close  them  ;  but  in  ordinary  cocks,  the 
plugs  must  be  turned  by  some  external  force.  Cocks  of  wood,  brass,  and 
other  metals,  and  made  on  the  principle  of  those  now  in  use  are  extremely 
ancient.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  ancient  modifications  both  of  valve 
and  plug  cocks  were  quite  as  numerous  as  modern  ones.  It  is  certain 
that  the  Greeks,  Romans  (and  most  probably  the  Babylonians  and  Egyp¬ 
tians  also)  had  far  richer  specimens  of  these  instruments,  both  as  regards 
the  material  and  workmanship  than  any  thing  of  the  kind  in  modern  days. 

Horus  Apollo,  or  Horapollo,  an  Egyptian  of  the  fourth  century,  wrote 
a  work  “  Concerning  the  Hieroglyphics  of  the  Egyptians,”  and  he  informs 
us  that  the  priests  gave  the  form  of  a  lion  to  “the  mouths  and  stops  [cocks] 
of  consecrated  fountains,”  because  the  inundation  of  the  Nile  occurred 
when  the  sun  was  in  Leo. — (Encyc.  Anti,  i,  185,  note.) 

The  contents  of  those  enormous  metallic  vases  mentioned  in  both  sacred 
and  profane  history,  were  undoubtedly  discharged  through  cocks,  although 
these  are  not  always  indicated  :  as  the  laver  of  brass  made  by  Bezaleel 
out  of  the  mirrors  of  the  Israelitish  women  :  the  brazen  sea  also,  which 
was  cast  by  a  Tyrian  brass-founder  for  Solomon.  This  unrivaled  vase 
was,  according  to  Josephus,  of  an  hemispherical  form.  It  was  sixteen 
feet  in  diameter  and  between  eight  and  nine  in  depth  ;  “  an  hand-breadth” 
in  thickness,  and  contained  about  15,000  gallons.  The  brim  was  wrought 
like  the  brim  of  a  cup,  with  flowers  of  lilies  ;  “  and  under  the  brim  of  it 
round  about,  there  were  knops  cast  in  two  rows  when  it  was  cast.”  It 
was  supported  on  a  pedestal  which  rested  on  twelve  brazen  statues  of 
oxen,  from  whose  mouth  the  liquid  is  supposed  to  have  been  drawn. 
This  splendid  vessel  was  removed  from  off  the  statues  by  Ahaz — “  he 
took  down  the  sea  from  off  the  brazen  oxen  that  were  under  it,  and  put  it 
upon  a  pavement  of  stones.”  It  was  subsequently  carried  to  Babylon  by 
Neb  u  ch  ad  ne  zzar. 

When  Sylla  pillaged  the  temple  of  Delphi,  he  found  a  vase  of  silver  so 
large  and  heavy  that  no  ordinary  carriage  could  support  it.  He  therefore 
had  it  cut  up.  (Plutarch  in  Sylla.)  Herodotus,  i,  51,  in  enumerating  the 
gifts  of  Croesus  to  the  same  temple,  mentions  a  cistern  of  gold,  and  one 
of  silver  of  immense  dimensions,  (perhaps  the  same  taken  by  Sylla,)  also 
silver  casks  and  basins — that  these  had  cocks  is  certain,  for  he  observes 
that  a  statue  of  a  boy  was  attached  to  one  of  them,  and  the  water  was 
discharged  through  one  of  his  hands.  This  shows  how  variegated  were  the 
figures  and  orifices  of  ancient  cocks.  The  Japanese  indulge  a  similar  taste, 
and  have  doubtless  inherited  it  from  their  remote  progenitors.  Some 
of  their  bronze  idols  are  made  to  serve  as  fountains ,  and  the  water  issues 
from  the  fingers  of  some,  while  others  hold  a  vase  from  which  it  flows,  as 
in  the  Greek  and  Roman  designs  of  Oceanus  and  Neptune.  The  Dutch 
on  first  visiting  the  Japanese  found  the  baths  of  these  people  supplied 
with  cold  and  warm  water  by  means  of  pipes  “  and  copper  cocks.” — 
(Montanus’  Japan,  translated  by  Ogilby,  pp.  94,  279,  449,  and  Thunberg’s 
Travels,  iii,  102.) 

Bronze  or  brass  cocks  were  as  common  in  old  Rome  and  probably  other 
ancient  cities,  as  they  are  in  any  modern  one.  The  immense  number  of 
pipes  that  conveyed  water  to  the  houses,  baths,  fountains,  &c.  must  have 
kept  a  great  number  of  founders  constantly  at  work  in  making  and  re¬ 
pairing  them.  We  learn  from  Vitruvius  that  every  main  pipe  that  passed 
through  the  streets,  had  a  large  cock,  by  which  the  water  was  let  in  or 
,  .excluded,  and  that  these  cocks  were  turned  as  similar  ones  now  are,  with 
an  iron  key.  Several  specimens  of  ancient  cocks  are  extant.  Among 
these,  a  very  large  one  discovered  in  the  ruins  of  a  temple  built  by 


558 


Ancient  Bronze  Cocks — Silver  Pipes  and  Cocks.  [Book  V. 
Tiberius  at  Capri,  and  preserved  in  the  Museum  at  Naples,  is  not  the 


least  interesting.  No.  273  is  a 


No.  273.  Ancient  bronze  cock. 


figure  of  it.  The  plug  has  become  by 
time  immoveable,  and  having  been  shut 
when  last  used,  the  water  within  it  is 
still  confined.  This  is  made  evident, 
for  when  two  men  raise  the  cock,  the 
splashing  sound  of  thb  fluid  is  distinctly 
heard. 

This  cock  was  found  attached  to  a 
reservoir,  but  in  what  manner  it  was  con¬ 
nected  we  know  not — by  solder]  screws? 
— particulars  that  cannot  be  determined 
by  the  sketch.  Had  we  an  opportunity 
of  examining  it  we  would  endeavor  to 
ascertain  its  weight,  dimensions,  &c. — whether  the  substance  of  the  plug  and 
chamber  are  the  same,  and  if  the  former  is  secured  in  the  latter  by  slightly 
riveting  its  lower  edge,  as  in  our  small  cocks,  or  by  a  washer  and  screw 
as  in  large  ones. 

The  mode  of  forming  the  handle ,  or  that  part  by  which  the  plug  is 
turned,  in  a  separate  piece  from  the  latter,  is  decidedly  superior  to  the 
common  practice  of  casting  both  in  one  piece.  It  is  a  common  occurrence 
to  throw  aside  a  cock  and  replace  it  with  a  new  one,  simply  because  this 
part  has  been  broken  from  the  plug,  and  can  only  be  remedied  by  replacing 
the  latter  with  it.  Now  this  would  never  occur  if  cocks  were  made  like 
this  ancient  one,  for  the  part  alluded  to  might  be  renewed  with  the  same 
facility  as  the  key  of  a  door  or  the  handle  of  a  hammer.  The  mode  of 
attaching  this  part  to  the  plug  by  sliding  it  between  two  dove-tailed  grooves, 
is  ingenious,  simple,  and  very  effective. 

In  a  great  portion  of  modern  cocks  the  area  of  the  opening  through  the 
plug  seldom  exceeds  one  half  of  that  through  the  chamber ;  but  in  the 
above  one,  the  chamber  is  sufficiently  large  to  allow  a  uniform  passage¬ 
way  throughout. 

The  modern  name  of  these  instruments  is  supposed  to  have  arisen  from 
their  having  been  made  in  the  form  of  the  male  of  the  domestic  fowl ; 
hence  weather-cock,  the  cock  of  a  gun,  &c. 

The  luxury  of  the  Romans  under  the  empire  led  them  to  monstrous 
excesses,  particularly  with  regard  to  baths ;  the  water  to  supply  which 
was  often  conveyed  through  pipes  of  pure  silver,  and  of  course  through 
cocks  of  the  same.  Seneca,  in  a  letter  to  Lucilius,  describing  the  humble 
villa  of  the  great  Scipio,  deplores  this  degeneracy  of  his  countrymen.  “  I 
write  to  you  [he  says]  from  the  villa  of  Scipio  Africanus,  where  I  at  present 
am,  and  have  worshipped  his  manes  and  hi3  altars  ...  I  surveyed  this  villa, 
which  is  built  with  square  stone  and  surrounded  with  a  wall.  I  viewed 
the  grooves  and  towers  planted  and  erected  on  each  side  :  a  capacious 
cistern  and  basin  for  water  is  below  the  house  and  gardens,  large  enough 
to  supply  a  whole  army ;  next  a  small  bath,  and  that  something  dusky. 
It  was  a  sensible  pleasure  to  compare  the  manners  of  Scipio  with  ours. 
In  this  little  hole,  this  corner,  did  that  terror  of  Carthage,  to  whom  alone 
Rome  owed  her  not  being  taken  a  second  time,  wash  and  refresh  himself, 
after  being  tired  with  his  country  toils  ;  for  he  used  the  country  exercises 
and  ploughed  his  ground  himself,  as  the  ancients  were  wont  to  do.  Be¬ 
neath  this  humble  roof  he  stood,  and  this  plain  unartful  floor  supported 
him.  Who  now,  in  our  days,  would  endure  so  mean  a  bath  1  Every  man 
now  thinks  himself  poor  if  the  walls  of  his  bath  shine  not  with  large  orbs 
of  precious  stones— unless  the  Alexandrian  marble  be  embossed,  crusted 


Roman  Baths — Ancient  Roman  Coclc. 


559 


Chap.  9.] 

over  and  varied  with  Numidian  borderings — unless  they  are  covered  with 
Mosaic — if  the  vaulted  roof  be  not  of  glass — unless  the  Thusian  stone, 
formerly  so  rare  and  only  to  be  found  in  some  particular  temple  or  public 
building,  line  the  cistern,  into  which  he  descends  after  sweating,  without 
soul  or  life,  if  the  water  pours  not  on  him  from  silver  conduits.  I  speak 
now  only  of  the  pipes  and  baths  of  the  vulgar  ;  but  what  shall  I  say  when 
I  come  to  those  of  the  freed-men  1  How  many  statues  !  How  many  rows 
of  pillars  supporting  no  weight,  but  placed  there  merely  for  the  sake  of 

No.  274  is  another  ancient  cock 
from  the  third  volume  of  Montfau- 
con’s  Antiquities.  It  will  serve  as 
a  specimen  of  the  richness  and  va¬ 
riety  of  ornament  with  which  these 
instruments  were  sometimes  deco¬ 
rated.  The  figure  standing  on  the 
head  of  a  dolphin,  and  which  form¬ 
ed  the  handle  by  which  the  cock 
was  opened  and  closed,  is  supposed 
to  have  represented  the  Genius  of 
the  garden,  in  which  the  fountain 
was  placed.  Another  highly  orna¬ 
mented  cock,  or  rather  part  of  one, 
is  also  engraved  in  the  same  work; 
but  as  it  appears  to  be  merely  that 
part  by  which  the  plug  was  turned, 
it  is  omitted.  There  are  several 
bronze  jet  pipes  for  fountains  ex¬ 
tant,  and  in  great  variety  of  shapes. 
They  were  sometimes  plated  with 
gold,  as  appears  from  traces  of  it 
left  on  some  of  them. 

Much  additional  information  re- 
_  specting  the  use  of  cocks  among  the 

Romans  has  been  obtained  from  the  ruins  of  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii. 
Several  have  been  found  in  the  houses  and  baths.  Some  were  attached  to 
pipes,  fountains,  and  to  boilers  on  large  moveable  tripods,  or  braziers,  and 
also  to  urns  or  vases,  similar  to  our  tea  and  coffee  urns.  Most  of  them 
are  ornamented  with  lions’  heads,  &c.  In  one  brazier,  the  cock  is  quite 
plain,  and  resembles  those  which  are  known  to  plumbers  as  stop-cocks. 
In  some  of  the  braziers,  the  grate  bars  are  hollow,  that  the  water  might 
circulate  through  them,  and  the  cocks  are  inserted  just  above  the  bottom 
of  the  boilers,  that  a  little  water  might  always  be  retained  to  prevent  the 
fire  from  destroying  them. 

In  the  baths  of  Claudius  the  water  ran  through  pipes  of  silver.  At  La- 
nuvium,  in  the  ruins  of  a  villa  of  Antoninus  Pius,  a  silver  cock  was  found 
which  served  for  a  fountain.  It  weighed  thirty-five  Roman  pounds,  and 
was  inscribed  “  Faustinas  Nostrm.” — (Encyc.  Antiq.  vol.  i,  456.)  I  was 
shown,  says  Breval,  in  his  “  Remarks  on  Europe,”  several  curious  frag¬ 
ments  that  had  been  dug  out  of  the  gardens  of  Mgecenas.  Among  these, 
were  some  huge  leaden  pipes  that  conveyed  the  water  from  the  Claudian 
aqueducts  into  a  subterraneous  bathing-room.  The  magnificence  of  the 
place  must  have  been  suitable,  no  doubt,  to  the  immense  wealth  and  deli¬ 
cacy  of  a  Roman  of  his  rank ;  especially,  if  what  I  was  assured  was  the 


cajjciioc  an  a  ornament  i  occ.  occ. 


No.  274.  Ancient  Roman  cock. 


560 


Silver  Pipes — Peruvian  Baths — Sliding  Cocks.  [Book  V. 

fact,  that  some  lesser  tubes  discovered  among  the  same  rubbish  were  of 
solid  silver.  * 

Nothing,  says  Blainville,  could  equal  in  richness  the  apartments  of  Ca- 
racalla’s  baths.  Columns,  statues,  rarest  marbles  and  jaspers,  and  pictures 
of  an  immense  value  were  lavished  on  every  one  of  them.  The  very  pipes, 
both  large  and  small,  which  conveyed  water  into  the  bathing  apartments, 
were  all  of  th a  finest  silver.  This  particular  is  recorded  by  several  [ancient] 
authors,  and  among  others  by  Statius. 

Otho,  in  a  feast  given  to  Nero,  almost  deluged  his  guests  with  a  most 
precious  liquid  perfume,  which,  “  by  opening  certain  cocks”  gushed  out 
of  silver  and  golden  tubes  that  were  placed  in  different  parts  of  the  room. 

As  water  was  conveyed  by  pipes  into  the  houses  and  temples  of  ancient 
Mexican  and  Peruvian  cities,  it  might  thence  be  concluded,  in  the  absence 
of  direct  testimony,  that  cocks,  at  least  wooden  spigots,  were  in  use  also  ; 
but  there  is  evidence  of  the  fact.  We  are  informed,  that  in  a  palace  of 
Atabalipa,  there  was  a  bath  or  “  golden  cisterne,  whereto  were  by  two 


pipes  from  contrary  passages,  brought  both  cold  water  and  hot,  to  use 
them  mingled  or  asunder  at  pleasure.”  (Purchas’  Pilgrim,  1073.)  Now 
that  these  pipes  were  furnished  with  cocks,  is  expressly  asserted  by  Gar- 
cilasso,  in  a  passage  we  have  already  quoted.  (See  page  170.)  Cisterns 
and  pipes,  both  of  silver  and  gold  were  used  in  the  temple  at  Cusco. 

“  Golden  pipes”  are  mentioned  by  the  prophet  Zechariah,  iv,  2  and  12. 

We  gave  a  figure  of  a  siphon  cock  at  Nos.  265-6,  and  shall  here  describe 
a  sliding  one,  contrived  and  used  by  us  several  years  ago.  A,  No.  275  re¬ 


presents  a  short  brass  or  copper  tube,  with  a  stuffing-box  fitted  to  its  upper 
end  :  the  lower  end  is  soldered  to  a  pipe  proceeding  from  a  reservoir, 
or  from  a  main  in  the  street.  B  a  smooth  and  smaller  tube,  having  its 
lower  end  closed,  works  through  the  stuffing-box  :  to  its  upper  end, 
which  is  also  closed,  a  knob  or  handle  is  fixed,  and  just  below,  there  is  a 
spout  for  discharging  the  water.  At  the  middle  of  B,  a  number  of  holes 
are  drilled  through  its  sides,  or  they  may  be  in  the  form  of  slits.  Now 
while  these  openings  are  kept  above  the  stuffing-box  (as  shown  in  the 
cut)  no  water  can  be  discharged  ;  but  as  soon  as  B  is  pushed  down,  so  as 
to  bring  them  below  the  stuffing-box,  the  fluid  rushes  through  them  and 
escapes  at  the  spout.  To  stop  the  discharge  B  is  then  raised,  as  in  the 
figure.  There  should  be  one  or  two  small  projecting  pieces  near  the  lower 
end  of  B  to  prevent  its  being  pulled  entirely  out  of  A.  The  pressure  of 
the  water  tends  to  keep  B  from  sliding  down,  when  the  instrument  is  not 
in  use,  even  if  the  friction  of  the  stuffing-box  were  not  sufficient.  The 
external  edges  of  the  slits  should  be  smooth  to  prevent  them  from  catch¬ 
ing  hold  of  the  packing  while  passing  through  it.  Of  this,  there  is  however 
but  little  danger  in  small  cocks,  and  in  those  of  larger  size,  that  part  of  B 
through  which  they  are  made  might  be  slightly  contracted. 

No.  276  represents  one  of  these  cocks  attached  to  a  cistern,  with  the 
openings  within  the  stuffing-box,  and  consequently  the  fluid  escaping. 
The  length  of  the  slits  should  always  be  less  than  the  depth  of  the  packing. 

No.  277  exhibits  a  stop-cock,  or  one  whose  ends  are  straight  and  alike, 
(such  as  plumbers  solder  in  the  middle  of  pipes.)  A  straight  tube  C  D 
is  closed  by  a  partition  or  disk  in  the  middle  of  its  length  :  as  the  water 
which  flows  from  the  reservoir  always  remains  in  the  end  C,  the  object  is 
to  open  a  communication  for  it  to  pass  into  D.  To  accomplish  this,  slits 
or  other  shaped  openings  are  made  through  the  pipe  on  both  sides  of  the 
disk,  and  a  shorter  but  wider  tube  E,  with  a  stuffing-box  at  each  end  is 
fitted  to  slide  over  C  D.  Thus,  to  allow  water  to  pass  into  D,  all  that  is 
required  is  to  move  E  (by  the  two  projecting  handles)  till  both  series  of 


Chap.  9.] 


Sliding  Cocks— Water-Closets. 


561 

openings  are  inclosed  by  it ;  while  to  stop  the  flowthrough  D  E  must 
be  moved  back  towards  C  as  in  the  figure.  The  upper  figure  in  the  cut 
is  another  form  of  the  same  thing.  The  sliding  tube  H  is  the  smallest 
and  has  one  end  closed  like  Nos.  275  and  276,  while  F  and  G  are  seoa’ 

remarks063'  ^  aCtUm  ^  ^  Sufficient1^  obvi™s  from  the  preceding 


Large  cocks  on  this  principle  may  be  made  for  half  the  cost  of  ordinary 
ones,  while  the  expense  of  keeping  them  in  order  is  too  trifling  to  tie 
noticed— occasionally  to  renew  the  packing  is  all  that  could  be  required. 

Water-  Closets  have  been  greatly  improved  by  modern  artists,  but  they 
are  an  ancient  and  probably  Asiatic  device.  The  summer  chamber  of 
Eglon,  king  of  Moab,  (Judges,  iii,  20-25)  is  supposed  to  have  been  one. 
1  hey  were  introduced  into  Rome  during  the  republic,  and  are  noticed  by 
several  ancient  writers.  Those  constructed  in  the  palace  of  the  Csesars 
were  adorned  -with  marbles,  arabesque  and  mosaics.  At  the  back  of  one 
stdl  extant,  there  is  a  cistern,  the  water  of  which  is  distributed  by  cocks 
to  different  seats.  The  pipe  and  basin  of  another  has  been  discovered 
near  the  theatre  at  Pompeii,  where  it  still  remains.  Heliogabalus  con¬ 
cealed  himself  in  one,  and  whence  he  was  dragged  by  hie  soldiers  and 
slain.  * 

Water-closets  seem  to  have  been  always  used  in  the  East,  and  for  rea¬ 
sons  which  Tavernier  and  other  oriental  travelers  have  assigned.  Numbers 
are  erected  near  the  mosques  and  temples.  A  similar  custom  prevailed  in 
old  Rome,  Constantinople,  Smyrna,  and  probably  all  ancient  cities.  In 
the  city  of  Fez,  “  round  about  the  mosques,  are  150  common  houses  of 
ease,  each  furnished  with  a  cock  and  marble  cistern,  which  scoureth  and 
keepeth  all  neat  and  clean,  as  if  these  places  were  intended  for  some 
sweeter  employment.”_(Ogilby's  Africa,  1670,  p.  88.)  In  his  “  Relation 
ot  the  Seraglio,  f avermer  describes  a  gallery,  in  which  were  several 
water-closets.  “Every  seat  [he  observes]  has  a  little  cock.”  He  mentions 
others,  m  which  the  openings  were  covered  by  a  plate,  which  by  means 

ot  a  spring  “  turned  one  way  or  the  other  at  the  falling  of  the  least  weight 
upon  it.”  °  6 

Sm  John  Harrington  is  said  to  have  introduced  water-closets  into  Eng¬ 
land  m  Elizabeth’s  reign,  and  some  writers  have  erroneously  ascribed 
their  lnvention  to  him.  They  are  described  in  the  great  French  work  on 
Arts  and  Manufactures,  by  M.  Roubo,  who  says,  they  were  long  used  in 


562 


[Book  V. 


Traps  for  Drains ,  6{C. 

France  before  being  known  in  England.  Those  which  he  has  figured  are 
however  on  the  ancient  plan,  without  traps,  and  such  are  still  to  be  found 
in  oriental  cities.  They  are  not  to  be  compared  with  the  modern  ones. 
(See  L’Art  du  Menuisier,  folio  edit.  1770,  PI.  69  ;  Gell’s  Pompeiana;  A 
Dissertation  on  Places  of  Retirement,  Lond.  1751 ;  Fryer’s  Travels  in 
India  and  Persia,  Lond.  1698.) 

Devices  for  preventing  the  ascent  of  offensive  vapors  from  sinks,  sewers, 
drains,  &c.  are  named  traps.  As  these  are  simple  in  construction,  and 
applicable  under  all  circumstances,  and  yet  are  little  known,  we  have 
inserted  a  sketch  of  a  few  of  the  most  common.  They  are  all  modifica¬ 
tions  of  the  same  principle. 


No.  278.  No.  279.  No.  280.  No.  281. 


A  A  represent  a  floor  or  covering  of  a  sink  or  sewer,  and  the  object  is 
to  discharge  refuse  water  or  slops  of  any  kind  into  the  latter  without 
allowing  currents  of  air  to  rise  through  the  passage.  No.  278  is  a  leaden 
pipe  bent  at  one  part  into  the  form  of  a  letter  S,  which  part  constitutes 
the  trap.  One  extremity  enters  the  sink,  and  to  the  other,  which  is  turned 
up  perpendicularly,  the  basin  of  a  water-closet,  or  a  common  funnel  is 
attached.  The  flexures  of  the  tube  must  be  such,  that  whatever  liquid  is 
thrown  down  the  basin,  a  portion  will  always  remain  in  the  bent  part 
below  so  as  to  seal  the  passage  completely ,  as  shown  in  the  cut.  The  basin 
and  trap  may  be  placed  in  a  room  at  any  distance  above  the  sink  or  sewer, 
provided  both  are  connected  by  an  air-tight  tube. 

No.  279  is  named  a  D  trap,  from  its  resemblance  to  that  letter.  It  is 
of  the  kind  generally  used  in  water-closets,  for  which  purpose  it  is  always 
made  of  lead,  and  about  twelve  inches  long,  five  wide,  and  ten  or  eleven 
deep.  The  pipe  that  enters  the  sink  is  soldered  to  one  end  and  near  the 
top.  The  other  one  to  which  the  basin  is  attached  descends  six  or  seven 
inches  through  the  top  at  the  opposite  extremity  of  the  trap.  By  this 
arrangement  water  is  retained  within  to 'a  level  with  the  lower  edge  of  the 
pipe  that  enters  the  sink,  while  the  perpendicular  pipe  dips  between  one 
and  two  inches  below  the  surface.  Hence  although  impure  air  in  the  sink 
can  readily  ascend  into  the  trap,  it  cannot  enter  the  tube  on  which  the 
basin  is  placed  ;  for  to  do  so,  it  would  have  to  descend  through  two  inches 
of  the  water  to  reach  the  orifice  of  the  tube  ;  and  then  to  ascend  through 
an  equal  column  within  the  latter  before  it  could  rise  into  the  basin. 

No.  280  is  a  form  of  trap  used  over  the  openings  of  street  sewers,  for 
which  purpose  they  are  commonly  constructed  of  stone  or  brick  and  lined 
with  cement.  The  figure  is  that  of  a  square  box  open  at  top.  A  pipe  is 
inserted  through  the  bottom  at  one  side  to  connect  it  with  the  sewer.  This 
pipe  stands  about  half  way  up  the  inside  of  the  box,  and  above  it  there  is 
a  bent  rectangular  partition  attached  at  three  of  its  sides  to  the  box,  while 
the  fourth  side  extends  into  the  middle  and  dips  two  inches  below  the 


Chap.  9.] 


Bell  Traps — Water- Lute. 


563 

orifice  of  the  pipe,  and  consequently  that  depth  in  water,  thus  cutting  off 
all  external  communication  with  the  air  in  the  sewer.  A  loose  erate  fits 
into  a  recess  on  the  edge  of  the  box,  and  is  occasionally  removed  to  take 
out  the  dirt  that  passes  the  grate.  Small  traps  of  the  kind,  and  made  of 
cast  iron,  are  sometimes  used  in  the  drains  of  private  houses. 

281  1S.  named  a  bell  trap  from  its  figure.  Such  are  generally  of 

“,meTn?  a,"d  r  T.S,tly  used  in  kitohens'  over  the  channel;  or 
bes  through  which  refuse  fluids  are  discharged  into  sinks  or  drains.  The 

end  of  the  pipe  projects  two  or  three  inches  into  the  trap,  consequently  a 
quantity  of  water  must  always  remain  within  at  the  same  elevation  Over 
the  pipe  a  bell  or  inverted  cup  dips  about  half  an  inch  into  the  water,  and 
is  of  such  a  size  as  to  leave  sufficient  room  for  the  fluid  to  descend  between 
it  and  the  sides  of  the  trap,  and  also  to  pass  under  its  edge  and  rise  into 
the  pipe,  and  so  escape  into  the  drain.  The  cup  or  bell  is  connected  to  a 
brass  grate  that  drops  into  a  recess  cast  round  the  inner  edge  of  the  trap 
Ihe  origin  of  traps  is,  we  believe,  unknown.  The  principle  is  precisely 
the  same  as  in  the  water-lute  of  old  chemists.  Glauber  used  connivances 
identical  with  Nos.  278  and  281,  instead  of  cocks  to  close  retorts,  &c.  In¬ 
stead  of  water  he  sometimes  used  mercury,  when  the  contents  were  of  a 
corrosive  nature. 


END  OF  THE  FIFTH  BOOK. 


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APPENDIX. 


John  Bate  Phocion — Well  worship — Wells  with  stairs — Tourne-broche— Raising  water  by  a  screw— 
Perpetual  motions— Chain  pumps  in  ships— Sprinkling  pots— Old  frictionless  pump— Water  power— 
Vulcan’s  trip-hammers— Eolipiles—  Blow-pipe— Philosophical  bellows— Charging  eolipiles— Eolipilic 
idols  referred  to  in  the  Bible— Palladium— Laban’s  images— Expansive  force  of  steam— Steam  and  air— 
Wind-mills — Imprisoning  chairs. 


Some  facts  and  observations  having  occurred  to  us  during  the  progress 
of  this  work  which  could  not  be  inserted  in  their  proper  places,  a  few  are 
added  by  way  of  appendix.  While  engaged  on  the  last  chapter,  a  large 
collection  of  old  books  was  imported  into  this  city  from  Europe,  in  which 
we  fortunately  found  a  perfect  copy  of  “  Nature  and  Art,”  mentioned 
at  pp.  321,  421.  From  the  title,  which  is  annexed,  it  will  be  seen  that 
our  conjectures  respecting  its  author  and  date  of  publication  were  correct. 
“  The  Mysteries  of  Nature  and  Art  in  foure  severall  parts.  The  first  of 
water-works  :  the  second  of  fire-works  :  the  third  of  drawing,  washing, 
limning,  painting  and  engraving  :  the  fourth  of  sundry  experiments.  The 
second  edition,  with  many  additions  unto  every  part.  By  John  Bate 
Lond.  1635.” 

At  page  19,  we  quoted  an  example  of  frugality  in  Dentatus  cooking  his 
simple  food  while  he  swayed  the  destinies  of  Rome.  There  is  a  parallel 
case  in  one  of  the  most  virtuous  of  the  Greeks,  viz.  Phocion.  Alexander 
esteemed  him,  but  could  never  induce  him  to  accept  of  gifts,  although  he 
was  always  poor.  At  one  time  the  Macedonian  warrior  sent  him  out  of 
Asia  a  hundred  talents  as  a  mark  of  his  regard ;  but  when  the  envoys 
arrived  with  the  treasure  at  Athens,  Phocion  was  inflexible — he  would 
not  touch  it.  They  then  followed  him  to  his  house,  and  were  astonished 
beyond  measure  to  find  the  wife  of  this  truly  great  man  making  bread,  and 
himself  drawing  water. 

Worship  of  Wells,  pp.  33-37.  “  The  worship  of  this  well  of  St.  Edward 
was  particularly  forbid  by  Oliver  Sutton,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  the  time 
of  Edward  I.  This  well  worship  is  strictly  forbidden  in  King  Edgar’s 
canons,  and  K.  Cnute’s  laws,  as  ’twas  in  a  council  at  London  under 
Archbishop  Anselm,  in  the  year  1102 ;  and  some  of  our  best  criticks 
observe  that  what  is  translated  w’ZZ-worship  in  Colossians,  ii,  23,  should 
be  we^-worship.” — Hearne’s  Preface  to  Robert  of  Gloucester’s  Chronicle.) 

Wells  with  Stairs,  p.  53.  An  extraordinary  well  of  this  kind  was  built 
by  Pope  Clement  VII.  in  1528. — (See  Lond.  Mechanics’  Mag.  vol.  ii,  208.) 

Tourne-broche,  p.  75.  In  the  33d  year  of  Henry  VI.  A.  D.  1454,  an 
ordinance  was  established  for  reducing  tlje  expenses  of  the  king’s  house¬ 
hold.  Instead  of  a  larger  number,  only  “  vj  children  of  ye  kechyn  tourne- 
broches”  were  appointed,  i.  e.  to  turn  the  spits. — (Proceedings  and  Ordi¬ 
nances  of  the  Privy  Council  of  England,  edited  by  Nichols,  vol.  vi,  229.) 


*66 


APPENDIX. 


Raising  Water  through  a  Screw,  p.  140.  Some  persons  deceived  by 
the  apparent  facility  of  working  a  water  screw,  especially  when  its  jour¬ 
nals  are  delicately  fitted  to  their  bearings  and  they  turn  with  little  friction, 
imagine  that  it  not  only  elevates  the  liquid  with  a  less  expense  of  force 
than  any  other  machine,  but  with  less  than  is  due  to  the  quantity  raised  ; 
hence  it  has  often  been  adopted  in  projects  for  the  perpetual  motion.  When 
arranged  so  as  to  be  turned  by  an  overshot  wheel,  it  constitutes  one  half  of 
the  first  attempts  at  a  solution  of  that  impossible  problem,  under  the  im¬ 
pression  that  it  would  raise  and  discharge  upon  the  wheel  all  the  water 
expended  in  moving  it !  The  inclined  position  of  a  water-screw  is  sup¬ 
posed  to  contribute  to  this  imaginary  result,  for,  say  these  reasoners,  the 
water  then  arrives  at  the  top  by  naturally  flowing  along  each  convolution, 
while  the  force  consumed  is  little  if  any  more  than  would  be  required  to 
turn  the  tube  if  empty  ! — the  fluid  being  thus  raised  in  a  different  manner 
and  with  much  less  force,  than  when  lifted  directly  and  perpendicularly 
by  the  piston  of  an  atmospheric  pump,  or  driven  up  by  that  of  a  forcing 
one ! 

In  these  projects,  the  action  of  the  wheel  depends  of  course  as  much 
upon  the  screw,  as  that  of  the  latter  does  upon  the  wheel ;  in  other  words, 
each  is  designed  to  turn  the  other  :  but  the  very  idea  of  two  machines 
reciprocally  moving  each  other  at  the  same  time  is  palpably  absurd.  The 
two  forces  will  either  be  equal  or  unequal.  If  they  are  alike  both  would 
be  in  equilibrio,  and  the  machines  would  remain  at  rest ;  and  if  at  any 
time  one  force  exceeded  the  other,  the  same  result  would  necessarily  take 
place,  for  the  smaller  could  not  then  overcome  the  greater.  If  the  wheel 
could  transmit  its  entire  force  to  the  screw,  (undiminished  by  resistance 
from  the  air,  the  friction  of  its  bearings  and  that  of  the  intermediate  me¬ 
chanism,)  it  would  still  be  impossible  for  the  latter  to  return  it,  because  to 
do  so  a  greater  force  than  that  derived  from  the  wheel  would  be  required  ; 
a  machine  cannot  be  moved  and  at  the  same  time  move  its  mover. 
When  moved,  its  force  is  less  than  that  by  which  it  is  moved ;  and  if  it 
becomes  the  mover,  its  force  must  exceed  that  of  the  machine  to  which  it 
imparts  motion. 

The  effect  of  any  machinery  composed  of  levers,  cranks,  wheels,  &c. 
and  moved  by  water,  animals,  or  men,  can  never  exceed  the  power  that 
moves  it,  for  there  is  nothing  in  wood,  iron  and  brass,  or  in  any  combina¬ 
tion  of  them,  by  which  they  can  create  force,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
give  out  more  than  is  impaired  to  them.  As  well  might  we  expect  to  see 
a  carriage  returning  of  itself  from  a  long  journey,  and  laden  with  the  horses 
that  drew  it  from  home. 

Wilkins  has  given  a  chapter  in  his  Mathematical  Magic  on  “  composing 
a  perpetual  motion  by  fluid  weights.”  His  prominent  plan  was  raising 
water  by  a  screw,  and  discharging  it  on  float  boards  attached  to  the  screw 
itself.  He  quotes  older  authors  who  indulged  the  same  whim.  Visions 
of  great  mechanical  discoveries  often  burst  upon  the  ingenious  prelate,  as 
well  as  on  lay  inventors  :  in  such  seasons  he  was  in  ecstacies.  When  he 
first  thought  of  obtaining  power  by  means  of  a  water-screw,  he  says,  “  I 
could  scarce  forbear  with  Archimedes  to  cry  out,  Eureka  !  Eureka  !  it 
seeming  so  infallible  a  way  for  the  effecting  of  a  perpetual  motion,  that 
nothing  could  be  so  much  as  probably  objected  against  it :  but  upon  trial 
and  experience  I  find  it  altogether  insufficient  for  any  such  purpose.” 

In  the  Gentleman’s  Magazine  for  1747,  p.  459,  there  is  a  description 
and  figure  of  a  similar  device — either  water  or  balls  were  to  be  raised 
through  a  screw  and  dropped  upon  an  overshot  wheel.  It  was  devised 
by  a  Col.  Kranach,  of  Hamburgh,  who,  in  a  pamphlet,  declared  he  h?u 


APPENDIX. 


567 

spent  thirty  years  in  perfecting  it.  He  proposed  it  as  a  substitute  for  wind 
and  water-mills,  and  particularly  for  raising  water  and  ore  from  mines 
In  the  same  work  for  1751,  p.  448,  there  is  “  a  self-moving  wheel  ”  And 
at  p  391,  “  a  self-moving  machine the  latter  by  a  Polish  Jesuit it  con¬ 
sisted  of  a  wheel,  ropes,  pulleys,  a  pump,  weights,  &c.  and  of  course,  like 
Kranach  s,  could  no  more  move  of  itself  than  a  lamp-post,  nor  increase 
any  force  imparted  to  it  than  could  a  collection  of  paving  stones. 

If  a  perpetual  motion  could  be  obtained  by  a  water-wheel  and  screw 
as  above,  then  it  would  follow  that  a  bricklayer’s  laborer  could  convey  a 
hod  of  mortar  or  a  bucket  of  water  to  the  top  of  a  building  with  a  much 
less  expenditure  of  force  by  traveling  along  a  circular  stair-way,  than  bv 
ascending  directly  up  a  ladder,  and  whether  he  carried  the  load  on  his 
shoulder  or  dragged  it  after  him  by  a  cord.  But  the  fact  is,  a  100  lb  of 
water  cannot  by  any  contrivance  whatever  be  conveyed  to  the  top  of  a 
building  with  a  force  less  than  would  be  required  to  pull  up  the  same 
weight  of  stone  or  mortar  in  a  bucket :  it  can  no  more  be  wheedled  out 
of  its  gravity  by  passing  it  up  an  inclined  plane  than  a  vertical  one- 
through  a  helical  tube  than  through  a  straight  one. 

^Ps’  P-  154,  J°hn  Bate,  describing  a  chain-pump  in 
1633,  says,  a  short  brass  chamber  smoothly  bored  was  inserted  in  the 
lower  end  The  pistons  were  fitted  to  this,  and  the  rest  of  the  pipe  was 
of  larger  bore.  _  The  chain  was  of  iron  and  carried  round  by  a  sprocket 
wheel.  Each  piston  consisted  of  a  disk  of  horn  between  two  of  leather 
Such  a  pump,  he  observes,  “  goeth  very  strongly,  and  therefore  had  need 
be  made  with  wheels  and  wrought  by  horses,  for  so  the  water  is  brought 
up  at  Broken  Wharfe  in  London.”  He  names  the  chain-pump  “  an  engin 
whereby  you  may  draw  water  out  of  a  deep  well,  or  mount  any  river 

water .  Also  it  is  used  in  great  ships,  which  I  have  seen  ” _ fMVa- 

teries  of  Nature  and  Art.)  ’  V 

Atmospheric  Sprinkling  Pots ,  p.  194.  When  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans 
and  Milan,  brother  of  Charles  VII.  was  murdered,  (A.  D.  1407,)  his 
widow,  as  a  symbol  of  her  distress  and  an  indication  that  the  rest  of  her 
life  would  be  Spent  in  tears,  adopted  the  chantepleure  or  garden  pot  as  an 
heraldic  device  ;  and  which,  with  the  motto,  plus  ne  m’est  Hens,  she  had 
engraved  upon  almost  every  thing  in  her  house.  No.  2S2  is  a ’figure  of 
the  instrument.  (Devises  Heroiques,  par  M.  C.  Paradin,  A  Lyonfl557.) 

/  No.  283  is  another  old  form 

of  the  atmospheric  sprinkler, 
from  a  Latin  Collection  of  Em¬ 
blems  of  the  early  part  of  the 
17th  century.  The  motto  on 
a  flying  scroll  was  Modo  Spi- 
ritus  Adsit.  Air  was  admitted 
through  a  small  opening  near 
the  top,  which  was  closed  with 
the  point  of  the  finger. 

The  sixth  and  seventh  pro- 
v  klems  of  Heron’s  Spiritalia  re¬ 
late  to  these  instruments.  The 
two  figures  there  given  are  hol¬ 
low  spheres ;  a  small  circle 


No.  282. 


.lift! 

No.  283. 


j  .i  i  i  •  .  vv  oMucrco  .  d.  srxid.ii  circle 

round  the  bottom  being  perforated,  and  a  minute  orifice  near  a  ring  or 

handle  on  the  top.  In  one  there  is  a  partition,  so  that  two  different  liquids 
could  be  contained  within  ;  and  wine,  or  hot  and  cold  water,  discharged 
as  one  or  the  other  of  the  orifices  at  the  top  was  uncovered. 


568 


APPENDIX. 


Fire-Engines  and  Bellows  Pumps,  pp.  241,  321.  No.  284  is  a  bellows 
or  frictionless  pump,  from  the  first  edition  of  Bate’s  Mysteries  of  Nature 
and  Art.  It  is  identical  with  the  fire  engine  referred  to  in  our  third  book, 
except  being  placed  within  an  open  frame  instead  of  a  cistern  fixed  upon 
wheels.  For  its  description,  see  pp.  321-2.  (The  leathern  bag  which 
connected  the  two  brass  vessels  is  not  figured  by  the  old  artist.) 


v 


No.  284.  Old  frictionless  or  bellows  pump,  A.  D.  1633. 


Water-  Wheels,  p.  282.  There  are  indications  in  the  Iliad  that  Vulcan 
used  water  power,  and  that  it  was  by  the  dextrous  concealment  of  it  and 
the  mechanism  by  which  it  was  transmitted  that  enabled  him  to  excite  in 
so  high  a  degree  the  astonishment  of  his  contemporaries,  and  to  give  rise 
to  those  wonderful  stories  of  his  skill  that  are  even  yet  extant.  When 
engaged  at  the  anvil  Homer  represents  him,  like  a  modern  smith,  with  a 
single  pair  of  bellows.  Thus  Thetis  found  him  “  sweating  at  his  bellows 
huge  but  in  other  scenes,  he  is  exhibited  rather  as  manager  of  extensive 
forges  for  the  reduction  of  metals ;  the  fires  being  urged  by  a  large  num¬ 
ber  of  bellows  moved  either  by  water  or  some  other  inorganic  force.  Like 
a  superintendent  of  modern  iron  or  copper  works,  ordering  the  bellows 
to  be  thrown  into  geer,  and  the  blasts  increased  or  diminished  as  circum¬ 
stances  require  :  so  Vulcan  “  turning  to  the  fires,  he  bade  the  bellows 
heave then 

Full  twenty  bellows  working  all  at  once, 

Breathed  on  the  furnace,  blowing  easy  and  free. 

Of  Vulcan’s  numerous  works  none  were  more  celebrated  by  the  ancients 
than  the  two  androids  which  assisted  him  at  the  anvil.  They  were  obvi¬ 
ously  nothing  more  than  ingenious  devices  for  concealing  the  mechanism 
by  which  motion  was  communicated  to  the  sledges  they  held  in  their 
hands  : — in  other  words,  mere  trip  hammers,  and  worked  most  likely  by  a 


APPENDIX. 


569 


distant  water-wheel.  The  rods  or  levers  which  communicated  the  motion 
were  probably  concealed  under  the  floor,  and  terminated  at  the  feet  of  the 
figures,  while  Vulcan  could  easily  throw  them  in  and  out  of  geer  unper¬ 
ceived.  It  can  readily  be  imagined  what  the  effect  of  two  well  executed 
working  images  of  this  kind  must  have  been  in  early  times. 

Eolipiles  for  Fusing  Metals,  p.  397.  The  surprising  effects  produced  in 
modern  days  by  steam  and  those  more  important  ones  which  it  is  destined 
hereafter  to  accomplish,  will  always  render  examples  of  its  early  employ¬ 
ment  in  the  arts  interesting.  The  use  of  eolipiles  as  bellows,  like  that  of 
atmospheric  sprinklers  for  watering  pots,  has  long  been  discontinued,  and 
both  have  almost  passed  into  oblivion.  We  shall  therefore  offer  no  apology 
for  inserting  the  following  additional  illustrations  of  the  use  of  the  former  in 
bygone  times.  No.  285  is  a  steam  blow-pipe  from  the  2d  edit,  of  John 
Bate’s  work.  His  description  forms  an  admirable  comment  on  Wilkins’s 
observation,  (p.  396,)  that  eolipiles  were  used  in  melting  glass  and  metals. 
This  remark  of  the  bishop  has  been  quoted  by  several  writers,  but  not 
one  has,  to  our  knowledge,  endeavored  to  show  how  steam  was  thus 
applied,  although  every  mechanic  on  perusing  Wilkins’s  book  would,  like 
ourselves,  feel  anxious  for  information  on  the  subject. 


The  first  figure  consists  of  a  lamp  and  a  copper  ball  or  eolipile,  placed 
on  and  heated  by  a  furnace  or  brazier.  The  apparatus  is  named  “  a  device 
to  bend  glasse  canes,  [tubes,]  or  to  make  any  small  work  in  glasse.”  “  Let 
there  be  a  vessel  of  copper  about  the  bignesse  of  a  common  foot-ball :  let 
it  have  a  long  pipe  at  the  top,  which  must  be  made  so  that  you  may  upon 
occasion  screw  on  lesser  or  bigger  vents  made  for  the  purpose.  Fill  this 
one  third  part  with  water,  and  set  it  over  a  furnace  of  coals,  as  B ;  and 
when  the  water  beginneth  to  heat,  there  will  come  a  strong  breath  out  of 
the  nose  of  the  vessel  that  will  force  the  flame  of  a  lamp  placed  at  a  con¬ 
venient  distance,  as  A ;  if  you  hold  your  glasse  in  the  extension  of  the 
flame,  it  will  melt  suddenly ;  so  you  may  work  what  you  will  thereof.” 
Bate  observes,  that  some  persons  instead  of  this  apparatus  used  a  pipe 
(the  common  mouth  pipe)  fastened  on  a  bench  between  a  crotched  stick, 
as  figured  at  C.  He  himself  occasionally  employed  this,  but  considered 
it  not  so  convenient  as  the  eolipile. — (Mysteries  of  Nature  and  Art,  Lond. 
1635.) 

In  1650,  Dr.  John  French  published  “  The  Art  of  Distillation,  or  a 
Treatise  on  the  Choisest  Spagyrical  Preparations  ....  with  descriptions 
of  the  chiefest  furnaces  and  vessels  used  by  ancient  and  modern  chemists.” 

72 


570 


APPENDIX. 


Of  old  devices  three  eolipiles  are  figured  :  one  is  precisely  the  same  as 
above  described  by  Bate.  French  observes,  that  it  “  blows  a  candle  to 
make  the  flame  thereof  strong  for  the  melting  of  glasses  and  nipping  them 
up.”  No.  286  is  another  for  fusing  metals.  A  large  eolipile  is  perma¬ 
nently  connected  to  a  furnace,  the  blast  being  conveyed  through  a  brick 
wall.  The  following  is  all  that  he  says  respecting  it :  D  “  signifies  that 
which  blows  a  fire  for  the  melting  of  any  metall  or  such  like  operation, 
and  it  blows  most  forcibly  with  a  terrible  noise.”  The  water  was  intro¬ 
duced  through  an  opening  at  the  top.  E  is  a  portable  eolipile  to  be  held 
in  the  hand,  and  the  blast  applied  to  fixed  objects.  It  appears  from 
French,  and  also  from  Ercker’s  work  on  Metallurgy,  that  eolipiles  when 
used  for  blowing  fires  and  fusing  metals,  were  formerly  known  as  The 
Philosophical  Bellows,  a  circumstance  that  renders  their  disappearance 
from  modern  writings  still  more  singular. 

Since  the  insertion  of  illustration  No.  185,  we  have  met  with  an  Eng¬ 
lish  translation  of  Ercker’s  work,  by  Sir  John  Pettus,  “  of  the  Society  of 
the  Mines  Royal,”  under  Charles  II.  but  who  appears  to  have  derived 
little  wealth  from  mining  speculations,  since  he  rendered  Ercker’s  book 
into  English  while  confined  in  prison  for  debt.  The  translation  is  illus¬ 
trated  with  fine  copperplate  engravings,  and  a  dictionary  of  technical  terms 
is  subjoined.  Under  the  word  bellows,  Pettus  mentions  the  “  philosophical 
bellows  the  common  smith’s  bellows,  and  very  large  ones  that  were 
worked  by  water-wheels,  and  which,  he  observes,  were  made  “  in  imita¬ 
tion  of  the  nature  of  a  cow  beast,  which  in  drawing  in  and  forcing  out  her 
breath,  is  said  to  bellow1'1 — a  quaint  definition  of  bellows,  but  one  which, 
we  believe,  gives  the  true  etymology  of  the  word.  Of  the  antiquity  of 
“  philosophical  bellows”  there  can  be  little  doubt.  They  were  probably 
used  by  the  fancy  glass-blowers  of  Egypt,  Greece  and  Rome,  as  well  as 
by  other  artists  in  the  reduction  of  metals.  The  transition  from  blowing 
ordinary  fires  with  eolipiles  to  such  operations  was  obvious  and  easy. 
There  is  a  passage  in  the  book  of  Joshua  which  seems  to  refer  to  the  early 
use  of  them.  In  one  of  the  contests  of  that  warrior  with  tbe  Canaanites,  it 
is  said  he  chased  them  to  “  Mizrephoth-maim” — a  word  signifying  “  burn¬ 
ings  of  waters ,”  and  “ furnaces  where  metals  are  melted .”  A  place  that 
probably  derived  its  name  from  extensive  forges  that  were  urged  by  blasts 
from  eolipiles. 

Chargmg  Eolipiles  by  Atmospheric  Pressure,  pp.  395,  407.  Dr.  French 
observes,  “  You  must  heat  them  very  hot,  then  put  the  noses  thereof 
(which  must  have  a  very  small  hole  in  them,  no  bigger  than  a  pin’s  head 
may  go  in)  into  a  vessel  of  cold  water,  and  they  will  presently  suck  in  the 
water.”  Roman  eolipiles  were  charged  in  the  same  way,  as  is  clear  from 
their  description  by  Vitruvius,  for  they  had  but  one  opening,  through  which, 
he  says,  they  were  filled  with  water,  and  out  of  which  the  blast  issued. 

Eolipilic  Fire-Blowers  and  Idols,  pp.  398-400.  In  addition  to  those 
passages  of  Scripture  which  we  have  supposed  alluded  to  eolipiles,  a  few 
others  may  be  named.  The  sacred  writers,  it  is  well  known,  often  con¬ 
trast  the  power  and  other  attributes  of  God  with  the  impotency  of  idols  : 
to  adapt  their  instructions  to  idolaters,  they  represent  the  Almighty  as 
excited  with  anger,  wrath,  fury,  &c.  apparently  in  reference  to  such 
passions  being  exhibited  (as  we  know  they  were)  by  idols,  and  particu¬ 
larly  eolipilic  idols.  Why  should  God  be  represented  as  blasting  or 
consuming  men  with  streams  of  fire  from  his  mouth ,  and  with  smoke  from 
his  nostrils  ?  kindling  coals  by  his  breath  l  Why  is  his  anger  said  to  smoke, 
to  burn,  to  wax  hot,  &c.  if  it  be  not  in  reference  to  such  idols  as  Pus- 
terich,  or  those  images  described  by  Carpini  1  “  By  the  blast  of  God,”  savs 


APPENDIX. 


571 


Job,  “  the  wicked  perish,  and  by  the  breath  of  his  nostrils  are  they  con¬ 
sumed, ”  i.  e.  as  fuel  on  the  hearth  is  consumed  by  the  blast  of  an  eolipile 
The  Psalmist,  describing  God,  says,  “there  went  up  a  smoke  out  of  his 
nostrils,  and  fire  out  of  his  mouth  ;  coals  were  kindled  by  it.”  “  Behold 
[says  Isaiah]  the  name  of  the  Lord  cometh  from  far  burning  with  his 
anger,  [or  the  grievousness  of  flame  as  the  margin  has  it,]  his  bps  are  full 
of  indignation,  and  his  tongue  as  a  devouring  fire ;  and  his  breath  as  an 
overflowing  stream  shall  reach  to  the  midst  of  the  neck.”  Again,  “  To- 
phet  is  ordained  of  old,  yea  for  the  king  it  is  prepared  :  he  hath  made  it 
deep  and  large  :  the  pile  thereof  is  fire  and  much  wood,  the  breath  of  the 
Lord  like  a  stream  of  brimstone  doth  kindle  it.” 

.  appears  to  us  that  here  and  in  similar  passages  are  allusions  to  eoli- 
piles  of  the  human  form,  and  to  such  images  as  Pusterich,  from  whose 
eyes,  mouths  and  nostrils  issued  streams  of  flame,  smoke,  steam,  &c. 
Perhaps  it  will  be  said  the  expressions  are  figurative  :  true  they  are  so  ; 
but  then  there  is  in  them  an  allusion  to  the  things  from  which  the  figures 
are  derived.  When  God  is  said  to  melt  his  people,  to  refine ,  to  take  away 
the  dross  from  them,  every  one  perceives  the  allusions  to  metallurgical 
operations,  because  such  operations  are  known  to  all ;  and  equally  clear 
would  the  passages  quoted  above  appear  had  eolipilic  blowers  and  idols 
continued  in  use  to  our  times.  We  should  then  have  perceived  that  such 
expressions  as  the  sword  ofi  his  mouth ,  swords  ofi  fire,  fiaming  swords,  &c. 
were  neither  of  figurative  origin  nor  application  only  ;  for  from  the  variety 
of  eolipilic  images,  there  is  little  doubt  that  inflammable  fluids  were  made 
to  issue  from  different  parts  of  them,  and  in  various  shapes — from  their 
mouths  as  tongues  of  fire,  and  from  the  hands  as  fiaming  swords,  &c.  We 
know  that  ancient  priests  were  exceedingly  expert  in  working  prodigies 
by  inflammable  fluids,  of  which  numerous  examples  might  be  quoted. 
When  Octavius  was  in  Thrace,  he  consulted  the  oracle  of  Bacchus,  and 
the  ministers  of  the  temple  finding  it  their  interest  to  gratify  him,  con¬ 
trived  that  when  the  wine  was  poured  on  the  altar,  a  body  of  flame  should 
burst  out  and  ascend  above  the  roof  of  the  temple;  a  portent,  observes  Sue¬ 
tonius,  “  that  had  never  happened  to  any  but  Alexander  the  Great,  when 
he  was  sacrificing  at  the  same  altar.”  They  could,  of  course,  as  easily  have 
made  the  flame  dart  from  the  mouth  and  eyes  of  an  idol  as  from  the  altar, 
if  their  views  had  so  required  it. 

But  if  it  should  be  contended  that  the  passages  quoted,  rather  gave  rise 
to  idols  like  Pusterich,  i.  e.  were  hints  which  heathen  priests  worked 
from  in  order  to  produce  or  imitate  the  same  effects,  it  will  not  affect  the 
inference  we  wish  to  draw  from  them,  viz.  the  antiquity  of  steam  and  vapor 
images.  In  connection  with  this  subject,  it  may  be  observed,  that  the 
famous  Palladium  of  Troy  was  probably  an  eolipilic  idol,  in  which  inflam¬ 
mable  fluids  were  used ;  for  on  certain  occasions  flashes  of  fire  darted 
from  its  eyes,  as  from  the  mouth  and  forehead  of  Pusterich. 

If  biblical  critics  would  pardon  our  temerity,  we  would  also  suggest 
that  the  Lares  or  images  which  Rachel  stole  from  her  father’s  dwelling 
were,  like  the  small  Saxon  idol,  (p.  398,)  and  those  referred  to  in  Isaiah, 
(p.  400)  eolipilic  fire  blowers.  They  have  exceedingly  perplexed  com¬ 
mentators,  who  after  suggesting  numerous  explanations,  generally  conclude 
by  observing  that  their  nature  and  uses  are  unknown;  but  had  these 
writers  called  to  mind  the  ancient  employment  on  the  domestic  hearth 
of  brazen  eolipiles  of  the  human  form,  they  would  have  perceived  that  the 
name  of  Laban’s  images  gave  an  indication  of  what  they  were.  In  all 
ancient  languages  proper  names  were  invariably  expressive  of  some  pro¬ 
minent  feature,  attribute,  or  design  of  the  objects  named  :  so  of  these 


572 


APPENDIX. 


images — they  were  named  “  teraphim ,”  a  word  signifying  “blowers”  from 
tcraph,  “  to  blow.”  So  also  the  eolipilic  idol  Pusterich  was  named  from 
pusten,  “  to  blow.”  (See  p.  399.)  Eolipiles,  like  the  Lares,  were  located 
on  the  hearth,  and  as  they  were  avowedly  made  and  named  after  a  god, 
(Eolus,)  and  were  designed  to  imitate  him  in  producing  blasts  of  wind, 
(Varro  makes  the  lares  gods  of  the  air,)  it  was  natural  enough  to  adopt 
them  as  household  deities.  Rachel  was  evidently  an  intelligent  and  very 
shrewd  woman ;  and  as  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  she  was  an  idolater 
after  having  lived  twenty  years  in  the  same  house  with  Jacob,  (if  indeed 
she  ever  was,)  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  she  coveted  the  images  as  idols, 
but  only  as  domestic  utensils  of  real  utility — utensils  which  she  had  long 
been  in  the  habit  of  using,  and  such  as  were  highly  desirable  in  setting  up 
housekeeping  for  herself. 

Expansive  Force  of  Steam,  p.  409.  The  Stoics,  says  Plutarch,  attri¬ 
buted  earthquakes  to  aqueous  vapor  generated  within  the  earth  by  subter¬ 
ranean  heat.  (Opin.  Philos.)  No  stronger  proof  that  the  ancients  were 
familiar  with  the  force  of  steam  could  be  desired  :  the  idea  could  never 
have  occurred  except  to  men  practically  acquainted  with  the  irresistible 
energy  of  this  fluid  when  confined.  If  by  no  other  means,  we  may  be 
sure  they  had  frequent  proofs  of  this  energy  in  the  rupture  of  eolipiles 
when  their  vents  were  closed.  The  hypothesis  of  Plato  respecting  the 
conversion  of  water  into  air  and  fire,  (mentioned  below,)  shows  him  to 
have  been  a  close  experimenter  on  steam  at  different  temperatures.  The 
old  theory  of  boiling  springs  being  forced  from  the  interior  by  steam,  im¬ 
plies  also  an  acquaintance  with  devices  for  raising  water  by  it. 

Identity  of  Steam  and  Air,  pp.  395-400,  418-421.  This  erroneous 
opinion  doubtless  dates  back  to  the  early  ages,  during  which  it  led  to  the 
invention  of  eolipiles,  and  to  the  first  mechanical  application  of  aqueous 
vapor,  viz.  to  blow  fires,  instead  of  wind  from  bellows.  It  is  singular, 
however,  that  such  an  opinion  should  have  been  maintained  at  so  late  a 
period  as  the  close  of  the  17th  century — that  modern  as  well  as  an¬ 
cient  philosophers  should  have  taught  that  water  rarefied  by  heat  was 
converted  into  air,  and  that  air  condensed  by  cold  was  returned  into 
water.  Besides  the  examples  already  given,  we  add  a  few  more.  Of  the 
elements  into  which  philosophers  formerly  resolved  all  things  material, 
viz  :  earth ,  water,  air  and  fire,  Plato  suspected  the  last  three  were  but 
modifications  of  one  ;  at  any  rate,  he  supposed  they  were  convertible  into 
each  other — that  water  attenuated  by  heat  was  dilated  into  air,  (steam,) 
and  that  this  by  a  higher  temperature  became  an  invisible  and  glowing 
fluid  or  fire.  (Plutarch,  Opin.  Philos.)  Plutarch  himself,  in  his  Treatise 
on  Cold,  observes,  “  aire  when  it  doth  gather  and  thicken  is  converted  into 
water,  but  when  it  is  more  subtile  it  resolveth  into  fire  ;  as  also  in  the 
like  case,  water  by  rarefaction  is  resolved  into  aire.”  Pliny,  in  speaking 
of  winds  says,  “  aire  is  gathered  into  a  waterie  liquor.”  The  sweating 
of  walls,  breathing  on  glass,  moisture  on  the  outside  of  a  tumbler  of  water, 
&c.  were  considered  proofs  that  cold  condensed  air  into  water.  Lord 
Bacon,  in  his  Sylva,  Expers.  27  and  76,  speaks  of  “  the  means  of  turning 
aire  into  water,”  and  Exp.  91,  relates  to  “  the  version  of  water  into  aire.” 
Norton,  (a  contemporary  of  Bacon,)  in  his  “  Rehearsal  of  Alchemy,”  versi¬ 
fies  the  old  doctrine  thus  : — 

But  ayre  condens’d  is  turn’d  to  raine, 

And  water  rarefied  comes  ayre  again. 

Wind-Mills,  p.  418.  These  were  known  in  England  in  the  13th 
century.  At  the  battle  of  Lewes,  A.  D.  1264,  “  there  was  many  a  modre 


APPENDIX. 


573 


sonne  broght  to  grounde  and  the  kynge  of  Almayne  was  taken  in  a  wynde 
mylle.” — (Hearne’s  Glossary  to  Peter  Langtoft’s  Chronicle.) 

Intelligence  of  Animals  exemplified  in  Raising  Water,  p.  74.  Plutarch 
in  his  comparison  of  land  and  water  animals,  says,  oxen  were  employed 
in  raising  water  for  the  king  of  Persia’s  gardens  at  Susa,  “  by  a  device  of 
wheels  which  they  turned  about  in  manner  of  a  windlass.”  Each  ox  was 
required  to  raise  one  hundred  buckets  daily,  and  as  soon  as  that  number 
was  completed,  no  efforts  of  the  attendants  could  induce  him  to  add  another. 
Attempts  were  made  to  deceive  the  animals  but  without  effect,  so  accu¬ 
rately  “  did  they  keep  the  reckoning.” 

Imprisoning  Chairs,  p.  429.  Such  devices  are  very  ancient.  The  first 
proof  of  Vulcan’s  mechanical  ingenuity  is  said  to  have  been  a  throne  or 
chair  of  gold,  with  secret  springs.  This  he  presented  to  his  mother,  and 
no  sooner  was  Juno  seated  in  it  than  she  felt  herself  pinioned  and  un¬ 
able  to  move.  The  gods  interfered,  and  endeavored  to  release  her,  but 
without  effect ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  artist  had  sufficiently  punished  her 
for  her  want  of  affection  towards  him  that  he  consented  to  let  her  go. 

Nabis,  the  tyrant  of  Lacedemon,  had  a  device  for  extorting  money  from 
the  wealthy.  It  was  a  statue  of  a  female  clothed  in  rich  apparel.  When 
any  one  refused  to  part  with  his  wealth,  the  tyrant  introduced  him  to  the 
image,  which  by  means  of  springs,  seized  him  in  its  arms,  and  put  him  to 
the  most  excruciating  torments,  by  forcing  numerous  bearded  points  into 
his  body. 

Rotary  Rumps,  Eolipiles,  Steam-Guns,  &c.  In  “  Mathematical  Recrea¬ 
tions,  or  a  collection  of  sundrie  excellent  problems,  out  of  ancient  and 
modern  philosophers  ;  written  first  in  Greek  and  Latin,  lately  compil’d  in 
French  by  H.  Van  Etten,  and  now  in  English,  Lon.  1674,”  is  a  rotary 
pump  similar  to  the  one  we  have  figured  at  p.  285  :  it  is  named  “  a  most 
soveraign  engine  to  cast  water  high  and  far  off  to  quench  fires.”  A  goose¬ 
neck  like  those  now  used  is  also  figured — also  an  atmospheric  garden  pot 
— magic  cups — three-way  cocks — ear  trumpets,  and  eolipiles.  Of  the  last, 
the  author  says,  “  some  make  them  like  a  ball,  some  like  a  head  painted, 
representing  the  wind — some  put  within  an  eolipile  a  crooked  tube  of 
many  foldings  to  the  end  that  the  wind  impetuously  rolling  to  and  fro 
within,  may  imitate  the  voice  of  thunder — some  apply  near  to  the  hole 
small  windmills,  or  such  like,  which  easily  turn  by  reason  of- the  vapors.” 
One  problem  relates  to  the  “  charging  of  a  cannon  without  powder.” 
This  was  done,  1st,  by  air  as  in  the  air-gun  ;  and  2d,  by  steam,  the  latter 
fluid  to  be  generated  from  water  confined  in  the  breech. 

Olaus  Magnus  mentions  eolipilic  war  machines,  apparently  similar  to 
those  described  by  Carpini,  (see  page  400.)  They  are  distinguished  from 
every  species  of  guns  :  he  calls  them  “  brazen  horses  that  spit  fire  :  they 
were  placed  upon  turning  wheels,  and  carried  about  with  versatile  engines 
into  the  thickest  body  of  the  enemy  :  they  prevailed  so  far  to  dissolve  the 
enemy’s  forces,  that  there  seemed  more  hopes  of  victory  in  them  than  in 
the  souldiers.” — (History  of  the  Goths,  book  ix,  chap.  3,  Eng.  Trans. 
Lond.  1658.) 


SUPPLEMENT- 


ON 

ORACULAR  AND  FIGHTING  EOLIPILES 


In  consequence  of  a  suggestion  that  a  little  additional  matter  on  Eoli- 
pilic  automata  would  add  interest  to  this  volume,  a  few  specimens  accom¬ 
panied  with  cursory  observations  are  subjoined.  The  figures  themselves 
constitute,  perhaps,  a  better  exposition  than  any  thing  which  can  now  be 
written  on  the  devices  which  they  represent — devices  once  wielded  with 
terrible  effects  by  both  sacerdotal  and  military  engineers. 

Like  extinct  natural  monsters,  oracular  and  warring  Eolipiles  have 
disappeared  from  the  earth  and  left  scarcely  any  authentic  vestiges  be¬ 
hind.  They  belonged  to  certain  states  or  conditions  of  society  which 
they  could  not  survive.  Indigenous  to  ages  of  darkness,  they  flourished 
only  in  the  absence  of  light.  Receding,  as  civilization  advanced,  it  may 
be  said  of  them,  as  of  spectres,  they  flutter  at  dawn  and  vanish  as  soon 
as  the  sun  (of  science)  has  risen.  But  they  are  not  the  less  interesting 
subjects  of  research  because  of  the  evils  they  inflicted  pn  our  species, 
any  more  than  are  geological  remains  of  mammoth  beings  which  preyed 
on  inferior  tribes.  Antique  Eolipiles  are  in  some  respects  the  richest  of 
artificial,  as  fossil  bones  are  of  natural,  relics.  Both  are  unique  memo¬ 
rials  of  past  times — vivid  remembrancers  of  strange  beings  and  dark 
deeds.  The  former  afford  proofs  of  stupendous  animals  reigning  as  mo- 
narchs  over  the  woods  and  waters  of  the  old  world;  and  the  latter  re¬ 
mind  us  of  moral  monsters,  preying  with  surprising  facility  upon  all 
classes  of  men. 

Pictorial  representations  of  idolatrous  and  fighting  eolipiles  are  ex¬ 
ceedingly  rare  ;  and  these,  few  as  we  find  them,  if  not  transferred  to  mo¬ 
dern  pages  will  soon  be  irrecoverably  lost.  Those  which  follow,  though 
deplorably  imperfect  and  obscure,  will  be  acceptable  to  most  readers,  if 
not  to  all.  Examples  of  the  employment  of  elastic  and  inflammable 
fluids  under  singular  circumstances,  they  can  hardly  fail  to  elicit  the 
attention  of  inquirers  into  the  origin  and  history  of  motive  mechanism. 
They  may  afford  hints  on  old  and  lost  arts.  Nor  do  they  lack  interest  to 
general,  or  even  learned  readers  ;  for,  besides  illustrating  ancient  society 
and  manners,  they  reflect  light  on  the  darkest  passages  of  poetry  and  ro¬ 
mance  :  they  add  strength  to  the  conviction  that  much  which  aqcient 
literature  has  failed  to  explain,  a  close  examination  of  ancient  arts  may 
yet  render  clear.  Even  the  Eolipile,  simple  as  it  seems,  promises  to 
conduct  inquirers,  like  the  clew  of  Ariadne,  through  labyrinths  as  per¬ 
plexing  as  those  which  puzzled  old  travellers  to  Egypt  and  Crete. 

Of  all  the  freaks  of  poor  human  nature,  idolatry  is  the  strangest ;  and, 
taken  in  connection  with  evils  springing  from  it,  the  most  infectious  and 
fatal  of  maladies.  Hitherto  ineradicable,  inexpugnable,  it  has  tainted 
all  epochs,  polluted  all  people.  Its  ravages  have  been  more  destructive 
than  war,  more  distressing  than  famine.  It  has  been  the  fertile  source  of 
both.  Superstition,  the  parent  of  idolatry,  is  peculiar  to  man,  unless  de¬ 
mons  be  tormented  by  it,  which  is  not  unlikely ;  for,  besides  its  associa- 


575 


Rise  of  Idolatry ,  Magic ,  ifc. — Monsters. 

tions  being  truly  diabolical,  (it  has  every  where  erected  altars  to  Baals 
and  furnished  victims  to  Molochs,)  it  seems  the  natural,  and  may  be  the 
universal  punishment  of  mental  debasement.  It  is  to  the  mind  what  pre- 
matuie  decrepitude  is  to  the  body — a  horrible  penalty  for  violating  a 
fundamental  law  of  our  nature,  for  stunting  the  soul’s  growth,  for  not 
cultivating  the  intellectual  with  the  physical  faculties,  that  both  mio-ht 
expand  and  improve  together  ;  that  infant  puerilities  might  be  succeeded 
by  youthful  intelligence  and  masculine  knowledge.  Instead  of  this, 

superstition  unites  dwarfed  and  crippled  minds  to  grown  up  bodies _ 

stocks  the  world  with  souls  blind  to  their  destinies  and  duties,  and  con¬ 
sequently  to  the  great  purposes  of  existence  lost.  Where  else,  then,  can 
such  abortions  be  more  appropriately  consigned  than  to  the  hades  of  icr. 
norance — of  sottish  delusions — to  murky  regions,  where  the  sickly  ima¬ 
gination  sits  an  incubus  on  the  prostrate  judgment,  and  visions  of  insanity 
are  reckoned  as  realities ;  where  the  occupants  wander  among  shades, 
and  mutter  the  gibberish  of  phantoms. 

A  stranger  to  natural  causes,  startling  phenomena  have  ever  filled  the 
barbarian  with  dread.  To  account  for  such  things  he  peoples  the  ele¬ 
ments  with  imaginary  beings,  who  control,  as  he  supposes,  all  mundane 
affairs  at  their  will.  Meteorological  commotions,  pain,  sickness,  death, 
and  every  public  and  private  calamity,  were  held  as  manifestations  of 
their  power  or  their  wrath  ;  hence  the  idea  of  propitiating  beings  so 
™*ghty  and  malignant  ■;  hence  idolatry  with  its  direful  progeny,  magic, 
divination,  necromancy,  and  their  congeners  ;  and  hence  too  the  rise  of 
those  astute  spirits  who,  from  the  beginning,  have  subdued  the  million 
by  working  on  their  fancies  and  fears — who  have  raised  themselves  into 
gods  and  sunk  the  rest  of  mankind  into  brutes. 

Idols  were  almost  invariably  modeled  after  hideous  forms,  because 
designed  to  excite  terror.  This  was  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
on  which  demonolatry  was  founded.  As  fear  was  to  be  awakened  it  was 
essential  to  make  them  correspond,  as  nearly  as  could  be,  with  the  evils 
they  had  power  to  inflict  or  emotions  they  were  designed  to  inflame. 
To  have  made  them  more  attractive  than  repulsive  would  have  been 
preposterous,  since  it  would  have  been  neglecting  the  cultivation  of  that 
passion  upon  which  their  efficiency  rested.  Their  makers  knew  then* 
business  better.  In  nothing  is  the  versatility  of  ancient  genius  more 
apparent  than  in  representations  of  the  horrible — in  conjuring  up  images 
to  cause  the  timid  to  tremble  and  the  bold  to  recoil — the  most  hideous  of 
hybrids,  in  which  were  combined  features  derived  from  every  thing  on  the 
earth  and  in  the  waters  under  the  earth  calculated  to  excite  abhorrence 
and  dread.  Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  here  also  little  is  left 
for  professors  of  the  fine  arts  to  do,  except  to  imitate  works  of  old  mas¬ 
ters.  Invention  seems  out  of  the  question.  Our  best  and  worst  specimens 
of  diablerie  and  the  monstrous  are  but  copies  and  caricatures  of  originals 
in  old  galleries  of  furies,  minotaurs,  hydras,  chimaeras,  centaurs,  sphinxes, 
fauns,  dragons,  griffins,  gorgons,  satyrs,  harpies,  hippogriffs,  and  other 
unearthly  combinations  of  human  bodies  with  those  of  beasts,  birds,  fish, 
reptiles  and  demons. 

But  ghastly,  terrific  or  fiendish  features  were  not  always  deemed  suffi¬ 
cient.  It  was  expedient  to  communicate  active  qualities,  such  as  might 
influence  other  senses  than  the  sight,  and  which,  being  appropriate  to 
the  character  an  idol  was  intended  to  sustain,  might  serve  still  further  to 
establish  or  increase  its  fame.  Thus,  SQme  moved  their  heads,  arms 
hands,  eyes ;  others  spoke,  groaned,  smiled,  perspired,  laughed,  &c.  &c. 


576  Origin  of  Eolipilic  Idols — Their  Authors. 

A  few,  like  the  image  of  Nabis,  squeezed  unbelievers  to  death  in  their 
arms,  and  others,  like  the  gods  of  the  Zidonians,  in  their  fury  swallowed 
offenders  alive.  The  repeated  declarations  in  the  Bible  that  gods  of 
stone,  wood  and  metal,  neither  saw,  heard,  ate  nor  “spake  through  their 
throats,”  &c.  imply  that  by  priestly  artifice  these  and  other  functions  were 
imitated.  Had  all  been  dumb,  motionless  statues,  this  constant  denial  of 
such  powers  to  them  would  have  been  nugatory. 

The  date  of  androidal  idols  is  unknown  :  they  appear  to  have  been 
co-eval  with  the  use  of  metals — are  perhaps  of  a  still  earlier  date,  for 
modern  savages  have  attempted  them.  They  were  found  so  effectual  as 
to  have  become  important  instruments  in  the  hands  of  rulers  in  ante-his¬ 
toric  eras ;  while  to  devise  and  work  them  became  the  profession  of 
priests.  As  society  advanced  the  treasures  of  states  and  temples  were 
expended  in  their  production,  and  the  influence  of  both  was  exercised  in 
establishing  their  reputation :  a  union  of  wealth  and  intelligence  which 
accounts  for  the  perfection  and  celebrity  of  many  ancient  androids. 

Ever  on  the  look  out  for  novel  and  imposing  devices,  the  founders 
and  fosterers  of  idolatry  were  too  close  observers  to  overlook  the  most 
appalling  of  nature’s  displays,  and  too  keenly  alive  to  their  interests  to 
remain  ignorant  of  the  means  of  imitating  them.  At  an  early  day  those 
gods  were  counted  the  greatest  that  had  power  over  fire  and  controlled 
atmospherical  tempests — that  spake  in  thunder  and  whose  darts  were 
the  electric  fluid.  On  this  belief  Eolipilic  idols  arose,  a  class  certainly 
among  the  most  productive  if  not  among  the  most  ancient.  They  were 
necessarily  the  work  of  the  founder,  not  of  the  carver,  and,  as  already 
intimated,  not  a  few  of  the  “  brazen”  or  “  molten”  images  of  the  Old 
Testament  were  more  or  less  allied  to  them — an  inference  justified  by 
numerous  allusions  to  blasts  of  flame,  smoke  and  wind  issuing  from  their 
mouths  and  eyes,  &c.  There  was  probably  less  difficulty  in  the  apotheosis 
of  Eolipilic  images  than  of  others.  When  idolatry  was  universal  few 
could  refuse  subjection  to  deities  that  rivalled  Neptune  in  shaking  the 
ground — Jupiter  in  his  character  of  the  thunderer;  and  Pluto — the  grim 
and  inexorable — the  sulphur-enthroned  god — in  the  worst  of  his  func¬ 
tions.  To  none  were  apotrophic  hymns  so  fervently  addressed,  for  none 
looked  more  threatening  and  fierce,  or  gave  out  such  awful  manifesta¬ 
tions  of  wrath. 

Of  their  authors  or  inventors  there  is  no  room  to  doubt.  They  were 
men  whose  intelligence  was  far  in  advance  of  their  times,  who  mono¬ 
polized  knowledge  for  the  sole  interest  of  their  class.  Claiming  kin¬ 
dred  with  heaven,  freed  from  worldly  cares,  clothed  in  reverend  vest¬ 
ments,  they  lived  apart  from  other  people ;  holy  and  artless  in  appear¬ 
ance,  yet  adepts  in  artifice  and  very  devils  in  craft.  Hierophantic  magi¬ 
cians  sojourned  in  temples,  feasted  on  tythes  and  got  rich  by  means  of 
idols.  They  moved  gods  to  compassion  by  wires,  and  roused  them  to 
anger  by  explosive  compounds.  Their  professional  attainments  are  in¬ 
disputable.  In  the  roguish  departments  of  physics  they  were  never  sur¬ 
passed.  What  resources  and  talents  did  those  of  Egypt  display  in  com¬ 
peting  with  Moses,  even  to  the  development  of  lower  forms  of  life ! 
The  laboratory  was  their  study,  natural  science  the  volume  over  which 
they  pored,  the  knowledge  of  latent  phenomena  their  wealth.  It  is  im¬ 
possible  to  think  on  the  variety,  magnitude  and  difficulties  of  some  of 
their  impostures  without  conceding  to  them  excelling  ingenuitv  and  im¬ 
pudence  sublime.  In  chemistry  and  mechanics  they  were  profound  :  of 
their  contrivances  few  were  more  successful  than  those  to  which  both 


Pusterich,  an  Eolipilic  Idol.  577 

sciences  contributed;  but  of  all  their  chemico  mechanical  productions 
perhaps  none  performed  greater  deeds  of  renown  than  the  Eolipile 
lo  accomplish  its  purposes  this  instrument  put  on  a  strange  diversity 
of  shapes,  and  was  endowed  with  such  attributes  as  its  adroit  managers 
required ;  but  purposely  disguised  as  it  was,  and  its  movements  ino-e- 
mously  masked,  its  former  tricks  are  not  entirely  concealed  by  the  veil 
which  time  has  dropped  over  the  stirring  dramas  of  ancient  life.  It  may 
be  detected,  though  too  remote  to  be  distinct.  In  the  deepest  obscurity 
its  performances  are  too  peculiar  to  be  mistaken.  It  appears  to  have 
flourished  in  mythologic  and  heroic  ages,  and,  naturally  enough  these 
were  the  times  of  its  greatest  achievements.  Besides  a  few  minor  en¬ 
gagements,  it  was  principally  employed  in  personating  three  remark¬ 
able  characters  :  a  god,  a  warrior,  and  a  guardian  of  treasure.  In  the 
temple  it  descended  with  neophytes  into  the  sacred  chambers  and  took 
part  in  the  lesser  and  sublimer  mysteries,  while  at  the  altar  it  confirm¬ 
ed  the  faith  of  its  worshipers  by  miracles  wrought  in  their  presence. 

In  war  its  effects  were  once  equally  decisive.  Its  appearance  alone 
sufficed,  like  the  head  of  Medusa,  to  petrify  opponents  with  horror. 
Superstitious  troops  (in  early  times  all  were  superstitious)  were  as¬ 
tounded  at  the  sight  of  an  enemy,  supernatural  in  form,  borne  alono-  in 
chariots  of  clouds  and  whirlwinds  of  fire  ;  no  stronger  proof  of  the  <mds 
being  against  them  could  be  adduced.  Like  the  affrighted  Philistines 
under  a  similar  persuasion,  their  hearts  would  melt  within  them,  and 
ere  they  fled  they  exclaimed  with  the  warriors  of  Canaan,  “  Wo  unto 
us  !  Who  shall  deliver  us  out  of  the  hands  of  these  mighty  gods  V’ 

As  a  serpent  or  dragon,  it  couched  by  the  portals  of  palaces  or  lay 
at  the  entrance  of  caverns  to  protect  the  plunder  its  owners  had  rotten 
together.  0 

The  annexed  figures  and  subsequent  remarks  may  serve  to  elucidate  in 
a  feeble  degree  a  few  of  its  performances  under  each  of  these  characters. 

.  Wols,  especially  Eolipilic  ones,  belong  to  a  department  of  ecclesias¬ 
tical  history  hitherto  little  examined  and  less 
understood.  True,  they  recall  no  very  pleasing 
associations,  yet  they  make  us  acquainted  with 
many  curious  transactions.  This  figure  is  a  re¬ 
presentation  of  Pusterich,  a  bronze  Eolipilic 
god  of  the  ancient  Germans,  described  at  page 
399,  to  which  the  reader  is  referred.  The  burn¬ 
ing  fluids  and  flame  issued  from  the  mouth  and 
the  eye  or  orifice  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead. 

This  is  not  near  so  repulsive  as  many  an¬ 
cient  and  modern  idols  :  compared  with  some 
it  might  almost  be  deemed  engaging.  Perhaps 
its  admirers  were  too  far  advanced  to  relish  a 
mongrel  deity,  or  one  with  an  extra  number  of 
heads  or  limbs.  It  is  but  one  among  many  of 
its  kind  which  might  be  adduced,  had  we  the 
history  of  numerous  bronze  images  extant,  or 
of  others  noticed  in  antiquarian  works.  Seve- 

ral  have  openings  behind  and  fitted  for  plugs,  an.  totaa  Eolipilic  Id* 
as  it  designed  for  charging  them  with  liquids. 

There  is  an  impressive  resemblance  between  this  figure  and  that  of  a 
Cyclop,  and  there  may  be  a  real  similitude  between  idolo  of  this  kind 
and  the  three  fabled  sons  of  ^Neptune  and  Amphitrite.  As  remarked  fur- 

37 


578 


Cyclops. — Fighting  Eolipiles. 

ther  on,  fire-breathing  and  other  mythic  monsters  were  not  all  mere  vi 
sions,  mystic  emblems,  or  hieroglyphical  pictures,  but  actual  brazen  be¬ 
ings,  of  the  forms  and  with  many  of  the  functions  described — in  other 
words,  Eolipilic  idols,  personified  as  all  idols  were.  The  reader  need 
not  be  reminded  of  the  relation  of  the  Cyclops  to  fire,  since  they  were  aids 
to  Vulcan,  and  were  destroyed  by  Apollo  for  manufacturing  or  ejecting, 
like  Pusterich,  thunderbolts.  They  are  sometimes  described  as  having 
but  one  eye,  at  other  times  represented  with  three — two  in  the  ordinary 
places,  and  a  third  in  the  forehead,  as  in  the  preceding  figure.  [See  plate 
page  141,  vol.  1,  Fosbroke’s  Encyc.  Antiq.j  This  idol  is  supposed  to  have 
belonged  originally  to  a  high  antiquity,  and  may  possibly  be  a  genuine 
Cyclop. 

Two  or  three  more  metallic  deities,  which  appear  to  be  Eolipilic,  might 
here  be  introduced ;  but  as  the  fact  is  uncertain,  and  nothing  but  con¬ 
jectures  could  accompany  them,  we  forbear.  Had  more  data  been  ac¬ 
cessible  the  subject  would  needs  be  a  thrilling  one.  No  work  of  imagi¬ 
nation  could  be  richer  in  interest  or  more  fertile  in  inti’igue  and  plots 
than  accounts  of  idolatrous  androids  of  the  more  advanced  nations  of  old, 
of  the  puppet-machinery  in  each  famous  temple,  and  the  by-play  by 
which  the  reverend  showmen  set  them  off  to  advantage,  lulled  suspicion 
and  kept  their  audiences  in  the  right  humor.  We  may  descant  as  we 
please  on  epic  poets,  on  tragic  and  comic  authors  and  actors,  but  what 
were  the  best  of  them  compared  to  those  proto-fathers  of  fiction  and  his¬ 
trionic  professions  l  Men  whose  theatres  were  temples,  whose  stages 
were  altars  :  master  players  on  the  passions,  who  excited  what  emotions 
they  pleased,  and  impressed  on  their  congregations  an  abiding  sense  of 
the  realities  of  the  illusions  they  exhibited.  The  subject  reaches  down  to 
the  nonage  of  society  and  comes  up  with  it  to  our  own  days;  has  relation 
to  the  most  stupendous  system  of  deception  ever  conceived,  and  the  most 
successful  one  ever  practised  by  man  upon  man;  affords  the  most  de¬ 
plorable  and  duiable  examples  of  human  credulity  and  cunning;  in¬ 
volves  the  early  history  of  all  races  and  of  nearly  all  arts.  Its  exposition 
of  principles  of  ancient  science  would  be  highly  instructive,  and  their 
villanous  applications  often  amusing.  The  mystery  that  envelopes  it 
irresistibly  whets  curiosity.  The  little  that  is  known  makes  us  anxious  to 
push  aside  the  skreen  that  hides  from  our  view  the  ingenious  and  elabo¬ 
rate  mechanism  by  which  pagan  monks  emasculated  the  species  and 
kept  an  awe-stricken  world  at  their  feet. 

The  following  figures  illustrate  the  fighting  qualities  of  the  Eolipile. 
As  a  war-instrument  it  became  better  known  than  as  an  oracle  confined 
in  temples.  In  the  field  it  was  exposed  to  the  scrutiny  of  the  curious  as 
well  as  of  its  immediate  managers,  so  that,  whether  captured  or  not,  the 
secret  of  its  construction  could  not  long  remain  one,  or  the  device  be 
confined,  if  much  employed,  to  one  people.  Nor  did  it  cast  off*  its  pre¬ 
tensions  to  divinity  with  this  change  of  occupation,  but  rather  sustained 
them,  for  it  was  as  a  god  that  it  first  became  tenable  in  battle — as  such 
its  military  achievements  shook  neighboring  nations  with  alarm  and  ac¬ 
quired  for  it  a  celebrity  that  has  reached  to  our  times.  The  nature  of  its 
performances  remained  the  same  as  at  the  altar,  except  that  it  now  did 
not  hesitate  to  destroy  those  whom  it  could  not  convince. 

Every  people,  no  matter  how  barbarous,  esteemed  their  own  gods  su¬ 
perior  to  others.  It  was  indispensable  to  the  interests  of  priests  to  keep 
this  conviction  alive  under  all  exigencies ;  hence  while  victories  served 
to  establish  it,  defeats  did  not  overthrow  it.  These,  it  was  artfully  sug 


Deceptions  of  the  Pagan  Priesthood.  579 

rested,  were  only  proofs  of  a  deity  having  become  temporal  -  offended 
tei  her  for  not  being  properly  invoked  or  on  account  of  indignities  offered 

o  11s  ministers.  It  was  only  to  make  his  protege's  sensible  of  his  dis- 
p  easure  that  on  such  occasions  he  left  them  a  prey  to  their  foes  !  Pagan 
history  is  full  of  examples,  they  abound  in  the  Iliad,  which  opens  with 
one.  I  hus  the  character  of  an  oracle  or  idol,  and  the  influence  of  its  offi¬ 
cials  were  ingeniously  preserved  whether  those  who  trusted  in  it  became 
conquerors  or  conquered,  victors  or  victims.  Such  was  the  practice  un¬ 
der  ordinary  circumstances,  the  god  remaining  the  while  undisturbed  in 
his  fane;  but  when  extraordinary  calamities  threatened,  when  an  invad¬ 
ing  army  approached  and  his  worshippers  were  menaced  with  captivity 
or  famine,  corresponding  efforts  were  made  to  appease  and  even  to  com¬ 
pel  him  to  be  propitious.  Bribes  were  held  out,  votive  gifts,  hecatombs 
and  new  temples  promised— processions  in  his  honor  were  got  up  with 
sacred  banners,  relics,  &c.  borne  aloft,  (an  European  practice  through 
the  middle  ages,  and  an  Asiatic  one  yet.)  Then  to  make  sure  of  success 
by  connecting  his  fate  with  that  of  his  followers,  the  latter  took  him  down 
from  his  shrine  and  carried  him  to  the  battle-ground,  under  a  belief  that 
he  would  not  suffer  himself  to  be  taken  if  he  were  disposed  to  leave 
thern  in  the  lurch.  On  the  same  principle  idolaters  of  every  age  have 
acted.  The  early  Jews  were  not  free  from  the  strange  infatuation,  nor 
is  it  easy  to  see  how  they  could  have  been  better  informed  previous  to 
or  at  the  period  of  the  Exodus.  They  were  as  much  attached  to  idols  as 
the  Egyptians,  and  took  the  first  opportunity  that  the  absence  of  Moses 
presented  for  making  an  image  of  Apis.  After  the  severe  defeat  at 
Aphek,  some  of  the  ignorant  got  up  a  cry  to  bring  the  ark  to  the  camp  and 
renew  the  contest  under  its  auspices.  “  When  it  cometh  among  us  it  may 
save  us  out  of  the  hands  of  our  enemies.”  To  this  the  better  informed 
probably  acceded  with  the  hope  that  Jehovah  would  protect  it,  and  the 
people  for  its  sake,  but  they  were  mistaken — they  were  routed  thirty 
thousand  were  slain,  “  the  ark  of  God  was  taken,”  and  exhibited  in  the 
principal  cities  of  the  captors  for  a  period  of  seven  months,  during  which 
Fhenician  priests  and  artists  were  probably  not  very  scrupulous  in  ex¬ 
amining  its  contents,  its  designs  and  decorations,  the  cherubim  of  ham¬ 
mered  gold,  their  forms,  features,  wings,  & c. 

In  this  same  manner  warring  Eolipiles  became  known  to  others  than 
their  designers:  as  gods  and  demi-gods  they  made  their  debut  in  battle. 
As  such  they  were  victorious,  and  as  such  were  eventually  captured. 
Exaggerated  accounts  of  some  of  the  earliest  are  preserved  in  mythologi¬ 
cal  annals.  So  awful  were  their  attributes  and  so  terrific  their  appearance, 
that  their  very  looks  overcame  their  opponents.  Of  this  Briareus  was 
an  example ;  but  when  their  artificial  nature  became  known  they  put  on 
less  formidable  shapes,  their  efficacy  then  depending  more  on  what  they 
did  than  how  they  looked.  In  comparatively  modern  epochs  they 
never,  however,  attained  much  beauty,  if  we  might  judo-e  of  the  one 
on  the  following  page.  . 

The  age  to  which  the  specimen  figured  in  the  next  cut  belonged  is 
unknown.  It  and  No.  289  are  from  a  Latin  folio  published  in  Paris  in 
153.'),  containing  Vegetius  on  Military  Machinery  and  Institutions,  Elian 
on  Tactics,  Frontinus  on  Strategems,  and  the  Book  of  Modestus  on 
Military  Affairs  : — collated  from  Ancient  coddce&by  Budeus,  the  celebrated 
French  critic.  Attached  to,  and  paged  with  Vegetius,  are  one  hundred 
and  twenty  folio  illustrations,  rudely,  executed  on  wood.  They  are  co 
pies  of  those  of  the  old  German  translation  to  which  we  have  frequently 


580 


Ancient  Fighting  Eolipile. 

referred,  with  the  exception  of  a  couple  of  reduced  fac-similes  which 
are  now  before  the  reader,  (a) 


No.  288.  Ancient  Fighting  Eolip.le. 

As  not  a  word  of  explanation  accompanies  this  singular  figure,  (nor 
any  other  in  the  book,)  and  little  or  nothing  is  to  be  found  in  Vegetius 
or  other  Roman  authors  to  aid  us,  all  that  we  can  offer  must  be  received 
as  conjecture.  If  the  magnitude  of  the  machine  be  judged  from  other 
illustrations  in  the  collection,  it  was  colossal.  No  object  is  portrayed 
near  it  by  which  to  infer  its  relative  dimensions.  The  general  outline 
represents  the  human  bust,  and  the  whole  seems  to  have  been  an  enor¬ 
mous  Pusterich  on  wheels.  It  probably  combined  the  god  with  the  war¬ 
rior,  assuming  the  character  of  each  as  occasion  required.  It  is  no  bad 
representative  of  both ;  and  the  powers  it  possessed  of  punishing  its 
enemies  are  as  obvious  as  they  were  awful.  The  ignited  jet  issued  from 
the  conical  tube  whose  wide  end  is  riveted  to  the  forehead — (a  small 
pipe  descending  from  it  to  the  bottom  of  the  bust,  as  in  the  air-vessels 
of  fire-engines,)  and  possibly,  also,  out  of  its  eyes  and  mouth.  The  pro¬ 
longation  of  the  nose,  and  the  daggers  projecting  from  the  mouth,  were 
intended  to  ward  off  blows  during  assaults,  and  to  prevent  access  to 
it,  lest  the  orifice  or  orifices  should  be  spiked  or  otherwise  closed.  Point¬ 
ed  projections  of  this  kind  are  quite  common  adjuncts  in  old  war  en- 
gines. 

As  this  Eolipile  is  figured  at  rest  and  not  in  use,  neither  fire,  fire-place, 
nor  the  mode  of  charging  it  is  delineated.  The  fuel  was  probably  applied 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  bust  behind,  though  it  may  have  been  kindled 


(a)  “  FI.  Ycgetii  Renati  viri  illustris  de  re  militari  libri  quatuor.  Sextiivlii  Fron- 
tini  viri  consularis  de  strategematis  libri  totidem.  Alliani  de  instruendis  aciebus 
liber  unus.  Modesti  de  vocabulis  rei  militaris  liber  unus.  Ilem  picturae  bellicae 
cxx  passim  Vegetio  adjectas.  Collata  sunt  omnia  ad  antiquos  codices,  maxime 
Bodjei,  qnod  testabiti  r  iElianus.  Parisiis,  mdxxxv.” 


58] 


JEoli/nlic  War-Dragon. 

externally,  the  head  being  for  that  purpose  inclined  backwards  and  rest 
ing  on  the  cornigerous  and  auricular  prolongations,  which  would,  like 
the  feet  of  a  caldron,  form  a  tripod  to  support  it.  But  much  allowance 
must  be  made  for  old  illustrations.  Scarcely  ever  is  an  attempt  made  to 
delineate  interior  parts  or  external  details.  One  object  of  the  horn  and 
eais  was  obviously  to  vary  the  direction  of  the  jet,  to  incline  the  tube  to 
the  right  or  left,  up  or  down,  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  the  syringe 
engine  of  Besson.  I  he  wheels  are  solid,  and  as  there  are  but  two,  some 
mechanism  for  preserving  the  image  in  an  upright  position  was  neces¬ 
sary  :  as  they  moved  on  separate  axles  the  tube  could  as  readily  be  ' 
turned  in  a  lateral  direction  as  it  could  be  elevated  or  depressed.  The 
manner  of  conveying  this  machine  to  considerable  distances  is  not  indi¬ 
cated,  probably  because  it  was  rather  intended  as  a  stationary  means  of 
defence,  than,  like  the  next,  a  moveable  one  for  attack. 


Here  is  a  variety  of  the  griffin,  hippogriff,  or  dragon  genus,  placed  on 
four  wheels,  and  evidently  designed  to  break  the  ranks  of  an  opposing 
army,  by  being  driven  thorough  them.  The  burning  liquids  rushed  out  ot 
two  rows  of  small  holes  on  the  upper  jaw  or  lip  :  the  effect  forcibly  re¬ 
minding  one  of  mythic  monsters  from  whose  nostrils  went  forth  smoke, 
and  from  whose  mouths  issued  flame.  No  provision  is  shown  for  raisins 
or  lowering  the  jets,  nor  was  any  necessary,  for  from  the  elevation  and 
position  of  the  orifices,  troops  among  whom  this  engine  forced  its  wav 
could  not  avoid  either  right  or  left  its  fluid  and  scorching  missive.  The 
rod  held  by  the  captain  or  leader  is  enlarged  and  pierced  or  cloven  at 
its  upper  end,  where  it  is  joined  to  the  head  :  it  is  apparently  a  lever  by 
which  the  plug  of  a  cock  was  turned  to  open  and  shut  off  the  discharge. 
We  may  suppose  the  passage  was  closed  in  the  present  position  of  the 
lever,  and  that  to  open  it  the  manager  pulled  back  the  end  he  grasps, 
until,  like  a  modern  artillerist,  he  became  sufficiently  in  the  rear  to  be 
out  of  harm’s  way  when  the  jets  found  vent;  he  then  could  join  his  asso¬ 
ciates  in  directing  the  monster’s  movements.  The  wheels,  as  in  the  last 
figure,  are  represented  solid,  a  feature  undoubtedly  genuine  ;  for  it  was 
the  uniform  practice  to  attempt  to  sto"p  the  progress  of  such  war-chariots 
as  had  wheels  with  spokes,  by  throwing  spears,  &c.  between  the  latter; 


582 


Its  effects  in  battle. — Dragons  figured  on  Danners. 

and  hence  such  wheels  were  sometimes  covered  with  boards  or  plates  of 
iron  previous  to  entering  into  battle. 

The  sword  or  dagger-like  tongue  kept  an  enemy  from  approaching 
too  near  in  front,  while  the  flames  protected  both  sides.  It  would  not 
have  answered  the  purposes  of  this  war-engine  to  have  made  its  sides 
horrent  with  bayonets,  for  they  would  have  retarded  its  progress  by  con¬ 
tact  with  every  obstacle  within  their  reach.  Its  efficiency  depended  chief¬ 
ly  on  the  velocity  and  precision  of  its  movements,  it  would  therefore  be 
divested  of  every  thing  calculated  to  interfere  with  these.  The  inclina¬ 
tion  of  the  tongue  was  designed  to  remove  obstacles  from  the  path. 
Had  the  spike  been  horizontal  it  would  have  transfixed  objects  it  met 
with,  and  the  progress  of  the  machine  would  soon  have  been  stopped. 
This  machine  is  apparently  represented  as  in  times  of  peace,  for,  unlike 
most  others  in  the  collection,  no  signs  of  war  are  delineated  in  the  land¬ 
scape.  The  fire  was  perhaps  applied  externally,  as  in  the  case  of  Pus- 
terich,  the  brazen  monster  belonging  to  the  Tyrant  of  Agrigentum,  and 
other  ancient  devices  of  the  kind:  but  this  part  of  the  subject,  is  very 
obscure.  Like  chariots  with  swords  and  scythes  fixed  to  them,  and 
others  with  similar  weapons  revolving  in  their  fronts,  this  machine  when 
in  active  service  was  most  likely  urged  forward  by  horses  yoked  behind  ; 
oi  by  a  number  of  men  applying  their  force  to  bars  attached  to  and  ra¬ 
diating  from  the  rear — both  ancient  and  very  common  war  devices. 

An  enormous  Eolipile,  formed  after  the  above  pattern,  charged  with 
inflammable  liquids,  and  driven  furiously  and  unexpectedly  upon  a  su¬ 
perstitious  foe,  must  not  only  have  borne  all  before  it,  like  a  modem 
locorpotive,  but  must  have  rendered  opposition  hopeless  until  its  contents 
were  expended. 

The  dimensions  of  this  war  dragon  cannot  safely  be  inferred  from 
those  of  the  men  attached  to  it,  for  in  most  of  the  plales  in  the  work 
whence  it  is  taken,  no  kind  of  proportion  is  preserved.  Soldiers  raising 
ladders  to  scale  the  walls  of  high  towers  are  often  drawn  sufficiently  tall 
to  reach  the  roof  with  their  hands. 

As  the  name  of  a  war  machine,  the  term  dragon  was  continued  to 
modern  times.  It  was  early  given  to  pieces  of  ordnance,  to  devices  re¬ 
sembling  in  their  attributes  ancient  Eolipilic  monsters.  Culverines  were 
originally  called  fiery-dragons.  The  Draconarii  of  the  Romans  bore 
dragons  on  their  standards ;  the  Parthians,  Indians,  Persians,  Scythians, 
Assyrians,  Normans,  Saxons,  Welsh,  and  all  the  Celtic  and  Gothic  na¬ 
tions  painted  the  same  thing  upon  their  banners  and  pennons,  as  the 
Chinese,  Russians,  Tartars,  &c.  do  now.  Modern  dragoons  have  pro¬ 
bably  also  derived  their  designation  from  soldiers  who  formerly  managed 
Eolipilic  dragons,  as  in  the  preceding  figure  ;  the  name  being  preserved 
in  war’s  vocabulary  after  the  office  and  instrument  were  forgotten.  Or¬ 
ders  of  chivalry  were  named  after  the  dragon,  and  heraldry  abounds 
with  its  figures. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  history  of  the  Goths,  by  Olaus  Magnus.  (Basil 
ed.  1567.)  The  fourth  chapter  of  the  ninth  book  is  headed,  “  De  cereis 
equis  ignivojnis  ” — “  Of  brazen  horses  that  vomit  fire.”  The  materials  of 
the  chapter  are  condensed  from  the  History  of  the  Danes,  by  Saxo 
Grammaticus,  a  writer  who  flourished  A.  D.  1140.  The  principal  inci¬ 
dent  relates  to  the  stratagetic  skill  of  an  old  king,  Regnerus,  who  was 
eventually  put  to  death  by  his  sons,  Daxon  and  Dian.  On  one  occasion 
the  two  rebellious  brothers  invaded  their  father’s  kingdom,  having  been 
furnished  for  the  purpose  with  a  large  army  by  king  Ruthenus,  whose 


Brazen  Horses  that  vomited  Fire. 


583 


daughters  they  had  married.  Alarmed  at  the  mighty  forces  brought 
against  him,  Regnerus  ordered  a  number  of  brazen,  fire-breathing  horses 
to  be  secured  on  chariots,  and  whirled  suddenly  into  the  densest  body 
of  his  enemies.  The  manoeuvre  succeeded,  and  his  unnatural  sons  were 
put  to  flight.  It  appears  that  the  chariots  and  their  burdens  were  ex¬ 
ceedingly  massive,  since  they  overwhelmed  whatever  opposed  them 
We  add  the  passage  at  large  from  Saxo.  It  will  be  perceived,  that  he 
is  silent,  respecting  the  fire-vomiting  faculty  of  the  metallic  chargers, 
though  that  was  clearly  implied  in  the  opinion  of  the  Gothic  historian  ; 
au  opinion  that  can  hardly  be  questioned. 

Post  hasc  Regnerus,  expeditionem  in  Hellespondcos  parans,  vocata- 
que  Danorum  condone,  saluberrimas  se  populo  leges  laturum  promit¬ 
tens,  ut  unusquisque  paterfamilias,  secut  ante,  quem  minimi  inter 
liberos  duxerat,  militaturum  exhiberet,  ita  tunc  valentioris  operae  filium 
aut  probations  fidei  servutn  armaret,  edixit.  Quo  facto  omnibus,  quos 
ex  Thora  procreverat,  filiis,  praeter  ubbonen,  assumptis,  Hellespontum 
ejusque  regem  Dian  variis  contusum  bellis  lacessendo  perdomuit.  Ad 
ultimum  eundem  creberrimis  discriminibus  implicatum  extinxit.  Cujus 
filii  Diau  et  I) axon,  olim  Ruteni  regis  filias  maritali  sorte  complexi,  im- 
petratis  a  socero  copiis,  ardentissimo  spiritu  paternae  vindictas  negotium 
rapuerunt.  Quorum  Regnerus  immensum  animadvertens  exercitum, 
diffidentia  copiarum  habita,  equos  cencos  ductilibus  rotalis  superpositos  ac 
versatilibus  curriculis  circumductos  in  confertissimos  hostes  maxima  vi 
exagitari  praecepit.  Quae  res  tantum  ad  laxandam  adversariorum  aciem 
valuit,  ut  vincendi  spes  magis  in  machinamento  quam  milite  reposita 
videretur,  cujus  intolerabilis  moles,  quicquid  impulit  obruit.  Altero 
ergo  ducum  interfecto  altero  fuga  sublapso,  universus  Hellisponticorum 
cessit  exercitus.  Scithae  quoque,  Daxon  arctissimo  materni  sanguinis 
vinculo  contingentes,  eodem  obstriti  discrimine  refuruntur.  Quorum 
provincia  Witserco  attributa,  Rutenorum  reg.  parum  viribus  fidens,  for- 
midolosa  Regneri  arma  fuga  praecurrere  maturavit. 

[Saxo  Grammatici  Historia  Dania.  Edited  by  P.  E.  Muller.  Copenhagen,  1839.  Liber  ix.  p.  452.] 

In  a  note  on  the  Equos  Abneos,  the  editor,  not  knowing  that  such 
things  had  ever  been,  observes,  “  commentum  nescio  unde  petitum.” 


No.  290.  Eolipilic  Wjir-pngiiKf. 

The  cut  No.  290  is  copied  from  the' rude  illustrations  of  the  fourth  and 
fifth  chapters,  Book  ix,  ofOlaus  Magnus.  A  figure  of  one  of  the  brazen 


584 


Greek-jire. — Copper  images  of  Men. 


horses  is  in  the  foreground,  but  as  usual  it  is  a  mere  outline,  and  was 
perhaps  designed  by  the  illustrator  of  the  Gothic  historian’s  work  from 
the  meagre  description  its  pages  or  those  of  Saxo  afford.  Nothing  defi¬ 
nite  can  be  derived  from  it  which  the  text  does  not  furnish.  Neither  the 
carriage  nor  its  load  comes  up  to  the  description  :  the  words  imply  that 
the  images  had  some  elastic  and  revolving  mechanism  of  their  own,  and 
versatile  chariots  meant  something  more  than  common  carts. 

The  fifth  chapter  (Book  ix)  is  on  the  same  subject,  and  to  this  effect. 
‘  Vincentius  in  Spec.  Histo.  L.  xxxi.  Cap.  10,  asserts  that  the  king  of  the 
Indians,  commonly  called  Prester  John,  being  attacked  by  a  powerful 
army  of  Ethiopian  Saracens,  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith,  delivered 
himself  by  a  stratagem  not  unlike  that  of  Itegnerus,  for  he  made  copper 
images  of  men  and  mounted  each  upon  a  horse.  Behind  every  image  was 
a  man  to  govern  it,  and  to  blow  with  a  bellows,  through  holes  made  for 
the  purpose,  on  fumid  materials  inserted  beforehand  into  the  body  of  the 
image.  Provided  with  a  large  number  of  these  he  proceeded  vigorously 
against  his  enemies,  whom  Vincentius  calls  Mongols  or  Tartars.  The 
mounted  images  being  ranged  side  by  side  in  front  of  the  hostile  army, 
their  managers  were  directed  to  advance,  and  when  arrived  within  a 
short  distance  of  the  foe  to  commence  blowing  with  their  bellows  the 
smoking  fire  within,  and  with  a  continual  blast  to  fill  the  air  with  dark- 
ness — the  consequences  of  which  were  that  many  of  the  invaders  were 
slain  and  others  took  to  sudden  flight.  Large  numbers  of  horsemen  and 
horses  were  burnt  to  death  and  some  reduced  to  ashes  by  Greek-fire , 
composed  of  the  following  ingredients,  by  the  artificers  of  Prester  John: 

Aspaltum,  nepta,  dragantum,  pix  quoque  Greca, 

Sulphur,  vernicis,  de  petrolio  quoque  vilro, 

Mercunij  sal  gemmae  Graeci  dicitur  ignis. 

Item  :  Sulphur,  petrolium,  colopho,  resi,  terebinthi, 

Aspaltum,  eamphora.  nepta,  armo,  benedictum.’ 

Magnus  could  make  nothing  out  of  these  old  poetic  recipes.  He  thought 
it  would  be  a  vain  task  to  attempt  their  explanation,  and  wicked  to  revive 
the  invention.  He  seems  to  have  been  of  an  opinion — once  heartily  enter¬ 
tained — that  the  souls  of  the  authors,  of  Greek-fire  and  gunpowder  were 
reaping  their  appropriate  rewards  in  perdition,  doomed  for  ever  to  taste 
of  torments  which  their  “  devilish  devices”  inflicted  on  others.  Vincen¬ 
tius,  or  Vincent  De  Beauvais,  was  a  learned  monk  of  the  13th  century, 
and  one  of  the  most  voluminous  writers  whose  works  furnished  employ¬ 
ment  to  the  first  race  of  printers.  He  died  about  1260.  His  ‘‘Speculum 
Historiale”  was  printed  in  1473.  The  most  striking  incident  drawn  from 
it  by  the  Gothic  writer  we  quoted  at  page  400,  from  Carpini,  a  contem¬ 
porary  monk,  who  began  his  travels  in  1245,  and  to  whom  he  of  Beauvais 
was  most  likely  indebted  for  it. 

If  the  reader  will  now  look  again  at  the  last  cut  he  will  find  on  the 
back  ground  a  miniature  of  one  of  the  brazen  horsemen  in  the  act  of 
attacking  the  Mongols,  and  with  a  living  soldier  on  the  crupper  per¬ 
forming  his  part  of  the  business  with  bellows.  There  is  certainly  an  air 
of  romance  about  these  figures  ;  but  accounts  of  them  reaching  us  through 
ages  and  hot-beds  of  legends,  might  be  expected  to  be  loaded  with 
apocryphal  mattei's.  Of  the  main  feature,  that  of  ejecting  flame  and 
smoke,  there  is  no  room  to  question,  since  it  is  corroborated  by  old 
writers  on  Greek-fire,  by  the  brazen  horses  of  Saxo,  and  the  preceding 
figures  in  this  supplement.  But  Carpini’s  relation  does  not  savor  so 


585 


Gt  eek-fre  a  liquid . — Modes  of  ejecting  it. 


much  of  poetry  as  may  be  supposed.  The  principal  difficulty  is  in 
Tb  imagGS  uU  n°tral  h°rSeS;  but  this  is  ”ot  a  necessary  in- 

riders  and  wl  h?  ^  ^  artificial  aS  Wel1  as  automaton 

riders— and  we  believe  were  so— were  secured,  like  those  mentioned 

by  Saxo,  on  carriages,  and  behind  them  the  bellows-blowers  were  loca- 

hifinflfthlS  Is  T  WhY  Carpim  meant-  we  should  say  he  misunderstood 
his  informant  Living  horses,  with  flames  roaring  and  rushing  from  ori¬ 
fices  close  to  their  eyes  and  ears,  would  be  as  likely  to  be  affrighted  as 
hose  they  attacked  :  however  drilled,  they  could  not  in  such  circumstan¬ 
ce,  be  managed  without  difficulty  and  without  requiring  the  whole  at¬ 
tention  of  their  riders,  but  the  latter  were  entirely  engaged  in  urrin-  the 
fires  at  the  most  critical  periods  of  the  charge,  leaving  the  animats  to 
pursue  the  right  course  of  themselves.  We  presume  the  metalline  ima¬ 
ges  were  a  species  of  Hippocentaurs,  the  flames  issuing  from  the  hu- 

abdomeYbelo  ^  ^  °thei  materia]s  conrained  in  the  spacious 


Lis  said  these  equestrian  images  cast  forth  Greek-fire;  were  they 
then  Eolipiles  !  mounted  Pusterichs  1  i.  e.  were  they  charged  with  li¬ 
quids,  or  with  dry  substances,  which  once  ignited  continued  of  them¬ 
selves  to  burn  until  the  whole  became  expended!  From  the  want  of 
specffic  information  it  is  difficult  to  arrive  at  a  definite  conclusion  on  this 
point.  The  evidence,  however,  preponderates  in  favor  of  their  Eolipi- 
lic  character.  Had  the  contents  been  a  composition  similar  to  any  thirnr 
used  in  modern  pyrotechnics,  what  need  of  fire  to  heat  them  and  of  bel¬ 
lows  to  urge  the  fire  1  How  did  the  flaming  stream  continue  to  issue 
from  its  orifice  with  unabated  force  as  the  material  diminished  within 
as  ,l:  'sank  far  below  the  place  of  exit  1  Would  not  the  image  be  liable 
to  explode  ere  its  contents  were  half  emptied!  If  not,  why  have  me¬ 
tallic.  images  !  Those  of  fragile  materials  would  have  done.  Again,  the 
reaction  of  the  jet,  like  that  of  a  rocket,  would  require  no  smalHorce  to 
be  overcome  :  it  would  be  very  apt  to  shoot  the  brazen  warriors  back 
among  their  friends,  instead  of  their  carrying  destruction  amono-  their 
foes.  Put  not  one  of  these  objections,  and  others  which  might  be  named, 
apply  to  Eolipiles — to  a  liquid  discharged  by  the  elasticity  of  its  own 
vapor,  or  the  vapor  itself  thus  shot  forth.  With  these  instruments  the 
employment  of  fuel  was  necesary  and  the  application  of  a  blast  in  time  of 
action  important  if  not  indispensable.  But,  what  is  more  to  the  point 
Greek-fire  was  a  liquid.  See  p.  307,  8.  Meyrick,  in  his  account  of  ancient 
armor,  gives  its  composition  from  an  author  of  the  time  of  Edward  III. 
Several  ingredients  enumerated  are  mentioned  in  the  preceding  re¬ 
cipes  from  Vincentius : — An  equal  quantity  of  pulverized  rosinf  sul¬ 
phur  and  pitch  ;  one  fourth  of  opopanax  and  of  pigeons’  dung  well  dried, 
were  dissolved  in  turpentine  water,  or  oil  of  sulphur :  then  put  into  a 
close  and  strong  glass  vessel  and  heated  for  fifteen  days  in  an  oven,  after 
which  the  whole  was  distilled  in  the  manner  of  spirit  of  wine,  and’  kept 
for  use.  Another  account  makes  it  to  consist  chiefly  of  turpentine 
water  (spirits  of  turpentine)  slowly  distilled  with  turpentine  gum.  It 
was  said  to  ignite  by  coming  in  contact  with  water. 

Two  distinct  modes  of  dispersing  the  horrible  fluid  are  mentioned ; 
one  by  forcing-pumps,  the  other  by  “blowing”  it  through  tubes  and 
fiom  the  mouths,  &c.  of  metallic  monsters.  The  former  is  noticed  in 
connection  with  naval  warfare,  and  the  latter,  if  -we  mistake  not,  was 
chiefly  employed  in  conflicts  on  land.  Any  one  can  see  how  difficult  it 
would  be  for  soldiers  promptly  to  apply  pumps  in  the  confusion  of  bat- 


58b 


Greck-Fire  and  modes  of  projecting  it. 


tie.  Appai  atus  equal  to  our  fire-engines  would  have  been  of  little  effect, 
for  the  jets  could  but  feebly  be  sustained,  and  worse  directed  while  the 
reservoirs,  engines  and  men  were  in  motion,  whirling  hither  and  thither, 
now  advancing  and  anon  retreating.  We  read  also  of  portable  “  siphones ” 
being  also  used,  but  these  and  the  necessary  vessels  to  hold  the  liquid 
were  still  less  likely  to  be  effective  except  on  ships  in  close  combat; 
where  to  keep  up  conflagrations,  the  fluid  could  be  ejected,  cold  and  un¬ 
ignited,  on  parts  already  kindled — as  if  our  engines  were  to  be  employed 
to  lanch  oil  or  turpentine  on  objects  already  in  flames.  On  ship-board, 
the  reservoirs  were  always  at  hand,  and  both  men  and  the  fixed  pumps 
they  worked  relatively  at  rest,  and  moreover  protected  Oither  between 
decks  or  in  equally  secure  locations,  so  that  one  or  two  individuals  alone 
sufficed  to  direct  the  fiery  streams  over  a  galley’s  bow  or  sides,  and 
through  flexible  or  jointed  ajutages. 

The  expression  “  blmvn  through  tubes,”  &c.  could,  of  course,  have  no 
reference  to  any  thing  like  the  sarbacan,  nor  to  any  employment  of  hu¬ 
man  lungs.  No  adequate  and  no  continuous  force  could  have  been  ob¬ 
tained  except  by  artificial  means,  and  of  those  by  none  so  readily  as  by 
the  Eolipile.  That  this  instrument  was  intended,  the  figures  in  the  cut 
strongly  indicate.  If  the  vapor  of  the  fiery  liquid  was  ejected,  we  know 
that  nothing  else  could  have  answered.  But  both  the  idea  and  expression 
are  used  at  this  day  with  respect  to  modern  Eolipiles  :  engineers  “  blow 
off”  steam  by  opening  a  safety  valve  or  other  aperture  of  a  boiler;  and 
when  one  of  these  explodes,  on  shore  or  afloat,  how  often  is  it  said  of 
missing  individuals  and  objects,  they  were  “  blown  overboard” — or 
“  blown  to  such  and  such  distances.”  On  a  review  then  of  the  particu¬ 
lars  that  have  reached  us  respecting  the  famous  Greek-fire,  it  seems  that 
the  machinery  for  ejecting  it  on  shipboard  was  a  species  of  pump ;  and 
on  land  by  large  boilers,  suspended  on  wheels  and  driven  by  horses  or 
men,  made  in  fantastic  forms  of  men  and  animals,  fiom  whose  mouths 
the  flaming  torrents  were  ejected.  This,  ancient  writers  have  asserted, 
and  the  figures  we  have  given  confirm. 

That  Greek-fire  was  rather  the  revival  of  an  old  thing  than  the  dis- 
covery  of  a  new  one,  and  that  both  the  fire  and  the  machines  for  dis¬ 
persing  it — Eolipilic  devices  infinitely  more  grotesque  than  any  figured 
on  these  pages — were  known  in  extremely  remote  times,  is,  we  think, 
pretty  clear.  Under  this  impression  some  further  remarks  are  submitted 
with  the  view  of  eliciting  attention  to  a  curious  and  interesting  subject 
of  archeological  research — one  which,  it  will  be  conceded,  appears  to 
reflect  light  on  old  legends  as  well  as  on  old  Eolipiles. 

The  history  of  idolatrous  and  other  Eolipilic  automata  is  lost  or  per¬ 
haps  never  was  written,  and  now  the  opportunity,  the  materials  and  men 
for  preparing  it  are  gone ;  the  requisite  knowledge  did  not  sufficiently 
transpire  beyond  the  walls  of  temples,  and  even  there  was  confined  to  a 
privileged  few.  Such  a  record  could  only  have  been  furnished  by  those 
who  had  every  earthly  inducement  to  suppress  it — by  men  whose  private 
labors  were  devoted  to  disguise  the  elements  of  deceptive  devices  they 
employed,  and  whose  public  administrations  still  further  concealed  them. 
It  may  therefore  be  concluded  that  such  an  expose  was  never  made,  or, 
if  made,  religiously  reserved  for  the  perusal  of  heads  of  colleges  or  the 
eyes  of  arch-magicians  alone.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  valuable  a 
fund  of  hidden  knowledge,  of  mechanical  and  chemical  combinations,  of 
singular  discoveries  and  inventions ;  a  bibliotheca  for  philosophers  and 


Mythic  Monsters  and  Dragon-killing  Heroes. 


587 


artisans,  illustrating,  probably,  every  branch  of  ancient  science  and  ex 

posing  the  secret  workings  of  some  of  the  shrewdest  spirits  of  antiquity _ 

should  bo  lost.  It  would  have  enabled  us  to  repeat  staple  tricks  of  Baby¬ 
lonian  sorcerers  and  soothsayers,  and  would  have  placed  us  in  a  more 
favorable  position  for  observation  than  was  Pharaoh  when  he  commanded 
“the  magicians  of  Egypt  and  the  wise  men  thereof”  to  exhibit  their 
skill  in  his  presence. 

It  is  with  Eolipiles  as  with  other  materiel  of  old  jugglers.  The  few 
broken  specimens  and  straggling  notices  which  have  come  down  are  in¬ 
teresting  but  unsatisfactory ;  they  tantalize  with  a  sip,  and  make  the 
mouth  water  for  more,  provoking  a  thirst  which  they  cannot  allay.  That 
these  instruments  are  of  a  very  high  antiquity  is  undeniable,  and  that 
they  were  occasionally  used  to  eject  inflammable  fluids  for  deceptive 
and  destructive  purposes  is  equally  certain.  The  resemblance  in  the 
forms  and  functions  of  those  we  have  figured  to  mythological  fire-spout¬ 
ing  monsters,  is  too  striking  to  escape  observation.  And  is  there  any  ab¬ 
surdity  in  supposing  both  were  artificial ;  that  the  latter  were  literally 
what  they  are  described  ;  and  that  stories  of  dragon-killing  heroes  are 
not  quite  so  romantic  as  they  appear  %  A  literal  interpretation  of  such 
matters  may  appear  preposterous,  but  a  slight  view  of  the  subject  will 
convince  unprejudiced  minds  that  it  is  not  half  so  absurd  as  many  receiv¬ 
ed  metaphorical  solutions,  nor  is  it,  like  them,  embarrassed  with  insur¬ 
mountable  difficulties ;  on  the  contrary,  it  renders  things  intelligible 
which  paleologists  have  not  ventured  to  explain,  and  which,  without  re¬ 
ference  to  Eolipilic  automata,  we  presume  they  never  can  explain — 
things  so  bizarre  they  know  not  what  to  make  of  them.  But  once  admit 
they  were  what  they  pretend  to  be,  and  there  is  little  difficulty  in  receiv¬ 
ing  them ;  interpret  them  by  some  other  rule,  and  we  are  at  once  cast 
adrift  on  the  ocean  of  conjecture. 

Admit  that  mythic  characters  obtained  celebrity  from  battling  with 
Eolipilic  opponents  ;  that  some,  at  least,  of  the  dragons  and  many-headed 
monsters  of  antiquity  performed  actions  ascribed  to  them — belched  out 
smoke  and  flame,  shrieked  and  growled,  and  on  the  approach  of  strangers 
or  “curious  impertinents”  shook  themselves,  sprung  from  their  caves, 
(they  were  commonly  and  for  good  reasons  located  in  dark  places)  often 
destroyed  those  who  attacked  them,  and  sometimes  disappeared  in  sudden 
bursts  of  thunder  and  amidst  showers  of  thunderbolts — very  much  as 
their  descendants,  the  steam-dragons  of  the  present  day,  unfortunately 
now  and  then  do.  Admit  this,  and  passages  in  history,  poetry  and  tradi¬ 
tion,  hitherto  inexplicable,  become  recitals  of  facts  ;  embarrassing  enig¬ 
mas  are  unriddled,  and  the  supposed  offspring  of  fancy  are  found  sober 
children  of  truth.  That  Greek  and  Roman  writers  did  not  perceive  this 
is  little  to  the  point,  since  they  do  not  appear  to  have  been  acquainted 
with  fighting  Eolipiles;  they  were  therefore  necessarily  at  a  loss  to  ex¬ 
plain,  except  by  metaphor,  conflicts  between  these  machines  and  heroes 
of  ancient  days.  But  the  presiding  spirits  at  Eleusis  and  Delphos  could 
have  furnished  the  clew,  and,  had  it  suited  their  views,  could  have  illus¬ 
trated  the  entire  series  of  fire -breathing  monsters,  by  reference  to  their 
own  collections  ;  for,  as  before  remarked,  Eolipiles  went  from  the  altar  to 
the  field. 

In  those  remote  times,  when  superstition  reigned  paramount,  when 
common  objects  and  events  were  construed  into  omens  and  uncommon 
ones  were  looked  on  as  prodigies,  the  defeat  of  an  army  by  fire-breathing 
warriors  would  form  an  epoch  in  barbarian  annals  ;  exaggerated  descrip- 


588 


Wars  of  the  Giants. 


tions  of  flaming  chariots,  of  giants,  dragons,  hippogriffs  and  hybrids  of 
every  horrid  form,  and  possessing  supernatural  powers,  would  be  bla¬ 
zoned  abroad  and  become  permanently  preserved  in  tradition.  It  could 
not  be  otherwise  ;  and  that  such  was  really  the  case  is  evident,  for  my¬ 
thology  and  remote  history  is  replete  with  these  very  things  ;  with  battles 
between  Gods,  Cyclops  and  Titans.  But  in  process  of  time  the  artificial 
nature  of  warring  Eolipiles  would  sooner  or  later  be  suspected  and  as¬ 
certained.  Intrepid  individuals  took  courage  to  attack  and  had  the  good 
fortune  to  destroy  one.  Success  made  them  heroes,  if  not  something 
more.  To  swell  their  fame  the  form  and  faculties  of  their  strange  oppo¬ 
nents  were  distorted,  and  the  story  repeated,  with  every  addition  that  a 
love  of  the  marvellous  could  invent  or  credulity  receive,  till,  as  ages 
rolled  away,  it  became  just  what  such  stories  yet  extant  are — stories  of 
monster-killing  gallants  from  Jason  to  Saint  George. 


WARS  OF  THE  GIANTS. 

In  the  wars  of  the  giants,  fire,  thunder  and  thunderbolts  were  the 
chief  destructive  agents,  and  these,  we  are  told,  were  produced  by  and 
ejected  from  monsters,  apparently  precisely  in  the  manner  of  Pusterich. 
Some  had  more  heads  and  arms  than  have  Hindoo  deities,  with  bodies 
terminating,  like  that  of  Dagon,  in  legs  resembling  fish  or  serpents. 
When  brought  into  battle  their  terrible  aspects  and  the  volumes  of  flame 
they  poured  forth  filled  their  enemies,  the  gods,  with  consternation. 
Defeated,  these  fled  into  Egypt,  where  they  learned  the  nature  of  their 
ardent  foes.  Jupiter,  Hercules,  and  their  associate  refugees  having  thus 
ascertained  that  their  victors  were  not  invincible,  recovered  courage, 
returned,  and  were  at  last  victorious.  Now  what,  when  stripped  of  orien¬ 
tal  ornament,  does  this  amount  to,  but  a  conflict  similar  to  that  between 
Prester  John  and  his  Mongolian  invaders;  between  Regnerus  and  his 
unnatural  sons,  and  others  in  which  fire-spouting  images,  figured  in  this 
supplement,  were  employed  1  The  most  ingenious  conquering,  whether 
gods  or  mortals  were  combatants.  The  names  of  the  mythic  parties 
were  misnomers,  for  the  deities  were  ignorant  braggarts — they  could  not 
withstand  their  “  earth-born  ”  enemies,  but  fled  for  refuge  and  instruction 
into  other  lands.  The  accounts  remarkably  resemble  Chinese  bulletins 
of  fights  with  Europeans — contests  between  modern  “Celestials”  and 
“outside  barbarians.”  For,  ancient  like,  existing  “sons  of  heaven” 
seem  to  have  placed  at  first  as  much  dependence  upon  their  divine  pre¬ 
tensions  and  their  comminations  as  in  their  weapons,  and  therefore  were 
defeated.  The  giants  were  probably  ingenious  or  scientific  men — the 
Roger  Bacons  of  their  day — in  advance  of  the  age  and  consequently  de¬ 
nounced,  as  such  have  ever  been,  by  self-styled  heirs  of  heaven,  as  infidel 
dogs  or  children  of  Tartarus. 

The  circumstance  of  the  divinities  flying  to  Egypt  when  they  could  not 
cope  with  the  fire-breathing  monsters,  or  rather  with  the  cunning  mon¬ 
ster-makers,  is  remarkable.  There  they,  like  less  pretenders,  improved 
themselves  in  knowledge.  That  it  was  an  early  Pharaonic  policy  to  en¬ 
courage  the  discontented  of  neighboring  nations,  is  abundantly  proved 
in  the  Old  Testament.  “Wo  to  them  that  go  to  Egypt  for  help — that 
strengthen  themselves  in  the  strength  of  Pharaoh  !”  [See  Isa.  chaps.  30  and 
31 ;  Jerem.  42  and  43.]  How  deep  and  general  must  have  been  the  im¬ 
pression  of  the  power  of  the  Pharaohs  to  call  forth  the  declaration — “  Now 
the  Egyptians  are  men  and  not  God;  their  horses  flesh  and  not  spirit.” 


589 


Typhon.  Colchian  Bulls  and  Dragon. 

T  Y  P  H  O  N. 

Here  is  a  description  of  Typhon,  the  most  famous  of  fighting  giants— 
can  it  be  doubted  that  he  was  a  genuine  Pusterich  1  “  He  bad  nume¬ 
rous  heads  resembling  those  of  serpents  or  dragons.  Flames  of  devour¬ 
ing  fire  rushed  hissing  from  his  mouth  and  eyes ;  he  uttered  horrid  yells 
like  the  dissonant  shrieks  of  different  animals.  He  was  no  sooner  born 
than  he  warred  with  the  gods  and  put  them  to  flight.”  Not  a'circum- 
stance  is  here  mentioned  that  does  not  accord  with  his  alleged  artificial 
character,  and  there  are  few  others  which  do  not  harmonize  with  it 
Me  went  to  battle  as  soon  as  born,  that  is,  as  soon  as  he  was  made  The 
whole  family  was  said  to  be  “  earth-born  ’’—the  members  rising  out  of 
the  ground  completely  formed,  &c.;  indications  of  their  gross  not  ideal 
nature,  of  their  secret  construction  in  subterranean  workshops— the  lat¬ 
ter  a  precaution  essential  to  the  recognition  of,  and  belief  in  their  super¬ 
natural  origin.  r 

She  sings,  from  earth’s  dark  womb  how  Typhon  rose 

And  struck  with  mortal  fear  his  heavenly  foes. — [Ovid,  Met.  v.] 

The  name,  Typhon,  is  derived  from  a  word  signifying,  “  to  smoke.” 
The  goddess  of  night  was  the  mother  of  monsters  ;  an  enigma  beau¬ 
tifully  expressive  of  the  secret  fabrication  of  Eolipilic  imagery.  Typhon 

and  his  brethren  were  moreover  sons  of  Tartarus  as  well  as  of  Terra _ 

were  brought  forth  of  earth  by  the  assistance  of  hell— a  trait  still  further 
significative,  and  particularly  of  the  element  by  which  they  were  anima¬ 
ted,  that  from  which  their  terrors  were  derived.  Demons  they  were  in 
shape,  occupations  and  attributes;  in  the  torments  they  inflicted  and 
the  victims  they  slew ;  tangible,  and  the  most  perfect  representations  of 
evil  principles  and  passions.  The  paternity  of  these  monsters  is  the 
same  as  that  given  to  modern  ordnance,  so  true  it  is  that  similar  things 
ever  produce  the  same  ideas.  A  thousand  times  have  guns  and  gun¬ 
powder  been  described  as  infernal  inventions,  as  conceptions  injected 
by  demons  and  matured  by  their  influence. 

Does  the  idea  seem  too  gross  for  contending  gods  and  demi-gods  to 
fight  with  Eolipiles  ?  Let  it  be  remembered  that  Milton  could  find  no 
warring  engines  so  appropriate  for  Satan  and  his  hosts  as  artillery.  In 
fact,  poets  can  only  arm  mortal  or  immortal  warriors  with  weapons  and 
agents  that  are  known,  although  they  may  exaggerate  them.  All  sym¬ 
bolic  imagery  must  be  derived,  directly  or  remotely,  from  earthly  types. 
The  author  of  Paradise  Lost  necessarily  followed,  in  this  respect  also, 
the  old  mythologists  he  copied,  and  as  “  fiery  monsters,”  whether  guns 
or  Eolipiles,  are  not  in  their  nature  and  effects  much  unlike,  we  find 
little  difference  in  ancient  poetic  descriptions  of  one,  and  modern  poetic 
descriptions  of  the  other.  Indeed  they  might  often  be  interchanged  with¬ 
out  detection.  The  monsters  described  by  Milton  as  mounted  upon 
wheels,  whose  mouths  with  hideous  orifices  gaped,  and  which,  with  im¬ 
petuous  fury,  belched  from  their  deep  throats  chained-thunderbolts  and 
iron  hail,  are  therefore  no  stronger  proofs  of  guns  and  gunpowder  bein« 
known  during  the  English  Commonwealth,  than  are  fire-breathino-  hy° 
brids  of  mythology,  of  the  early  use  of  Eolipilic  engines. 


THE  COLCHIAN  HULLS  AND  DRAGON. 

If  we  turn  to  later  examples  we  shall  find  circumstances  leaking  out 
which  betray  the  artificial  character  of  mythic  monsters.  The  Argo« 
nautic,  like  all  early  expeditions,  was  of  a  piratical  nature.  Its  object 


590 


Meclca  and  Jason. — FI ying- Dragons. 


the  Colchian  treasury,  or  the  “  golden  fleece,”  a  term  in  ancient  Syriac 
implying  treasures  of  gold.  These  were  protected  by  a  dragon,  and  by 
two  brazen-horned  and  hoofed  bulls,  which  flashed  from  their  mouths 
and  nostrils  flames  and  smoke.  As  usual,  they  were  located  at  the  en¬ 
trance  of  a  cave. 

“  Thick  smoke  their  subterraneous  home  proclaims; 

*  “  From  their  broad  nostrils  pour  the  rolling  flames.” 

[Apollonius,  L.  iii.] 

The  daughter  of  iEetes  (the  Colchian  king)  becomes  enamored  of 
Jason.  The  lovers  swear  eternal  fidelity  to  each  other;  and  to  save  the 
adventurer’s  life,  Medea  explains  to  him  the  secret  of  the  monster’s 
powers.  Thus  informed,  and  furnished  with  an  ointment  to  protect  his 
face  and  hands  from  the  singeing  blast  at  the  onset,  he  approached  with 
a  smiling  countenance,  as  well  he  might,  and  quickly,  to  the  chagrin  of 
the  monarch,  subdued  the  “  brazen  ”  monsters.  If  any  doubt  remains  re¬ 
specting  the  true  character  of  this  transaction,  it  is  greatly  if  not  wholly 
removed  by  the  subsequent  conduct  of  Medea.  She  every  where  evin¬ 
ces  familiarity  with  the  principles  of  the  Eolipile — with  secret  applications 
of  fire,  steam,  sulphur,  inflammable  fluids  and  explosive  compositions. 
(See  page  120.)  By  the  adroit  use  of  these,  which  she  introduced  into 
Greece,  she  became  celebrated  as  the  most  expert  enchantress  of  an¬ 
tiquity.  It  was  by  a  clever  but  diabolical  trick  in  Pyrotechnics  she  de¬ 
stroyed  Creusa,  while,  further  to  be  revenged  on  her  unfaithful  husband, 
she  contrived  to  set  his  palace  in  flames  and  then  disappeared  in  a  cha¬ 
riot  drawn  by  winged  dragons ! — rprobably  some  startling  pyrotechnic 
device  learned  from  the  magicians  at  her  father’s  court,  and  under  the 
cover  of  which  she  withdrew ;  unless  we  are  to  suppose  she  was  blown 
up  by  the  explosion  of  one  of  her  own  caldrons  or  compounds. 

There  is  no  improbability  in  the  supposition  that  attempts  at  flying 
were  somewhat  frequent  in  remote  ages,  and  that  jugglers  and  artists, 
like  Dmdalus,  did  then,  as  in  subsequent  times,  get  up  exhibitions  of  the 
kind  ;  but,  be  this  as  it  might,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  so  expert  a 
pyrotechnist  as  Medea,  was  at  no  loss  in  sending  up  a  chariot  with  an 
artificial  representation  of  herself,  on  the  same  principle  as  such  things 
have  been  done  from  time  immemorial  in  India  and  among  the  Chinese. 
They  wei’e  common  a  few  centuries  ago  in  Europe.  Like  most  old 
writers  on  fire-works,  John  Bate  gives  directions  how  to  make  “fire- 
drakes  ”  and  “  flying-dragons.”  The  latter  were  to  be  constructed  of 
ribs  of  light  and  dry  wood,  or  with  whalebone  “  covered  with  muscovie 
glasse  and  painted.”  They  were  to  be  filled  with  “  petrars,” — fiery  ser¬ 
pents  were  attached  to  their  wings,  which  \yere  arranged  to  shake  when 
the  monster  moved.  A  sparkling  composition  was  to  burn  at  the  mouths 
and  tails,  and  one  or  two  large  rockets  were  to  be  attached,  “  according 
to  the  bignesse  and  weight  of  each  dragon.”  The  trick  of  Simon  Magus, 
in  presence  of  Claudian  or  Nero,  was  perhaps  allied  to  that  by  which 
the  Colchian  enchantress  astounded  her  adopted  countrymen.  Giving 
out  that  he  would  prove  his  divinity,  or  his  alliance  with  the  gods,  by 
flying,  he  appeared  at  the  appointed  time,  as  the  story  says,  on  the  top 
of  a  high  tower,  whence  he  flung  himself,  (or  an  artificial  substitute,) 
and  floated  for  some  time  in  the  air,  supported  by  demons  or  dragons. 
The  latter  no  doubt  as  real  as  the  huge  scarabeus  which  Dr.  John  Dee, 
state-conjurer  to  Elizabeth,  made,  and  which  flew  off  with  a  man  on  its 
back,  and  took  a  basket  of  provisions  for  the  journey. 

Oriental  literature  is  laden  with  aerial  exploits  of  this  nature — of  en* 


Ancient  and  Modern  Jugglers.— Medea  and  the  Dragon.  591 

chanters,  who  like  Medea,  or  Urganda  in  Amadis  de  Gaul,  transported 
men  through  the  air  on  artificial  serpents  and  dragons,  and  of  conflicts  be¬ 
tween  knights  and  monsters.  But  for  the  loss  of  those  volumes  on  “  cu¬ 
rious  arts,  —the  pile  of  magical  books  burnt  at  Ephesus — [Acts,  xix.  19.) 
many  an  ancient  and  modem  prodigy  might  have  been  explained.  We 
know  with  what  ardor  marvellous  tricks  and  stories  were  devised  and 
concocted  in  the  middle  ages,  and  with  what  avidity  gaping  multitudes 
received  them.  Even  at  this  very  day  similar  tricks  are  played  off  suc¬ 
cessfully  by  monks  to  unsuspicious  congregations.  Is  it  any  wondei, 
then,  to  find  pagan  boors  in  Roman  times,  and  others  in  the  darkest  of 
mythic  epochs,  dupes  to  expert  jugglers  1  We  may  regret  the  inflituation 
of  remote  ages,  but  we  should  not  forget  how,  in  comparatively  late 
days,  traditions  arose  and  swelled  in  wonder  as  years  rolled  over  them, 
and  how  mechanical  devices,  simple  in  themselves,  but  not  comprehend¬ 
ed  by  the  public,  were  metamorphosed  into  supernatural  productions, 
which  increased  in  mystery  and  magnitude  as  the  times  when  they  were 
contemplated  receded  from  those  of  their  birth.  Had  printing  not  been 
introduced  we  might  have  competed  with  the  ancients  in  prodigies,  and 
prodigies  as  fully  believed;  for  there  are  few  old  examples” derived 
from  tangible  mechanism,  or  pure  phantasma,  that  have  not  been 
imitated  by  modern  manufacturers.  But  alas  for  these !  the  revival  of 
letters  is  the  bane  of  their  fame.  Stripped  of  their  borrowed  garments 
they  stand  before  us  as. ordinary  mortals — a  predicament  most” of  their 
predecessors  would  be  in,  had  we  equal  facilities  to  disrobe  them. 

The  manner  of  taming  the  dragon  at  Colchis  is  characteristic.  It  was 
the  work  of  Medea  rather  than  of  Jason,  accomplished  privily,  and  at 
midnight.  Instead  of  instructing  the  leader  of  the  Grecian  adventurers 
to  attack  it  as  he  attacked  the  bovine  monsters,  armed  with  his  faulchion 
and  club — a  species  of  combat  that  might  have  alarmed  the  palace,  she 
adopted  a  process  more  quiet  and  equally  effective ;  in  fact,  just  such  an 
one  as  might  have  been  expected  from  her. 

“  To  make  the  dragon  sleep  that  never  slept, 

Whose  crest  shoots  dreadful  lustre ;  from  his  jaws 
A  triple  tire  of  forked  stings  he  draws, 

With  fangs  and  wings  of  a  prodigious  size: 

Such  was  the  guardian  of  the  golden  prize. 

Yet  him,  besprinkled  with  Lethccan  dew. 

The  fair  enchantress  into  slumbers  threw."  [Met.  vii.] 

That  is,  in  unadorned  prose,  she  turned  or  threw  on  the  concealed 
boiler  and  furnace  a  shower  of  cold  water ;  and  thus,  without  injuring 
the  dragon,  sent  him  as  effectually  to  sleep  as  a  steam-engine  is  without 
steam — the  very  device  which  has  been  recommended  to  render  harm¬ 
less  a  boiler  when  ready  to  explode. 

The  incident  mentioned  by  Apollonius  of  the  dragon  hissing  so  hor¬ 
ribly  and  loud,  when  the  two  lovers  approached,  as  to  cause  neighboring 
forests  to  echo  back  the  sound  and  make  distant  people  start  in  their 
dreams,  is  pure  hyperbole  :  if  modified  to  an  ordinary  growl  it  is  hardly 
reconcileable  with  what  he  just  before  narrates  of  the  lady  being  so  cau¬ 
tious  of  awakening  the  numerous  palace-guards  as  to  escape  through 
by-paths  bai-efoot.  Sensible  of  the  solecism  he  in  the  next  breath  as¬ 
cribes  the  undisturbed  repose  of  Aretes  and  his  family  to  magic.  It 
would  however  be  futile  to  attempt  to  extract  unadulterated  truth  in 
every  particular  from  labored  fiction,  and  particularly  in  dragon  history, 
to  make  out  where  truth  and  fable  meet,  where  one  begins  or  the  other 


592 


The  Chimaera. —  Cacus. 


ends.  Facts  woven  up  in  old  poetry  were  like  woollen  threads  in  Baby¬ 
lonian  garments — valued  in  proportion  as  they  were  embellished.  The 
poet’s  like  the  sculptor’s  or  embroiderer’s  skill  was  measured  by  the  art 
with  which  ordinary  materials  were  lost  in  forms  and  ornament.  Few 
think  of  aluminous  earth  while  viewing  the  splendid  vase,  and  none  look 
for  truth  unadorned  in  works  of  classic  artists.  * 


THE  CHIMjERA. 

The  Chimaera  destroyed  by  Bellerophon  looks  very  like  another  speci¬ 
men  of  Eolipilic  ingenuity,  though  represented  of  course  as  a  living  ani¬ 
mal,  agreeably  to  legendary  tradition  and  poetic  license.  Homer  de¬ 
scribes  it  as 

. Lion  laced, 

With  dragon  tail,  shag  bodied  as  the  goat, 

And  from  his  jaws  ejecting  streams  of  fire.  [11.  vi.] 

The  most  popular  of  ancient  explanations  supposes  this  monster  sig¬ 
nified  a  burning  mountain,  whose  top,  on  account  of  its  desolate  nature, 
was  the  resort  of  lions,  [an  obvious  contradiction]  the  middle  being  fruit¬ 
ful,  abounded  with  goats,  the  marshy  ground  at  the  bottom  swarmed 
with  serpents,  and  Bellerophon  by  cultivating  the  mountain  subdued  it ! 
Such  is  one  of  the  best  specimens  of  classical  guessing,  and  yet  both 
mountain  and  its  inhabitants  were  suppositious — assumed  for  want  of 
better  grounds  of  conjecture.  It  is  observable  that  old  fire-breathing 
monsters  are  represented  as  akin  to  each  other :  thus  the  Chimaera,  the 
dragon  which  guarded  the  golden  fruit  in  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides, 
Cerberus  and  others,  were  related  to  Typhon  and  the  rest  of  the  giants — 
as  if  to  intimate  their  common  nature,  so  that,  according  to  mythology 
itself,  if  one  was  an  automaton,  all,  or  nearly  all,  partook  of  the  same 
character.  If  the  mountain  supplied  the  true  solution  of  the  Chimaera,  it 
should  furnish  a  key  to  unriddle  the  rest,  but  it  would  be  impossible  to 
locate  volcanoes  where  fiery  dragons  were — in  gardens,  cellars,  palaces, 
&c.  and  still  more  so  to  make  them  travel  abroad  and  rush  hither  and 
thither  in  battle. 

How  much  more  reasonable  to  admit  the  Chimaera  to  have  been  an 
Eolipilic  dragon;  its  description  is  then  natural,  its  appearance  and  per¬ 
formances  credible,  and  its  demolition  by  the  great  captain  consistent. 
Old  demi-gods  did  not  acquire  their  titles  by  wielding  the  mattock. 

If  the  figure  No.  289  had  a  couple  more  heads  and  were  furnished 
with  the  caudal  terminus  of  a  lizard  or  cayman,  it  would  form  no  bad 
representation  of  the  Chimajra. 


CACUS. 

As  like  causes  produce  like  effects,  so  in  early  as  in  later  times  dis¬ 
banded  soldiers  turned  often  robbers.  Too  idle  to  work,  numbers  of 
these  ruffians  lived  by  private  plunder  when  opportunities  ceased  for 
sharing  public  spoils.  Not  a  few  of  the  old  heroes  belonged  to  this  class, 
and  among  them  was  Cacus.  The  story  of  this  famous  thief  is  an  admi- 


“  There  is  a  striking  likeness  in  the  manners,  customs  and  superstitions  of  the  Col- 
chians,  as  portrayed  by  Apollonius  Rhodius,  and  those  of  the  people  described  bv  Saxo 
and  Olaus  Magnus.  It  would  be  a  curious  fact  if  fighting  and  juggling  Eolipiles,  or 
the  knowledge  of  them,  lingered  in  the  regions  of  the  Euxine  and  Caspian  from  the 
adventure  of  the  Argonauts  to  the  battles  in  which  the  automatons  represented  in  figs. 
289  and  290  are  said  to  have  been  employed.  It  was  from  Scythia  the  arts  of  brass¬ 
founding  and  working  in  metals  descended  to  lower  latitudes,  according  to  Pliny. 


Personification  of  Eolipiles — Geryon. 


593 

honest  and  dishonest,  his  father  wrought  bv  h  i  d  i  u  won<iers, 
cave  favorably  located  for  his  purposes.  7  '  As  usua1’  he  occupied  a 

;h‘  *  /  S,ee  y°«  rock  ^at  mates  the  sky, 

About  whose  feet  such  heaps  of  rubbish  lie- 
Such  indigested  ruin  ;  bleak  and  bare  '  ’ 

How  desert  now  it  stands,  exposed  in’air' 

T-sonce  a  robber’s  den,  enclosed  around 
With  living  stone,  and  deep  beneath  the  around 

TV  h10MSt-r  Cacus>  more  than  half  a  beast, 

This  hold,  impervious  .o  !he  sun,  possess’d.’  [£„.  viil,  Dryden , 

oi  p belSblaTludVi -age,  which  (notij 

by  Hercules,  who  we  have  seen  had  so^  ^  “  le"gth  deWd 
through  it,  appears  to  have  been  due  to^lur  ’tact  bv  wIITk"  PaSfT,-g 

drri“7ettyeP0ChS-  ■"  *• 

vogue;  fire-engines,  mifis^ g-l* "  dl™?  T* 

forming  functions  of  living  beings.  Sometimes  these 

easy  -The it™  0*^°™  f°  huraa,litf  .  The  solution  is  however 

ffall'm" k'  S°T  thf0l!sands,of  years  hence,  of  Washington  and  Franklin’ 

whit  T  f  ',hr  “h°uid  ,hen  be  lost  except  a  few  statements  of 
ch  one  described  them  as  floating  monsters,  300  feet  in  length  with 
scores  of  brazen  mouths  through  which  they  ^mited  floods  of  fir’eTnd 
roared  so  loud  as  to  make  mountains  quake  :-or  according  to  nnnrb 
they  were  of  less  majestic  size,  but  showering  volumeso&Lke  from 
iron  tin  oats,  trembling  with  passion  when  obstructed  in  their  nrofrrp^ 
and  then  starting  forward,  gasping  and  galloping  over  the  uroumfwbb 
a  most  lightning  speed,  and  leaving  trains  of  fire  behind  '  Land  and  wa 

shins'andT  *  .8Uch  Pe°Ple  thi"k  “l-  informed  that  74  gun.* 

ni  l?  thoseT^braTeTZI.  "  b°re  the  —»  andS8ur- 

.  Gery°n,  another  demigod,  resembled’cacus  in  appearance  but  nnf  in 
circumstances  and  condition,  for  he  was  a  prince,  and  rich  in  flocks  and 

38 


594 


Hercules. — Primitive  prevalence  of  Robbery. 


herds,  and  to  guard  them  had  a  dog  with  two  heads  and  a  dragon  with 
seven  ;  both  of  which  were  overcome  by  Hercules,  who  also  slew  their 
owner  and  seized  the  cattle  as  his  rightful  spoil.  This  Quixote  of  mytho-  ! 
logy  travelled  in  quest  of  strange  adventures,  and  enriched  himself,  as 
all  heroes  did  and  do,  by  rapine.  In  his  time,  as  in  Job’s,  wealth  consist¬ 
ed  principally  in  cattle;  and  cattle  stealing  was,  as  in  subsequent  times, 
not  held  dishonorable — except  when  unsuccessful.  Gods  and  demigods 
followed  and  acquired  fame  by  the  profession.  Of  primitive  moss-troop¬ 
ers  none  equalled  Mercury  and  Hercules  in  cunning ;  it  was  therefore  a 
sad  mistake  in  Cacus  to  seize  eight  of  Geryon’s  kine  while  in  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  such  a  bold  and  knowing  drover  as  Alcides.  Though  he  succeeded 
in  getting  them  unperceived  into  his  den,  his  fire-spitting  image  had  no 
fears  for  the  enraged  loser,  who  was  too  familiar  with  such  things  to 
dread  them. 

This  primitive  prevalence  of  robbery  sufficiently  accounts  for  the 
adoption  of  secret  and  extraordinary  devices  to  scare  night  thieves  from 
folds  and  dwellings  of  the  rich ;  and  sure  we  are  that  modem  ingenuity 
might  be  taxed  in  vain  to  produce  one  better  adapted  to  terrify  the  igno¬ 
rant  and  keep  the  dishonest  at  bay,  in  dark  and  grossly-superstitious  times, 
than  flame-ejecting  Eolipiles.  On  the  approach  of  a  thief,  the  concealed 
attendant  had  only  to  open  a  cock  to  send  a  scorching  blast  on  the  offend¬ 
er,  or  the  latter  might  himself  unconsciously  be  made  to  open  it  by  his 
weight — a  species  of  contrivance  perfectly  in  character  with  the  genius 
and  acknowledged  productions  of  ancient  artists.  V ulcan  was  full  of  such 
conceits.  Even  now  a  grim-looking  image  of  the  kind  would  excite  no 
little  horror  among  stupid  burglars,  while  it  would  strike  savages  dumb. 

The  word  Geryon,  according  to  some  paleologists,  signified  thunder¬ 
bolts,  and  was  allusive  to  the  hissing,  piercing,  overwhelming  and  scorch¬ 
ing  blasts  which  issued  from  the  dog  and  dragon,  or  from  a  triple-bodied 
monster  called  Geryon  :  not  a  slight  intimation  this  of  their  Eolipilic 
nature.  In  fact,  to  consider  them  as  figurative  creations,  and  the  rest  of 
the  characters  and  objects  real,  is  inconsistent ;  unless  it  be  conceded 
that  Geryon’s  cows  were  kept  from  thieves  by  metaphors,  and  that  these 
were  hacked  and  shattered  by  material  clubs  and  faulchions.  It  would 
have  required  some  flaming  similes  to  frighten  experienced  cattle-lifters 
like  Cacus  and  Autolycus  from  their  destined  prey,  or  to  induce  them  to 
yield  up  acquired  spoils. 

To  resolve  these  “  brazen”  monsters  into  mere  creations  of  the  brain, 
appears  to  us  as  reasonable  as  to  explain  away  in  like  manner  metalline 
automata  of  the  Bible — representing  them  as  having  had  no  connection 
with  the  crucible,  but  simple  abstractions  :  the  serpent,  for  example,  as 
emblematical  of  the  cunning  of  Moses,  and  the  calf  of  stupidity  in  the 
people.  By  the  same  process,  we  might  interpret  the  “bronze”  vessel 
or  statue  in  which  Eurystheus  concealed  himself  from  Hercules  into  an 
imaginary  symbol  of  excessive  fear;  and  so  with  the  brazen  bull  of 
Phalaris  and  horse  of  Aruntius,  in  which  human  victims  were  consumed, 
and  their  shrieks  made  to  resemble  the  bellowing  of  oxen,  by  reverbera¬ 
ting  through  interior  tubes  :  a  device  probably  as  old  as  Amalekitish 
artists,  and  even  older.  The  calf  or  heifer  cast  by  the  Israelites  in  the 
wilderness  “  lowed,”  according  to  the  Koran.  (Chap,  vii.) 

No  one  can  doubt  the  ability  of  workmen  ancient  as  Vulcan  and  the 
Cyclops  to  produce  machinery  of  the  kind.  If  one  fact  be  more  prominent 
than  another  in  the  earliest  records,  sacred  and  profane,  it  is  the  perfec¬ 
tion  to  which  brass-founding  had  arrived,  and  the  amazing  extent  to 


Primitive  Brass-Founding. —  Cerberus.  595 

which  metallic  imagery  was  carried.  This  was  a  natural  result  of  idol¬ 
atry.  Superstition  was  the  nurse  of  these  arts;  the  keenest  intellects  and 
finest  workmen  were  engaged  in  them.  The  grand  distinction  between 
the  useful  professions  of  past  and  present  times,  is  not  due  to  any  differ- 

enCV^Cap™lty  °r  but  t0  the  estimati°n  in  which  the  arts  were  and 
are  held.  The  ancients  were  ignorant  of  their  destined  influence  on 
human  happiness  and  glory,  and  therefore  only  such  branches  were  pa¬ 
tronized  as  strengthened  the  hold  of  chief  priests  and  rulers  on  the  mul- 

tltllCl  G. 


CERBERUS. 

It  is  said  of  Hercules  that  he  went  about  s'ubduing  the  powerful  re¬ 
lieving  the  oppressed  and  exposing  fraud  ;  but  when  occasions  required 
he  obviously  acted  the  juggler  himself.  The  last  and  greatest  of  his 
twelve  labors— his  Cerberean  adventure— bears  on  every  feature  traces 
of  trick.  He  here  employs  the  very  device  which  Cacus,  Geryon,  iEetes 
and  others  had  found  so  successful.  To  play  it  off  well  would  establish  his 
fame  over  all  competitors.  Having  destroyed  every  earthly  dragon  he  had 
heard  of,  he  undertakes  to  wind  up  his  achievements  in  that  line  by  prov¬ 
ing  his  prowess  upon  the  one  which  guarded  the  gates  of  hell.  It  was 
therefore  given  out  that  he  was  about  to  bring  up  Cerberus  to  light  and 
exhibit  him  to  mortal  view.  This  would  eclipse  all  other  dragon  transac¬ 
tions,  and  this  he  accomplished  !  Is  it  asked  how  %  Why  by  entering  a 
“ dar}  cavern”  on  Mount  Taenarus,  and  after  a  while  dragging  to  Its 
mouth  a  three-headed  dog — an  Eolipilic  automaton  !  As  the°exhibition 
was  of  course  made  in  the  night,  the  affrighted  spectators,  and  all  not  in 
the  secret,  could  not  doubt,  at  the  distance  they  stood,  the  presence  of  the 
canine  guardian  of  Tartarus  ;  its  eyes  glaring  with  living  fire,  smoke  pour¬ 
ing  from  its  jaws,  its  movements  and  the  noise  it  made,  would  more  than 
ensure  conviction.  The  public  part  of  the  performance  beino-  over,  the 
exhibiter  agreeably  to  promise,  instantly  set  about  (no  doubt  to  the  ^rati¬ 
fication  of  the  audience  and  particularly  of  Eurystheus)  to  remove  the 
monster  to  its  own  domicile.  There  is  no  room  to  doubt  this — he  certainly 
pulled  it  back  to  the  place  whence  he  drew  it  forth,  and  none  were  so  bold 
as  to  follow  and  see  how  he  succeeded.  Probably  not  one  of  the  beholders 
but  would  rather  his  hands  and  feet  had  changed  places  than  have  ven¬ 
tured  within  the  cave  on  this  occasion. 

We  can  form  a  pretty  accurate  idea  of  the  sonorous  “roarings  ”  the 
“  hissings,”  and  “  variegated  yells”  of  mythic  monsters,  by  similar” sounds 
produced  when  steam  is  blown  off,  through  various  formed  orifices  from 
modern  Eolipiles. 

A  distinction  is  observable  in  the  characters  and  applications  of  fire- 
vomitmg  images.  Those  which  represented  gods  or  warriors  partook 
more  or  less  of  the  human  figure,  while  such  as  guarded  enclosures  for 
cattle,  habitations,  and  places  where  riches  were  kept,  put  on  forms 
compounded  of  dogs,  serpents,  lizards,  bats,  &c.  i.  e.  were  dragons— an 
idea  derived  from  the  employment  of  household  mastiffs  and  shepherd 
curs.  (A  beautiful  illustration  of  the  practice  of  protecting  houses  is 
seen  on  entering  the  vestibule  of  “The  house  jf  the  Tragic  poet”  at 
Pompeii.  On  the  mosaic  pavement  is  lively  represented”a  fierce  and 
full-sized  dog,  collared  and  chained,  in  the  act  of  barkincr,  ard  ready  to 
spring  upon  the  intruder.  At  his  feet  is  the  caution,  in^ecdble  letters 
cave  canem,  beware  of  the  dog.)  Griffins;  or  dragons,  says  Pliny,  form¬ 
erly  guarded  gold  mines,  and  in  old  illustrated  works  some  queer-look- 


596  Gold  Mines  guarded  by  Dragons. —  Origin  of  Tartarus. 


ing  nondescripts  are  seen  performing  that  duty.  The  sentiment  was 
once  universally  received ;  it  still  has  believers  in  benighted  pails  of 
Europe,  and  over  a  great  part  of  the  East.  It  was  encouraged  by  inte¬ 
rested  individuals  to  keep  timid  thieves  at  a  distance.  Ridiculous  as  it 
appears,  it  accords  with  every  other  occupation  of  dragons.  Why  not 
protect  rich  mines  as  well  as  a  few  pounds  of  metal  1  The  story  or  the 
fact  gave  rise  to  the  fable  of  Cerberus;  for  Tartarus,  its  occupants  and 
their  occupations  were  all  derived  from  earthly,  tangible  types. 

Pluto  was  an  extensive  mining  proprietor,  Tartarus  his  subterranean 
domains  ;  its  fires  his  furnaces.  Demons  were  felons  condemned  “  to  the 
mines,”  where,  naked  and  in  “  chains,”  some  toiled  in  darkness,  and  were 
urged  to  unnatural  exertions  by  the  lashes  of  inexorable  overseers ; 
others,  ghastly  from  inhaling  the  poisonous  fumes,  appeared  still  more  so 
in  the  glare  of  sulphurous  fires,  in  which  they  roasted  and  smelted  the 
ores.  Their  punishment  was  endless,  their  sentence  irrevocable  ;  they 
had  no  hopes  of  pardon  and  no  chance  of  escape.  Cerberus  freely  per¬ 
mitted  all  to  enter  the  gate,  but  not  one  to  pass  out.  There  were  no 
periods  of  cessation  from  labor;  their  fires  never  went  out;  both  night 
and  day  the  smoke  of  their  torments  ascended  ;  groans  never  ceased  to 
be  heard,  nor  the  rattling  of  chains  and  shrieks  of  despair.  Acheron, 
Cocytus  and  Styx  were  subterranean  streams,  each  possessing  some  pe 
culiar  feature  or  property,  while  near  Phlegethon  arose  a  stream  of  car- 
buretted  hydrogen,  a  phenomenon  not  uncommon  on  the  earth’s  surface, 
but  often  occurring  in  mines.  Such  is  the  most  probable  exposition  of 
the  origin  of  Tartarus  From  what  else,  indeed,  could  the  heathen 
have  derived  the  idea  at  epochs  anterior  to  Scripture  descriptions  of 
hell,  and  before  prophets  or  apostles  flourished  1  We  know  that  the  an¬ 
cients  sent  their  worst  felons  to  the  mines,  and  that  these  places  pre¬ 
sented  the  most  vivid  representations  of  severe  and  ceaseless  punishment 
which  the  earth  affords.  The  greater  part  of  the  convicts  ere  they  en¬ 
tered  these  dreary  regions  took  their  last  look  of  the  sun.  With  shud¬ 
dering  horror,  pale,  and  eyes  aghast,  they  viewed  their  lamentable  fate. 
Milton’s  description  of  hell  was  literally  true  of  ancient  mines  and  sub¬ 
terranean  smelting  furnaces. 

“  A  dungeon  horrible,  on  all  sides  around 
As  one  great  furnace  flam’d,  yet  from  those  flames 
No  light,  but  rather  darkness  visible 
Serv’d  only  to  discover  sights  of  wo; 

Regions  of  sorrow,  doleful  shades,  where  peace 
And  rest  can  never  dwell,  hope  never  comes 
That  comes  to  all;  but  torture  without  end 
Still  urges,  and  a  fiery  deluge,  fed 
With  ever-burning  sulphur  unconsumed.” 

Does  the  reader  think  the  picture  too  highly  colored  for  mortal  per¬ 
dition  1  Why,  it  lacks  a  modern  trait,  one  more  revolting  than  the 
ancients  ever  imagined.  Boys  and  girls  from  six  to  ten  years  and  up¬ 
wards,  born  and  bred  in  coal-pits,  less  knowing  than  brutes,  and  incom¬ 
parably  worse  cared  for,  are,  or  were  recently,  wholly  employed  in  drag¬ 
ging  and  pushing  on  all  fours,  and  perfectly  denuded,  laden  sledges 
through  dark,  broken,  wet  and  tortuous  passages  or  sewers  to  the  pit’s 
mouth  !  And  this  too  in  a  Christian  and  enlightened  land,  where  no 
small  part  of  the  people’s  earnings  are  consumed  by  an  opulent  hie¬ 
rarchy  !  Is  it  possible  for  hell  itself  so  effectually  to  efface  God’s 
image,  or  to  heap  such  accumulated  woes  on  infant  and  unoffending  vic¬ 
tims  I  Pluto  and  his  myrmidons  would  have  quaked  with  passion  at  the 


Sulphurous  Fires  in  Tartarus. 


597 


bare  proposal  of  such  a  scheme ;  yet  it,  and  other  evils  scarcely  less 
sickening  and  vile,  have  their  defenders  among  those  who  worship  the 
molochs  of  monarchy  and  mammon.  Heaven  help  the  oppressed  of  this 
earth— the  creators  but  not  partakers  of  its  wealth— who  industriously 
toil,  and  through  excessive  penury  prematurely  die— urged  to  produce 

a  maximum  amount  of  work  with  a  minimum  of  rest  and  food _ who 

with  their  offspring  groan  in  hopeless  misery  here,  and  are  threatened 
with  endless  torments  in  another  life  if  they  remain  not  satisfied  “in 
that  station  into  which,”  some  reverend  and  blaspheming  despots  say 
it  hath  pleased  God  to  call  them !”  o  r  j 


The  reason  why  sulphur  figured  so  largely  in  descriptions  of  Tar¬ 
tarus  must  be  apparent  to  all  conversant  with  mining  and  metallurgical 
operations.  It  is  the  earth’s  internal  fuel,  the  most  profuse  of  subterra¬ 
nean  inflammable  substances.  It  pervades  most  mineral  bodies  ;  and  not 
minerals  alone,  but  in  metalliferous  ores  it  wonderfully  abounds.  All  the 
principal  ores  of  commerce  are  sulphurets ;  iron,  silver,  copper  tin 
lead,  zinc,  &c.  Of  these  some  contain  15,  and  others  50  per  cent,  and 
upwards  of  sulphur,  to  get  rid  of  which  constitutes  the  chief  difficulty  in 
their  reduction.  In  order  to  this  they  are  “  roasted  ”  at  a  low  red  heat 
lor  six,  twelve,  twenty,  and  some  for  thirty  hours,  that  the  sulphur  may 
be  \olatuized,  and  not  till  its  blue  flames  cease  is  the  signal  realized  to  in¬ 
crease  the  heat  and  fuse  the  metal.  Thus,  for  every  ton  of  the  latter,  half 
a  ton,  and  often  a  whole  ton  of  the  former  has  to  be  driven  off  in  flames 
and  vapor ;  so  that  it  was  with  strict  propriety  said  that  Pluto’s  fires 
were  fed  with  it.  Comparatively  speaking,  they  consisted  of  little 
else,  and  little  else  was  felt  or  seen.  It  impregnated  every  object,  while 
from  its  offensive  odor  and  suffocating  fumes  none  could  escape.  Im¬ 
mense  quantities  of  common  brimstone  are  obtained  by  collecting  and 
condensing  the  vapors  that  ascend  from  smelting  furnaces ;  and  it  may 
have  been  this,  or  a  native  mass,  which  formed  the  throne  or  usual  seat 
of  the  lord  of  the  lower  regions.  As  long  as  the  earth  endures,  volcanos 
burn,  and  minerals  are  reduced,  there  will  be,  as  in  Pluto’s  time,  arti¬ 
ficial  as  well  as  natural  fires  of  ever-burning  sulphur. 

There  are  passages  in  Maundeville’s  Travels  corroborative  of  Carpini’s 
images  and  Pliny’s  Griffins.  He  speaks  of  artists  in  northern  Asia  as 
wonderfully  expert  in  automatical  contrivances— “  fulle  of  cauteles  and 
sotylle  disceytes,”  making  “  bestes  and  bryddes,  that  songen  full  delecta- 
bely,  and  meveden  be  craft,  that  it  semede  thei  weren  quyke.”  In  his 
2S  Cap.  he  describes  a  valley  rich  in  gold  and  silver,  (in  the  “  lordchippe 
of  Prester  J ohn,”)  but  it  abounded  with  devils,  and  few  men  who  ventured 
there  for  treasure  returned.  This  was  the  story,  and  we  need  not  say 
how  like  a  primitive  artifice  to  scare  people  from  intruding.  “  And  in 
mydde  place  of  that  vale,  undir  a  roche,  is  an  hed  and  the° visage  of  a 
devyl  bodyliche,  fulle  horrible  and  dreadfulle  to  see,  and  it  schewethe 
not  but  the  hed  to  the  schuldres.  But  there  is  no  man  in  the  world  so 
hardy,  Cristene  man  ne  other,  but  that  he  wold  ben  a  drad  for  to  behold 
it;  and  that  it  wolde  semen  him  to  dye  for  drede,  so  hideouse  is  it  for 
to  beholde.  For  he  beholdethe  every  man  so  scharpley,  with  dredfulle 
eyen  that  ben  evere  more  movynge  and  sparklynge  as  fuyr,  and  chaung- 
ethe  and  sterethe  so  often  in  dyverse  manere,  with  so  horrible  counte¬ 
nance,  that  no  man  dar  not  neighen  [approach]  towardes  him.  And  fro 
him  comethe  sinohe  and  stynlc  and  fuyr ,  and  so  much  abhomynacioun,  that 
unethe  no  man  may  there  endure.”  This  was  one  of  the  tricks  which 
the  traveller  could  not  tell,  whether  it  was  done  “  by  craft  or  by  negro- 


598 


Dragons. —  Chinese  Festivals. 


maneye.”  From  automata  he  saw  in  the  country  belonging  to  Prester 
John’s  father-in-law,  [China]  he  was  led  to  conclude  that  artists  there 
surpassed  all  men  under  heaven  for  deceptive  inventions. 

That  devices  like  the  one  just  described,  or  similar  to  the  brazen 
horses  of  Regnerus,  were  in  vogue  in  the  East,  in  Maundeville’s  time,  ap¬ 
pears  from  Marco  Paulo>  who  mentions  magic  contrivances  for  darken¬ 
ing  the  air  with  clouds  of  smoke,  &c.  in  use  by  the  military,  and  under 
cover  of  which  many  were  slain.  Marco  himself  was  once  in  danger  of 
his  life  on  such  an  occasion :  he  escaped,  but  several  of  his  associates 
were  cut  off. 


DRAGONS. 

Had  not  ideas  of  fire  spouting  nondescripts  been  exceedingly  ancient 
they  had  never  become  so  intimately  and  universally  mixed  up  with 
human  affairs.  Throughout  the  old  world  the  dragon  was  the  ne  plus 
ultra  of  impersonations  of  the  horrible — the  king  of  monsters.  It  is  so 
now,  and  a  more  appalling  one,  or  one  invested  with  more  terrific  quali¬ 
ties  cannot  be  devised.  So  deeply  was  its  image  impressed  on  ancient 
minds  that  it  pervaded  history,  song,  and  all  religions.  We  meet  with  it 
in  the  Scriptures  as  well  as  in  the  classics.  The  devil,  from  his  reputed 
connection  with  smoke  and  liquid  fire,  is  named  “the  great  dragon.”  In 
old  religious  processions,  and  in  the  “mysteries”  or  dramatic  represen¬ 
tations  of  the  church,  Satan  was  symbolized  by  an  image  of  a  dragon 
spitting  fire.  The  author  of  the  apocalypse  seems  to  allude  to  mythic 
fire-breathing  images  in  the  following  passage.  “  If  any  man  will  hurt 
them,  fire  proceedeth  out  of  their  mouths  and  devoureth  their  enemies.”  a 

The  universal  custom  of  exhibiting  figures  of  dragons  in  ecclesias¬ 
tical  and  civic  pomps  was  a  mythic  relic — a  practice  continued  from 
times  when  captured  idols  and  warring  Eolipiles  were  led  in  triumph. 
Then,  objects  of  superstitious  dread,  they  now  amused  spectators  :  at 
the  coronation  of  Anne  Bulleyn,  a  “  foyste  ”  or  galley  preceded  the 
lord  mayor’s  barge ;  “  in  which  foyste  was  a  great  red  dragon,  continu¬ 
ally  moving  and  casting  forth  wild  fire  :  and  round  about  the  said  foyste 
stood  terrible,  monstrous  and  wilde  men,  casting  fire  and  making  a  hide¬ 
ous  noise.”  If  the  truth  could  be  known,  there  would  be  found  little  dif¬ 
ference  between  this  modern  monster  and  some  of  its  ancient  namesakes. 

No  chimerical  being  was  ever  so  celebrated  as  the  dragon.  To  it 
temples  were  dedicated,  of  which  some  remained  in  classical  eras.  The 
practice  is  continued  in  China.  Of  an  official  dignitary  it  is  said,  ere  he 
entered  on  the  duties  of  his  office  (at  Canton,)  he  one  morning  paid  his 
devotions  at  eight  temples,  of  which  one  was  consecrated  to  the  god  of 
fire,  another  to  the  god  of  wind,  and  a  third  to  the  dragon  or  dragon- 
king.  “The  festival  of  the  dragon-boats”  is  another  relic  of  times  when 
these  artificial  monsters  were  in  vogue.  [ Chinese  Rep.  iii.  95,  47.]  The 
legends  of  China  and  Japan  teem  with  dragon  allegories  and  apologues. 
The  figure  is  an  imperial  emblem,  and  as  such  is  wrought  on  robes, 
painted  on  poi'celain,  carved  on  dwellings,  ships,  furniture  and  other 


a  In  Scandinavian  and  ancient  British  history,  and  throughout  northern  Asia  and 
Europe,  the  dragon  was  'he  universal  minister  of  vengeance.  It  was  eventually  made 
typical  of  all  destructive  agents — of  water  as  well  as  fire.  It  became  a  symbol  of  the 
deluge,  on  which  account  figures  of  it  pouring  water  from  the  mouth  were  adopted  in 
ancient  fountains.  Some  of  these  have  been  noticed  in  this  volume.  May  not  St. 
John  have  had  one  in  view  when  he  wrote  “  And  the  dragon  cast  out  of  his  mouth 
water  as  a  flood.”  [Rev.  xii.  13-27.] 


599 


Dragons  with  many  Heads.— Dedicated  to  Minerva. 

wwks  of  art.  No  people  retain  so  many  characteristics  of  times  when 
Eolipilic  monsters  flourished.  They  act  on  the  same  principle  as  old 
warriors  did,  by  trying  to  frighten  their  enemies  with  warlike  scare¬ 
crows,  with  pompous  orders — assuming  the  language  of  gods  and  ad¬ 
dressing  other  people  as  devils,  dogs  and  reptiles.  Their  taste  for  the 
horrible  extends  to  civil  life;  things  of  the  wildest  forms  which  imagi¬ 
nation  can  furnish  or  nature  reveal  are  most  highly  prized. 

As  a  guardian  of  temples,  sacred  groves  and  treasures,  the  celebrity 
of  the  diagon  has  continued  to  present  times.  Enforcing  a  principle  in 
ancient  ethics,  it  kept  the  ignorant  honest  by  frightening  them.  But  when 
it  lost  this  magic  power,  and  enchanted  chambers  could  no  longer  be 
relied  on,  eastern  monarchs  sought  out  natural  monsters  to  guard  their 
precious  stones  and  living  jewels.  Deformed  negroes;  the  most  hideous 

of  natui  e  s  abortions,  are  now  the  sentinels  of  eastern  treasuries  and 
seraglios. 

Mythic  dragons  had  commonly  a  multiplicity  of  heads.  This  was  in 
keeping  with  their  design  and  with  the  taste  of  the  times.  Each  dddi- 
tional  member  adding  horror  to  their  appearance  and  furnishing  in  the 
mouth  and  eyes  additional  orifices  for  the  issuing  flames;  like  fire-en¬ 
gines  that  eject  several  streams.  The  device  is  very  analagous  to  others 
common  in  old  war-engines.  The  idea  was  adopted  by  the°author  of  the 
most  figurative  book  of  the  Scriptures.  He  speaks  of  “  a  great  red  dra¬ 
gon  with  seven  heads  and  ten  horns.”  The  figure  No.  288  it  will  be 
seen  has  one  horn.  Most  of  the  idols  of  the  Hindoos,  and  of  the  orientals 
generally,  have  numerous  heads,  and  some  have  horns.  By  dragons  in 
the  Bible,  crocodiles,  or  large  serpents,  are  commonly  intended,  but 
chimerical  or  mythic  beings  are  obviously  intended  in  such  passages  as 
the  one  above  quoted.  r 

Another  characteristic  in  dragon  biography,  attributed  to  rather  mo¬ 
dern  individuals,  was  an  undoubted  trait  in  the  patriarchs  of  the  species. 
When  one  was  overcome  without  being  demolished,  it  was  generally  led 
in  triumph,  in  the  manner  of  Theseus  showing  off  the  Marathonian  bull 
in  the  streets  of  Athens — or  of  Saint  Romain  leading  with  his  stole  a 
fieice  diagon  to  the  market-place  at  Rouen — the  victor  receiving  the  con¬ 
gratulations  of  his  countrymen  on  his  prowess,  and  the  prisoner  behav¬ 
ing  the  while,  as  well  behaved  prisoners  should — i.  e.  silently  submit¬ 
ting  to  the  will  of  the  captors.  Suppose  the  dragon  figured  at  No.  289, 
exhausted  of  its  contents,  (in  battle  it  would  often  require  fresh  charging,) 
its  movements  put  a  stop  to,  and  in  that  condition  captured  ;  what  fol¬ 
lows,  but  that  the  victors  put  one  end  of  a  rope  round  its  neck  and  the 
other  in  their  hands;  and  have  we  not  then  a  perfect  representation  of  a 
fiery  monster  becoming  harmless  as  a  lamb  and  tamely  submitting  to  be 
led  about,  as  ancient  chronicles  have  it,  “  like  a  meke  beaste  and  de- 
bonayre.” 

But  the  dragon  was  dedicated  to  Minerva;  and  to  whom  else  could 
it  have  been  so  appropriately  devoted  1  One  might  almost  fancy  she 
mounted  this  popular  form  of  the  Eolipile  on  her  cap  as  a  compliment 
to  old  artists.  Certainly  if  the  patroness  of  the  useful  arts  had  now  to 
select  an  expressive  symbol  of  her  best  gift  to  mortals,  she  would  adopt 
the  same  thing  in  its  modern  shape — a  miniature  engine  and  boiler. 
This  she  would  consider,  like  Worcester,  her  “  crowning”  device.  But 
it  is  perhaps  said,  the  ornament  on  her  crest  was  an  emblem  of  war. 
Well,  was  not  that  the  chief  use  to  which  Eolipilic  dragons  were  put  ? 
Then  was  she  not  so  familiar  with  artificial  lightning  and  thunder  as  tc 


600 


Analogies  between  ancient  and  modern  Eolipiles. 


nave  rivalled  her  father  in  hurling  them  at  will  on  her  foes.  She  took 
part  in  the  wars  of  the  giants,  and  destroyed  not  the  least  of  the  kindred 
of  Typhon  herself.  Another  circumstance  indicative  of  her  acquaintance 
with  Eolipilic  contrivances  is  the  fact,  (noticed  on  a  previous  page,)  of 
her  image  at  Troy  having  the  faculty  of  sending  flames  from  its  eyes. 

It  were  easy  thus  to  proceed  and  point  out  the  artificial  character  of 
most  of  the  imaginary  monsters  of  antiquity — to  render  in  a  high  degree 
probable,  that,  like  acknowledged  androidal  and  automatal  productions 
of  Vulcan,  Daedalus,  Icarus,  Perillus,  and  other  artists  named  by  Pliny  in 
his  34th  Book,  they  were  originally  mechanical,  pyrotechnical  or  eolipilic 
images ;  sometimes  combining  two  or  more  and  occasionally  other  ele¬ 
ments  in  their  functions  and  movements  ;  that  the  faculty  of  locomotion 
attributed  to  some  accorded  not  only  with  applications  of  modern  me¬ 
chanism,  but  with  avowed  artificial  contrivances  of  ancient  artists,  and 
that  their  material  natures  were,  in  after  times,  construed  into  the  ideal, 
either  from  ignorance  or  by  the  imagination  of  poets — but  this  is  unne¬ 
cessary.  Enough  has  been  said  to  induce  the  reader  to  pursue  the  sub¬ 
ject,  or  to  reject  the  hypothesis  as  untenable.  The  antiquity  of  Eolipiles 
is  unquestionable.  Their  origin  is  lost  in  remote  time.  We  know  they 
were  made  in  fantastic  and  frightful  forms,  were  used  as  idols,  designed 
to  spout  fluids  and  eject  fire — the  very  attributes  ascribed  to  mythic 
monsters.  Is  it  unreasonable  then  to  suppose  the  latter  had  no  existence 
except  as  Eolipiles  1  But  if  it  be  contended  they  were  wholly  figurative, 
from  what  were  the  conceptions  derived,  if  Eolipiles  were  not  the  things 
they  symbolized  ;  and  how  account  for  coincidences  which  nothing  else 
in  nature  or  in  art  can  produce  ?  One  observation  more,  and  we 
conclude  : — 

Early  applications  of  Eolipiles  and  their  present  employment  as  steam 
boilers,  suggest  some  interesting  analogies.  Emblems  of  half  civilized 
times  and  races,  they  connect  the  remote  past  with  the  present.  Ordain¬ 
ed  as  it  were  to  move  in  advance  of  the  arts  and  astonish  mankind,  they 
have  lost  none  of  their  virtue.  If  their  ancient  vagaries  shook  commu¬ 
nities  with  alarm,  their  current  deeds  are  eliciting  the  world’s  admira¬ 
tion.  They  furnished  tradition  with  marvellous  stories,  and  modern  his- 
tory  is  engaged  in  recording  their  wonders.  They  supplied  materials  for 
the  earliest  and  worst  chapters  in  the.  earth’s  annals  ;  to  them  and  their 
effects  will  be  devoted  some  of  the  latest  and  best.  Formerly  they  feebly 
personated  Gods  ;  now,  the  sole  animators  of  our  grand  motive  engines, 
they  annihilate  time  and  space  by  their  movements  and  laugh  at  all  phy¬ 
sical  resistance.  Children  watch  their  operations  with  ecstacy  and  old 
men  hardly  believe  what  they  see.  Once  an  instrument  of  the  worst 
of  tyrannies,  the  Eolipile  is  becoming  the  most  effectual  agent  in  the  ex¬ 
tinction  of  tyrants.  Instead  of  acting,  as  of  yore,  on  human  fears  ;  debasing 
the  mind  and  furthering  the  views  of  oppressors,  it  captivates  the  judg¬ 
ment  of  the  wisest,  elevates  nations  in  morals,  and  confers  on  them 
wealth  and  extended  domain.  The  gem  of  old  miracle-mongers,  it  is  the 
6taple  device  of  living  magicians,  for  its  present  improvers  and  users  are 
the  genuine  representatives  of  Pharaonic  Savans  and  mythologic  Magi. 

New-York,  July,  1845. 

THE  END. 


INDEX 


Abacus,  430 

Achelou.  and  Hercules,  fable  of  explained, 

Adam,  traditions  of,  12 
Adventures  of  a  bottle,  47S 
-Sschylus,  singular  death  of,  365 

A 240 ,° 278^  3° ^ d ?  ^  ^  H7’  126>  15l»  2'9’ 
Agriculture,  79,  118.  Implements  of,  12, 132 
Air,  its  properties,  176 — 186.  Ancient  expe- 

riments  on,  192.  Rarefaction  by  heat,  374 _ 

3S0.  Liquids  raised  by  currents  of,  224-5 
447, 473  ’ 

Air-barometer,  188,  375 

- beds,  177.  Guns,  181,  192,  270,  425 

— -  chambers  to  pumps,  265,  269,  270,  306, 
307,  326,  337,  338,  371  ’  » 

- machines,  &A— 380,  447,  473 

—  pumps,  179,  180,  190,  403,426 
Air  and  steam,  their  supposed  identity,  395 — 
400,  41 S,  420,  421,572 

Ajutages,  conical,  effect  of,  479,  480,  486— 
488,  490 — 496 
Albertus,  104 
Alchemists,  395,  407,408 
Alcithae;  taken  off  by  priests,  385 
Alcoholic  engines,  441,  472 
Aleppo,  water-wheels  at,  115 
Alexandria,  library  at,  415.  Wells  at,  54,  55 
Alfred  the  Great,  measured  time  by  candles, 
350  ’ 


Algerines,  their  superstitions,  36 
Altars,  107.  Tricks  at,  383—385 
Alum,  used  to  make  wood  incombustible,  304 
America,  ancient  arts  in,  159 — 172 
American  water- works,  298 — 301.  Fire-en¬ 
gines,  339— 34S.  Wells,  50,  160,  164,  298 
Amontons,  his  fire-mill,  463 
Androids  and  automata,  104,  183,  294,  534, 
568,  573 

Anecdotes,  of  Mahomet,  10.  Dentatus,  19. 
Darius,  22.  Egyptian  priests,  22.  Two 
elephants,  39.  A  boy  and  goose  39.  Alex¬ 
ander,  39.  A  caliph,  42.  Cleanthes,  56. 
An  ass,  74.  An  Indian  Cacique,  107.  Ctesi- 
bius,  121, 122.  Valentinian,  196.  A  raven, 
203.  A  Spanish  pump-maker,  224.  A 
Basha,  316.  A  Dutch  Burgher,  366.  Lord 
Bacon,  375.  Marquis  of  Worcester,  392. 
Zeno.  393.  Cromwell,  442.  Savery,  454. 
Phocion,  537,  565.  Oxen,  573 
Angelo,  M.  534 


Anglo-Saxons,  worshiped  wells,  36.  Homily, 
ibid.  Buckets,  67.  Mirrors,  121.  Swape, 
99.  Windlass,  72.  Steam  idols,  398 
Animals,  employed  to  raise  water,  74,  117 
573.  Devices  of,  365.  Their  physiology 
illustrated,  180, 181,  209,  210,256—258 
Anthemius  and  Zeno,  393 
Antipater,  282 
Antlia  of  the  Greeks,  213 
Anvil,  blacksmith’s,  12,  43,  240,  241 
Aquarius,  85 
Arabs,  41 

Arago,  145,411,  433 
Archimedes,  141,  360,  438 
Archytas,  7, 268 
Argand’s  siphon,  525 
Arkwright,  359 

AS3S,’232ef282their  °riSin’  &C'  2’  6>  12’  81 » 

Artificial  hands  and  feet,  4 

Atabalipa,  169 

Astronomy,  85 

Aqueducts,  165—169,212 

Auto  da  Fe,  351 

Awls,  87, 489 

Atmosphere,  its  properties,  176—189.  Dis¬ 
covery  of  its  pressure,  187,  425,  426.  Its 
pressure  diminished  during  storms,  481. 
By  currents  of  air,  482-8.  By  currents  of 
steam,  489 — 496.  By  currents  of  water, 
479 

Atmospheric  pumps,  173,  175,  187—191,206 
—230 

— — - sprinkling  pots,  194,  195,  567, 


Babylon,  79.  Hydraulic  engine  at,  133,  303 
Bacchus,  tricks  at  his  temples,  200,  385 
Bacon,  Roger,  403 

-  Lord,  416-17,  550 

Balls  supported  on  jets  of  air,  steam,  and 
water,  270,  395 

Barbers,  121,  162.  See  preface. 

Barometer,  190,  375,  481 
Basket,  swinging,  for  raising  water,  85, 86 
Bate,  John,  321,  375,421, 565,  568,  669 
Baths,  120,  147,  169,  393,  552,  558 
Bears  employed  in  tread-wheels,  74 
Beer,  87 
Bees,  257, 276 

Beds,  air  and  water.  177, 178.  Bedcloths,  178 
Bedsteads,  87, 178,  Drazen  feet.  See  preface 


602 


INDEX. 


Bel  and  the  Dragon,  519 
Bellona,  308 

Bells  used  as  fire-engines,  313, 314.  Bellmen, 
315 

Bellows,  87,  90,  177,  180,  232—243,261,268, 
483.  Origin  of  the  word,  570.  Vulcan’s 
233,240,  268,  568.  African,  235,  246,252. 
Asiatic,  236.  Egyptian,  237,238.  Mada¬ 
gascar,  246,252.  Lantern,  240, 241.  Rotary, 
252, 255 

- piston,  244 — 252.  Philosophical, 

396,  397,  569,  570 

- pumps,  205,  210,  235,  241,  243, 568 

Belt,  hydraulic,  137 
Belzoni,  124 
Berenice’s  hair,  143 

Besson’s  Theatre,  quoted,  69,  114,  126,  152, 
218,280,317,410 
Bethlehem,  well  at,  48 
Bible  quoted  or  illustrated,  2,  10,  11,  19,  22, 
24,  26,  30, 31 , 33,  35, 38, 40, 44, 51 , 52,  84,  S7, 
90, 95,  117,  132,  195, 292,  283,  291,  303,  366, 
391,  393,  400,  476,  517,  536,  560,  565,  571 
Birmah,  raising  water  in,  73 
Blacksmiths,  Adam  one,  12.  Vulcan,  240. 

Grecian,  241.  See  preface. 

Blakey, 462 

Blood,  circulation  of,  132,257 
Blow-pipes,  19,  234,  569.  Eolipilic,  569 
Blowing  tubes,  Ewbank’s,  484 — 496 

- siphons,  Ewbank’s,  527,  528 

Boa  Constrictor,  180 

Boats,  steam  and  others,  258,  403, 419,  423, 
438 

Boilers,  ofwood  and  of  granite,  470.  Heated 
by  the  sun,  471 

- ancient,  392,  393, 522.  Of  coiled  tubes, 

394 

Branca,  418 

Buckets,  32,52,  54,  63,  73,  83,  167,  171,  302, 
314,  315,340,341.  War  caused  by  one,  67, 
Ancient  metallic  ones,  230 
Bucket  engines,  64 — 66,  128.  Ancient,  573 
Burckhardt  at  Petra,  42.  At  Hamath,  116 

C 

Calabash,  14, 16 
Cambyses,  377 

Camera  Obscura,  379,  403,  430 
Candles,  time  measured  by,  350 
Canne  hydraulique,  372,  373 
Canopus,  origin  of  these  vessels,  23 
Capillary  attraction,  510,  513 
Cardan,  396,  407,  410 
Carpenter’s  tools  and  work,  87 
Carthagenian  wells,  27,  38 
Cast  iron,  268,  553 
Cato  the  Censor,  536 

Cauldrons,  19—21,  120,  162,  171,  237,  238, 
391,394  ' 

Caus.  See  Decaus. 

Cawley ,-464,  468 
Cecil’s  motive  engine,  473 
Cement,  58 

Centrifugal  pumps,  229,  230,  290, 291 
Chains,  golden,  162.  Watch,  323 
Chain  of  pots  machine,  122 — 132 
Chain-pumps,  148—158,  567.  In  ships,  154— 
157,  567  y 

Chain  and  sector,  467 
Chairs,  imprisoning,  29,  573.  Cane,  323 
Chemists’  siphons,  526 
Chemnitz  pressure  engine,  362 
Child’s  rattle,  inventor  of,  268 
Chili,  aqueducts  in,  165 
Chimneys  increasing  the  draft  of,  395,  482. 
483.  4SS 


Chinese  tinker,  20, 248.  Juggler,  199.  Wells, 
28,  30,  35,  S3.  Proverbs,  30,  31.  Printing, 
Windlass,  &c.  69,  70.  Irrigation,  82,  83, 
86.  Noria,  112.  Chain-pump,  150.  Ships, 
158.  Bellows,  248.  Digesters,  393.  Clocks, 
545 

Chisels  of  gold,  and  faced  with  iron,  5 

Chuck,  eccentric,  285 

Churches,  fountains  in,  recommended,  540 

Circulation  of  the  blood,  132,  257 

Cisterns,  48,  58,  169,  170,  557 

Cistern  pole,  57 

Cleauthes,  56 

Clepsydrae,  95,  542 — 7 

Clocks  and  watches,  122,  285, 323.  Substi¬ 
tutes  for,  350 
Clysters,  260 

Coach  with  portable  kitchen,  445 
Coal-pits,  raising  water  from,  by  fire,  419 
Cocks,  of  gold,  silver,  &c.  170,  559,  560. 
Three  and  four  way,  354,  355, 421 ,  433, 449, 
462,  523.  Ancient,  394,  557,  559.  Guage, 
459.  Siphon,  527.  Sliding,  561 
Coffins  of  iron  and  lead,  551 
Cog-wheels,  71,  72,  114,  121.  Engine  for 
cutting  teeth,  323 
Cohesion  of  liquids,  513,  515 
Coining,  Roman  mode  of,  6 
Combs,  87.  See  preface. 

Condensation  of  steam  by  injection  discovered 
by  chance,  466 
Conon,  143 

Constantinople,  water-works  at,  43,  553.  An¬ 
cient  baths  at,  552.  Fire-engines  at,  316 
Constellations,  143 
Cooking  by  steam,  471 
Cord  and  bucket  for  raising  water,  53 — 56 
Cornucopia,  119,  120 
Cortez,  159 — 163 
Coryatt,  78 
Cotton  gin,  359 
Coupling  screws,  326,  459 
Couvre  feu,  350 

Crassus,  bad  practice  of  his,  311 
Crates,  saying  of  his  about  war,  309 
Creusa,  383 

Crucibles,  Egyptian,  87,  234  ^ 

Crusaders,  32,  372 
_  Cupelo  furnaces,  397 
*  Cupping,  202,  203 
Curfew  bell,  350 

Ctesibius,  121,  122,  192,213,259,  26&-270, 
547 

D 

Daedalus,  inventions  ascribed  to  him,  268 
Damasking  linen,  323 
Danaus,  carried  pumps  to  Greece,  130 
Darius,  anecdote  of,  22 
Decaus,  319,  380,  410—13,  529,  533 
Delphic  oracle,  241,  392 
Democritus,  saying  of  his,  57 
Demons,  superstitions  respecting,  31 3,4S2, 521 
Demosthenes,  his  father  a  cutler,  6 
De  Moura’s  steam-engine,  463 
Dentatus,  aneodote  of,  19 
Desaguliers,  his  bucket-engines,  63,  66.  Re¬ 
marks  on  Savery,460.  Steam-engine,  461 
§42 

Digesters,  392,  393,  446,  447 
Discoveries  in  the  arts,  way  to  make,  359 
Diogenes,  buried  heels  up,  36 
Distaff  and  spindle,  283 
Distilling,  381,  393,  407 
Divination,  by  water,  34,  36.  With  cups,  200, 
201.  With  fire,  383,571.  Steam,  392,  399 
Diving  ships  and  apparatus,  430,  431 
Dogs  in  tread  wheels,  74,  75 


INDEX. 


G03 


Dolls.  87,  268 

Doors  and  gates,  self-moving,  384,  555,556 
Dove-tailing,  87,  268 
Dowry  of  Scipio’s  daughter,  121 
Drawing  water,  imposed  as  a  punishment,  84, 
131,533 

Drebble,  C.  188,  323,  381,  430 
Drinking  vessels,  4,  11,  14 — 16,  162,  195,  205, 
520—2 

Drops  of  liquid,  511 
Dropping  tubes,  199 

Dunstan,  St.  104,  105.  Adroit  trick  of  his, 
107 

Dutch  scoop,  93.  Fire-engines  and  hose,  328, 
329.  Inventions.  See  preface. 

Dwellings,  heated  by  steam,  471.  Fountains 
in,  recommended,  361,  540 

E 

Ear-trumpets,  379,573 
Ecclesiastes,  a  fine  passage  in,  illustrated, 
132 

Ecclesiastics,  devices  of,  103 — 108,  3S3 — 3S7, 
392,  398—400 

Eddystone  light-house,  25S,  366,  367 
Egypt,  labor  of,  what  it  was,  S6 
Egyptian  wells,  26 — 28.  Customs,  34,  78, 
81,  83,  87.  Noria,  113.  Shadoof,  94,  95. 
Mental,  85.  Chain  of  pots,  123, 131.  Screw, 
142.  Siphons,  516.  Clepsydra,  544,  547. 
Goldsmiths.  234.  Fire-engine,  307 
Emblematic  devices,  32,  194,  203,  261,  314, 
557 

Endosmosis,  510 
Engines  of  motion,  419,  423 
Engines  to  extinguish  fires,  of  great  antiquity, 
303.  Employed  in  ancient  wars,  303,  305. 
Referred  to  by  Apollodorus,  235,  304.  Des¬ 
cribed  and  figured  by  Heron,  305.  Portable 
engines,  311.  Syringe  engine,  315,317,321. 
German,  318,  319,  324,  331.  English,  320, 
321,  322,  332—335,  568.  French,  324,  325, 
327,329,336.  Dutch,  328, 331.  American, 
339,  344,  345.  Rotary,  285,  573.  Steam 
fire-engines,  338,  346 — 349 
English,  inventions  of,  323.  See  preface. 
Water-works.  294 — 296  Fire-engines,  320, 
332 — 335.  Steam-engines,  420,  437,  455, 
465 

Eolian  harp,  104 

Eolipiles,  an  emblematic  device,  261.  From 
Heron’s  Spiritalia,  394.  For  blowing  fires, 
395 — 400,  573.  Increasing  draft  of  chim¬ 
neys,  395,  401.  Diffusing  perfumes,  401. 
Producing  music,  401.  Fusing  metals,  397, 
569,  570.  In  the  human  form,  398,  399. 
Used  in  war,  400.  Charging,  395,  407,  570 
Eolipilic  idols,  398,  400,  570 
Eolus,  god  of  winds,  400 
Ephesus,  fountains  at,  49 
Epigrams,  ancient,  282,  537 
Erckers,  blowing  eolipiles  from,  307,  570 
Evans,  Oliver,  424 

Evaporation  of  water  from  the  earth,  506 
Ewbank’s  experiments  on  raising  water,  225. 
Mode  of  propelling  vessels,  406.  Blowing 
tubes,  484 — 496.  Spouting  tubes,  497 — 
504.  Mode  of  evaporating  liquids  in  vacuo, 
495.  Experiments  on  the  force  of  sap,  509. 
Increasing  the  draft  of  chimneys,  488.  Ven- 
LLating  ships  and  mines,  488.  Siphons,  527, 
528.  Siphon  cocks,  527.  Tubular  valve, 
556.  Sliding  cocks,  560, 561.  Tinned  leaden 
pipes,  555 

Explosion  of  boilers,  392 

Explosive  motive  engines,  441,  450,  471 — 473 


F 

Faye’s  La,  improved  tympanum,  111 
Feast  of  Cana,  siphons  used  at,  517 
Females,  employment  of  ancient,  283 
Fetters,  Lacedemonians  bound  with  their  own, 
84.  Found  on  skeletons  in  Pompeii,  29 
Fire,  modes  of  obtaining  it,  197.  Sacred,  196, 
197.  Superstitions  respecting,  312 — 314. 
Protecting  buildings  from,  304,  349.  Greek 
fire,  307.  Laws  respecting,  351.  Raising 
water  by,  374—384,  418,  419,  431,  442. 
Kindling  on  altars,  383,  384 
Fire-escapes,  350 
Fire-engines,  302 — 349,  573 
Firemen,  Roman,  309.  American,  340—345 
Fire-places,  483 

Fish,  fishing,  86,  87,  185.  Nets,  550.  Salt¬ 
ing  fish,  86 
Fitch,  John,  424 

Flatterers,  among  men  of  science,  143,  145 
Flies,  curious  mechanism  of,  182,  1S3 
Flying,  103,  104,  324,  430 
Fly-wheels,  278,  283 
Floats  for  steam-boilers,  471 
Fludd,  Robert,  65,  194,  219,  354,  407 
Forcing  pumps,  262 

Forks  derived  from  China,  70.  Their  use  in 
Europe,  76 — 78 

Fortification,  a  moveable  one,  430 
Fortune,  wheel  of,  119 
Fountains,  27,33,  34,  35,  41,  43,  49,  119,  163, 
170.  Artificial,  30,  361,  379,  445,  532—541 
Fountain  lamps,  &c.  193 
Forcing  pumps,  262 — 281 
Francini’s  bucket  machine,  128 
Francois’  steam  machine,  463 
French  inventions.  See  preface.  Water¬ 
works,  277,  296—298.  Fire-engines,  317, 
324—331,  336 

Frictionless  pumps,  208,  209,  321,  274,  568. 
See  bellows  pumps. 

Frogs,  climb  by  atmospheric  pressure,  183 
Fuel,  in  steam  idols,  400.  Lord  Bacon  on 
417 

Fulton,  Robert,  359,  464 

Fusee,  71.  Fusee  windlass,  69 — 71 

Future  happiness,  erroneous  views  of,  508 

G 

Gaining  and  losing  buckets, 64— 66,  128 
Galileo,  104,  187,  188 
Games,  ancient,  81 
Garcilasso,  167,  170,  509 
Gardens,  Egyptian,  101.  Babylonian,  134. 
Mexican,  163,  537.  Peruvian,  171.  Ro¬ 
man,  536.  Italian,  537.  Persian,  539,  573 
Floating,  539 

Garden  watering  pots,  194,  195,  567,  573. 
Garden  syringes,  261 

Gates  and  doors,  closed  by  machinery,  556 
Gauls,  36.  Induced  to  invade  Rome  by  the 
report  of  a  smith,  19 
Geese,  in  tread  wheels,  75 
Genevieve,  St.  37 
Gensanne’s  engine,  463 
Gerbert,  104.  401 

German  snail,  138.  Bellows  pump,  207.  Fire- 
engines,  31 9,  323 — 326.  German  inventions. 
See  preface. 

Gesner,  381 
Geysers,  411,  507 

Glass,  painting  on,  4.  Engine  for  working, 
323.  Mirrors,  121.  Glass  tomb  of  Belus, 

'  200 

Glass  tubes,  curious  motion  of,  429 
Glazier’s  vise,  antiquity  of,  554 


604 


INDEX. 


Glauber,  device  of  his,  440.  Safety  valves 
used  uy  him,  451.  Wooden  boilers,  470 
Glue,  ancient,  87, 

Gnat,  the,  a  boat  builder,  258 
Goats  employed  in  tread  wheels,  152.  Battles 
between,  366 

Goblets  for  unwelcome  guests,  521.  Magical, 
520 

Gold-beating,  87 

Golden  legend,  extract  from,  313,  314 
Goose-neck  joint,  307,  322,  327,  573.  Substi¬ 
tute  for,  324 — 326 
Gosset’s  frictionless  pump,  208 
Goths  employed  bears  in  tread  wheels,  74 
Gravity,  suspension  of  objects  against,  142 
Greece,  wells  in,  27,  36.  Antiquities  found 
in  them,  50.  Water  raised  from  them  by 
the  swape,  96 
Greeks,  268 

Green-houses  heated  by  steam,  471 
Guage  cocks,  459 
Guage,  mercurial,  451 
Guerricke,  Otto,  181, 190,  426 
Gulf  stream,  477,  478 

Guns,  repeating,  430.  Air,  181 ,  192,  270, 379, 
573.  Steam,  395,  423,  573 
Gunpowder,  143,  3S3.  Known  to  Roger 
Bacon,  403.  Engines  moved  by,  441,  450, 
4.72 

Gutters,  for  raising  water,  88,  91,  92.  Spouts 
of,  ornamented,  119 

H 

Hair,  coloring  it  practised  of  old,  120.  Bere¬ 
nice’s  hair,  143.  Pulling  up  trees  by  one  of 
Sampson’s  hairs,  418 
Hamath,  water- works  at,  115,  116 
Hammer,  its  origin  and  history,  5,  6 
Hand,  used  as  a  cup,  11,  40,  52.  Artificial 
hand, 4 

Haskin’s  quicksilver  pump,  274  2f5 
Hautefills,  441 
Heart,  the,  a  pump,  258 
Hegisostratus,  wooden  foot  of,  4 
Helepoles,  304 

Heliopolis,  fountain  at,  43,  49 
Heliogabalus.  177,  561 
Heraldic  devices,  261,  314,  396 
Herculaneum,  wells  at,  28,  29, 55;  Fountains 
at,  534 

Here  ward,  the  Saxon,  36 
Herodotus,  quoted,  4,  11,  12,  20,  22,  27,  5S, 
79,  SO,  81,  84,  96,  133,  241,  260 
Heroes,  old  mechanics  the  true,  5 
Heron,  65.  His  fountain,  361.  Air-machines, 
378.  Account  of  his  Spiritalia,  385,  386. 
Eolipilcs  from,  394 
Hieroglyphics,  American,  164 
Hindoos,  their  mode  of  drinking,  11.  Wells, 
30,  33,  35,  38,  52.  Carrying  water,  84. 
Picotah,  97.  Swinging  basket,  85.  Jantu, 
89,90.  Syringes,  260,  261.  Water-clocks, 
544 

Hire  La,  his  double  acting  pump,  271 
Holy  water,  derived  from  the  heathen,  166, 
196,  386.  Ancient  vase  for  selling  it,  387. 
Used  in  consecrating  bells,  313,  314,  and 
various  other  articles,  196 
Homer,  quoted,  19,  21,22,  33,233,  240,  250, 
536.  Kept  a  school  at  Scio,  131 
Honors,  titles  of,  absurd  origin  of  some,  144, 
145,  445,  446 
Hookah, 270 
Hooke,  Dr.  441 
Horn  of  abundance,  119, 120 
Horn,  drinking,  saying  respecting  it,  explain¬ 
ed,  205 


Hour-glasses,  545,  547 
Hose  pipes,  304,  326 — 328,  345 
House  warming,  37 
Hudibras,  265 

Hurricanes,  commence  at  the  leeward,  4S1 
Huyghens,  441 
Hydraulic  belt,  137 
Hydraulic  ram,  367 — 372 
Hydraulic  machines,  ancient,  7,  10,  81,  131 
132 — 135,  267.  Used  as  first  movers  of  ma 
chinery,  128,  140,  158 
Hydrostatic  press,  276 

I 

Idols,  82, 106—108.  Eolipilic,  398, 399, 570— 
572 

Impostures,  23,  106 — 108,  376 — 378.  See 
juggling. 

Imprisoning  chairs,  429,  573 
Incas  of  Peru.  Aqueducts  erected  by  them, 
165—168 

Incendiaries,  308,  350.  Punishment  of,  351 
India  ink,  70 

Indians,  American,  50,  107,  ISO 
Inertia,  373,  503 
Intermitting  springs,  506 
Inventions,  how  realized,  359.  Few  record 
ed,  416.  Cause  of  this,  427.  Advantages 
of  recording  them,  453.  Century  of,  64, 
140,  362,  42S— 438 

Inventors,  old,  concealed  their  discoveries, 
and  why,  427.  Caricatured,  439 
Iodine,  discovery  of,  414 
Iron  cauldrons  soldered,  20.  Iron  statues, 
142.  Planing  iron,  2S3 
Iron  first  cast  in  England,  553 
Irrigation,  2S,  79  ,  80,  83,  84,  95,  118,  119, 
126,  131,  132,  163.  Aquarius,  an  emblem 
of,  119  ' 

Italian  mode  of  raising  water  to  upper  floors 
63.  Fountains,  534,  537 

J 

.Tack,  old  name  of  a  man-servant,  75.  Smoke- 

jack,  ibid. 

Jack  of  Hilton,  a  Saxon  eolipile,  398 
Jacks  of  the  clock,  543 
Jacob’s  well,  38,  42,  44 
Jaculator  fish.  257 
Jantu,  89.  Alluded  to  by  Moses,  90 
Japanese  water-works,  125,  557.  Clocks,  543 
Jehoahaz,  portrait  of  at  Thebes,  116 
Jets  d’eau,  163,  532 — 541 
Jeweled  holes  for  pivots  of  watches,  122,547 
Jews,  their  wells,  25,  33,  34.  Watering  land, 
86.  Their  arts,  133 

Joseph’s  well,  3S,  45 — 47.  Divining  cup,  200 
Josephus,  quoted,  3S,  40,  54 
Juggling,  jugglers,  magicians,  &c.  23,  106 — 
10S,  198—201 , 376—385,  519,  521—523 
Juvenal,  quoted,  19,43,  121,  310,  311,  312, 
377.  Banished,  48 

K 

Kircher,  on  the  speaking  statue  of  Memnon, 
377.  Bellows-pump  from,  243.  Turned  a 
spit  by  an  eolipile,  396.  His  mode  of 
raising  water  by  steam,  422 
Kitchens,  75.  Egyptian,  237, 238,  517 
Kites,  boys’,  422 

Knives  of  gold  and  edged  with  iron,  5.  Port 
able  knives,  205 
Koran,  quoted,  10,  54,  117 

L 

Laban’s  images,  571 
Ladders,  portable,  350,  431 


INDEX. 


605 


Laxes  Moeris  and  Mareotis,  80 
Lamps,  242,  243,  421 

Lantern  bellows,  237 — 240.  Pump,  241,  242 
Lares.  See  Idols. 

Lateral  communication  of  motion,  475 — 4S0 
Laver  of  brass,  557 

Law,  a  bar  to  the  progress  of  the  arts,  427 
Lead,  pigs  of:  leaden  roofs,  coffins,  rolled 
lead,  pipes,  &c.  163,  211,  550 — 554 
Leaden  pipes  tinned,  555 
Leather  pipes,  304,  326 
Lenses,  concave  and  convex,  380,  381 
Leopold’s  Fire-engines,  329 — 331.  Steam- 
engines,  462,  469 
Level,  268 

Library,  in  an  ancient  ship,  147.  Alexandrian, 
destroyed,  415 

Lions’  heads  on  cocks,  gutters,  &c.  119,  557 
Liquor  tasters,  195,  199 
Llama  of  Peru,  257 

Load-stone  for  suspending  an  iron  statue,  &c, 
142 

Lobster’s  tail,  mechanism  of,  258 
Locomotive  carriages,  403,  423,  424,  473. 

Increasing  draft  of  chimneys  of,  397,  488 
London  water- works,  294 — 296,  321, 434,  567 
Looking-glasses,  121 
Lucan,  quoted,  108,  125,  540 
Lustral  vase  and  water,  387 

M 

Macaroni,  kneading.  91 
Machines,  worked  Dy  the  feet,  90,  237 — 239. 
War  machines,  305 

Machines  of  Ctesibius,  122,  192,213,259,266 — 
270,  547 

Madagascar,  bellows  of,  246,  252 
Magic  goblets,  518,  520 
Magnet,  ancient  one,  142 
Mahomedans,  traditions  and  customs  of,  12, 
35,  36 

Mahomet,  10,  54.  His  coffin,  142 
Man,  his  body  a  living  pump,  257.  His  past 
and  future  condition,  38S — 390,  508 
Manco  Capac,  )6S,  172 
Mangle,  Chinese,  90 
Manuscripts,  108 
Mariner’s  compass,  143 
Marli,  water-works  at,  296 — 298 
Mars,  represented,  308 
Martial,  quoted,  521 

Mastodon,  tradition  of,  165.  No  extinct  ani¬ 
mals  of  the  ox  kind  thirty  feet  high,  210 
Mathesius,  410 

Mechanic  powers,  origin  of  some,  1.  Imple¬ 
ments,  5,  6 

Mechanics,  ancient,  little  known  of  them, 
3,  4.  An  account  of  their  works  and  work¬ 
shops  would  have  been  invaluable,  4.  The 
true  heroes  of  old,  4,  5.  Formerly  seated 
when  at  work,  139,  240.  Advantages  of 
studying  the  mechanism  of  animals,  258. 
Old  priests  first-rate  mechanics,  104,  401, 
441 

Mechanism,  revolving,  282 — 284 
Medea,  inventressof  warm  and  vapor  baths, 
120 

Medicines,  quack,  120 
Memnon,  statue  of,  377,  401 
Mercurial  guage  and  safety  valves,  451 
Metals,  hammered  into  plates,  2,  2S3,  551. 
Drawn  into  wire,  2.  And  into  pipes,  554. 
Ancient  works  in,  6,  87,  162, 171,  557.  See 
preface. 

Metallic  mirrors,  121 
Mexicans,  34,  159 — 162 
Mills,  282,  419,  423 


Mines,  ventilation  of,  488.  Raising  water 
from.  See  Agricola ,  Ramseye,Savery,New 
comen ,  Worcester. 

Mirrors.  87,  121,  172 
Moclacn,  a  vizier,  55 

Momentum,  883, 366, 367, 373.  Animals  have 
a  knowledge  of  it,  365 

Monks,  their  ingenuity  and  professions,  104 — 
108,  386 

Montgolfier’s  ram,  369 — 372 
Moon,  Wilkin’s  project  to  reach  it,  103 
Moreland,  Samuel,  his  pump  and  speaking- 
trumpet,  273.  Steam-engine,  441—445 
Morey’s  motive  engine,  473 
Motion,  transmitted  by  air,  448.  Rotary, 
282— 2S4 

Motive  engines,  423,  472 — 474 
Mouth,  various  operations  of,  477 
Musical  machines,  17,  381.  See  Eolipiles, 
Memnon. 

Mythology,  Egyptian,  82—85.  Peruvian,  167 
N 

Naamah,  the  supposed  inventress  of  spinning, 
283 

Nabis,  his  cruelty,  573 
National  vauntings,  402 
Natural  pumps  and  devices  for  raising  liquids, 
209,  210,  256 — 258,  505 — 513 
Neptune,  507 

Nero,  his  golden  house,  539.  Water-clock, 
549 

Nets,  fishing,  86,  87 

New-Amsterdam,  wells  in,  299.  Fires  and 
fire-wardens  in,  339,  340 
New- York,  minutes  of  common  council,  299 
300.  Old  treasury  note,  300.  Fire-engines, 
341—345 

Newcomen  and  Cawley’s  engine,  296,  464 
— 468 

Niagara  falls,  currents  of  air  at,  476 
Nineveh,  well  at,  26,  36 
Noria, Chinese,  1 12.  Egyptian,  1 13.  Spanish, 
114.  Roman,  113.  Syrian  116.  Mexican, 
163 

Nuremburg,  in  the  1 6th  century,  324.  Curious 
report  of  Engineers,  556 

O 

Omar,  logic  of,  415 
Oracle  at  Delphi,  prediction  of,  241 
Organs,  547 — 550 
Organ-makers,  priests,  401 
Oscillation  of  liquids,  497 
Osiris,  82.  Maae  his  own  plough,  83,  132 
Ovid,  quoted,  11,  13,  52,  76,  120 
Oysters,  swallowing,  181.  Their  movements, 
257 

P 

Paddle-wheels,  454.  Their  antiquity,  406. 

Substitutes  for,  291, 406 
Palladium  of  Troy,  12,571 
Panama  chains,  162 

Paper,  Chinese  mill,  90.  Made  by  steam, 
388.  Experiments  with  a  sheet  of,  483. 
Marbling,  323 

Papin,  1.  His  air-gun,  181.  Driven  from 
France  by  religious  persecution,  446.  His 
digesters,  447.  Safety  valve,  447,451.  Air- 
machine,  447 — 450.  Explosive  engine,  450. 
Steam  machines.  450—452 
Parabolic  jambs  of  fire-places,  4S3 
Paris,  water- works  of,  296—298.  Fire-engines, 
327—331,336 

Pascal,  his  experiments  on  atmospheric  pres¬ 
sure,  189 

Patents  and  patentees,  old,  439 


606 


INDEX. 


Paving  cities,  553 

Pedal  for  pounding  rice,  90,  91 

Pegu,  customs  in,  respecting  water,  35 

Pelanaue,  164 

Pendulum  machine  to  raise  water,  92,  93. 
Pendulum  for  watches,  441 
Penelope  and  Ulysses,  283 
Perfumed  fountains,  539,  540 
Perfumes  dispersed  by  eolipiles,  401 
Perpetual  motions,  566,  567 
Peruvians,  their  Asiatic  origin  doubtful,  172. 
Whistling  bottles  of,  17.  Mirrors,  121, 
172.  Wells  and  irrigation,  165 — 167.  Com¬ 
mon  utensils  of  gold,  171.  Ancient  city 
disinterred,  17.  Sucking  tubes,  204.  Not 
ignorant  of  the  bellows,  253 — 256.  Dials, 
542,  547 

Persians,  worshiped  wells,  36.  Ambassadors 
thrown  into  wells,  27.  Raising  water,  96, 
573.  Fountains,  539,  541 
Persian  wheel  for  raising  water,  115 
Peter  Martyr,  quoted,  106,  314 
Pewter  and  pewterers,  162,  260 
Philadelphia,  water-works  of,  300.  Fire-en¬ 
gines,  344 
Phocion,  537,  565 

Piasa,  a  bird  that  devoured  men,  165 
Picotah,  a  machine  to  raise  water,  97 
Pins  and  needles,  87,  121.  First  made  in 
England,  323 

Pipes,  water,  flexible,  25S.  In  Mexico,  163. 
In  Peru,  170,  Asia,  211.  Pompeii,  211, 
552.  Rome,  213,  552.  Of  earthenware, 
58.  Of  leather,  304.  Of  lead,  552,  553. 
Drawn,  554.  Tinned,  555 
Pipkins,  18,  19 

Pistons,  206,  214,  215,  307,  438 
Piston  bellows,  244 — 253 
Piston  and  cylinder,  various  applications  of, 
358,  359,  425 

Piston  ^team-engine,  of  Worcester,  435 — 437. 
Of  Hautefille  and  Huyghens,  441.  Of  Pa¬ 
pin,  450.  Of  Newcomen,  465.  Of  Leopold, 
469 


Plato,  his  views  of  mechanics,  3.  His  musi¬ 
cal  clocks,  543,  548 
Play-bills,  ancient  one,  540 
Pliny  the  elder,  quoted,  9,  15,  19,  35,  43,  68, 
79,  81,  96,  130,  192,  194,  203,  212,  213,  265, 
270,549,551.  His  death,  28 
Pliny  the  younger,  his  letter  to  Trajan,  309. 

Account  of  his  gardens,  536 
Plough,  82,  83,  132.  Engine  for  drawing,  423 
Plutarch,  quoted,  3,  12,  81, 118, 311, 366, 537, 
542,  548 

Poison,  in  wells,  40 

Pompeii,  its  discovery,  29.  Antiquities  found 
in,  29,  30,  43,  55,  211,  552 
Porta,  Baptist,  1,  413.  Quoted,  379,  381 , 430. 
his  Digester,  393.  Raised  water  by  heat, 
379.  By  steam,  407-^-409.  By  a  siphon,  529 
Potter,  a  boy,  who  made  the  steam-engine 
self-acting,  470 

Pressure  engines,  352—362.  Natural,  506 
Prester,  John,  fights  the  Mongals  with  eoli- 
piles,  400 
Printing,  2,  70,  388 
Printers’  devices,  194 

Projectors,  ridiculed  in  a  public  procession, 
439 


Propelling  vessels  on  water.  See  Paddle- 
wheels. 

Pulley,  its  origin,  used  by  the  Egyptians,  59. 

Used  for  raising  water,  58 — 63 
Pumps,  atmospheric :  of  uncertain  origin, 
212.  Mentioned  by  Pliny,  96,  213.  See 
also  21 1 — 230.  Limits  to  which  water  rises 


in,  190,  223.  These  limits  known  to  old 
pump-makers,  191.  Deceptions  with,  224. 
225.  Bag-pump,  209.  Bellows,  do.  205 — 
2J0.  Burr,  do.  214.  Centrifugal,  do.  229, 
230.  German,  do.  138,  207,  218,  219.  Na¬ 
tural,  do.  209, 210.  Liquor,  do.  215.  Spa¬ 
nish,  do.  217,  224 

Plimps,  forcing,  262 — 293.  Common  pump, 
263.  Enema,  263.  Bellows,  241, 257,207, 
568.  Double  acting,  271.  Mercurial,  275. 
Natural,  209, 210, 256 — 258.  Stomach,  264. 
Plunger,  272,  444.  Perkins’  281.  Rotary, 
284 — 291,  373.  Reciprocating  rotary,  292, 
293 

Pumps,  lifting,  277 — 279 
Pusterich,  a  steam  idol,  399 
Pythagoras,  438 

Q 

Quadrant,  the,  invented  by  Godfrey,  143 
Quern,  hand-mill,  282 

Quippus,  historical  cords  of  the  Peruvians, 
168,  172 

R 

Rain  at  Thebes,  a  prodigy,  81 
Rams,  battering,  366.  Siphon  ram,  531.  Wa¬ 
ter  rams,  366 — 372.  Natural  water  rams 
506 

Ramseye,  his  patent  for  raising  water  by  fire, 
419 

Razors,  bronze,  121.  Mexican,  162 
Reciprocating  rotatory  pumps,  292,  293 
Regal,  550 

Religious  persecutions,  446 
Remora,  sucking  fish,  1S5 
Respiration,  475,  477 

Richard  III.  his  coffin,  a  watering  trough,  49 
Riddles,  437 

Rigny,  De,  his  steam  machine,  463 
Rivatz,  a  Swiss  machinist,  462 
Rivaz,  his  motive  engine,  473 
Rivius,  eolipiles  from,  396 
Rocking  machine  for  raising  water,  93 
Rolling  press,  323 

Rome,  invaded  by  the  Gauls  from  the  report 
of  a  smith,  19.  Houses  in,  310 
Roman  wells,  28,34,40,  41,  50.  Chain  of 
pots,  124,  Water  screw,  138.  Fire-engines, 
310,  311.  Firemen,  309.  Fountains,  533, 
539,  540.  Mirrors,  121 
Roode  of  Grace,  an  English  idol,  106 
Rope  pump,  136 
Rotatory  movements,  282 — 284 
Rotatory  pumps,  281 — 291.  Defects  of,  291 
Russia,  pumps  in,  220 


S 

Safety  valves,  3S7,  391,  447,  451 
Sails  of  ships,  268 
Saladin,  47,  372 

Salting  fish,  in  Egypt,  86.  Its  revival  in  Eu* 
rope,  86 

Sanguisuchello,  203 
Sap,  ascent  of,  507 — 509 
Sarbacans,  256 

Sarcophagii,  used  as  watering  troughs,  49,  99 
Sauce  pans,  21 

Savery,  his  experiments  and  engines,  453 — 
460.  His  bellows,  483  ’ 

Saw,  268 

Scipio,  his  baths,  558.  Dowry  of  his  daugh¬ 
ter,  121 

Scoop,  to  raise  water,  93.  Scoop  wheel,  111 
Scots,  worshiped  wells,  37 
Screws  for  raising  water,  137 — 142,  566 
Scythian  tradition,  12 


* 


INDEX. 


607 


Seneca,  quoted,  26,  310,  S94,  558 
Serviere,  his  inventions,  63,  91, 285,  429 
Shadoof,  Egyptian,  94,  95 
Shakespeare,  quoted,  or  illustrated,  195,  350 
401,  534,  535 

Sheet-lead  and  other  metals,  551 
Ships,  steam,  of  Garay,  403.  Of  Ramseye, 
419.  Ventilation  of,  488 
Ship-building,  ancient,  146,  147.  Chinese,  158 
Ship  pumps,  143, 147, 154—157, 214^-217,227, 
567 

Shoes,  ancient,  50.  Motezuma’s,  161 
Shrine  of  Becket,  106 
Siamese  water-clocks,  544 
Sieve,  Tutia  carrying  water  in  one,  198.  The 
trick  explained,  ibid. 

Silk,  watering  of,  323 

Silver  pipes,  cocks  and  cisterns,  170,  557,  560 
Siphons,  192,  193,  212,  268,  514 — 532.  Ca¬ 
pillary,  513.  Natural,  506.  Ram,  531.  Act 
m  vacuo,  515.  Other  devices  so  named, 
212,213,  304,  307,311,  315 
Smoke  jacks,  75 
Smoking  tobacco,  270,  454,  477 
Soap-making,  raising  ley  by  steam,  413,  414. 
Great  sums  expended  on  soap,  ibid.  Soap 
factory  in  Pompeii,  ibid. 

Socrates,  537 

Soldering,  551.  Cast  iron,  20.  Phenomenon 
attending,  512 
Solomon,  cisterns  of,  48 
Souflleur,  504 

Spaniards,  their  conquest  of  America,  159 
Spanish  pump-maker,  anecdote  of,  224.  Spa¬ 
nish  steam-ship,  403 — 406.  Chain  of  pots, 
126.  Bells,  314 

Speaking  tubes,  106,  107.  Trumpets,  273, 
342.  Heads,  106,  108,  377 
Spectacles,  70 
Speculums,  121 
Sphinx,  119,  437 
Spindle,  spinning,  &c.  2S3,  284 
Spiral  pump,'  363 

Spiritalia,  a  work  written  by  Heron,  270,  306, 
312,  376,  3S6,  415,  518—520 
Spouting  tubes,  497 — 504 
Sprinkling  vessels,  atmospheric,  194—196,567 
Spurting  snake,  257 

Statues,  43.  Iron  one  of  Arsinoe,  142.  Of 
Memnon,  377,  401.  Leaden,  535,  550 
Steam,  its  effects,  359,  388 — 391.  Its  me¬ 
chanical  properties,  391,  392,  407.  409. 
Supposed  identity  with  air,  395 — 400,  418 
—421  572 

Steam-boats,  403,  419, 423, 424,  43S 
Steam-boilers  of  coiled  tubes,  394.  Of  wood 
and  granite,  470 

Steam-engines,  284,  359,  425.  Heron’s,  394. 
Garay’s,  404.  Branca’s,  418.  Classification 
of,  425.  Worcester’s,  437.  Moreland’s, 
442 — 444.  Papin’s,  450 — 452.  Savery’s, 
455 — 460.  Other  engines,  462 — 464.  New¬ 
comen’s,  465.  Leopold’s,  469.  Made  self¬ 
acting  by  a  boy,  251,  470 
Steam-guns,  395,  573 
Steam-idols,  395,  398,  399,  570 — 572 
Steam-machinists,  courtiers,  445 
Stings  of  bees,  257 
Stomach  pump,  264 
Stoves,  Chinese,  70.  Fire-places,  483 
Strabo’s  account  of  Memnon,  377 
Stuyvesant,  Peter,  proclamations  by  him, 
339  340 

Suckers, boys’,  181.  Natural,  182, 183, 184,185 
Sucking  tubes,  203, 204.  Sucking  wounds,  202 
Suction,  201, 202 
Sugar  boiling  in  vacuo,  495 


Sulphur  baths,  ancient,  120 
Sun,  raising  water  by  the  heal  of,  378 — 380 
Distilling  by,  381.  Raising  steam  by,  470 
Surgical  instruments,  found  at  Pompeii,  282 
Swape,  94 — 103 
Syene,  well  at,  4S 

Syracuse,  dial  at,  542.  The  name  of  Archi¬ 
medes’  ship,  146 

Syringe,  259 — 261.  An  emblematic  device, 
261.  Used  as  fire-engines,  312,  315 — 317 

T 

Tacitus,  quoted,  214 

Tanks,  water,  83 

Tantalus,  city  of,  98.  Cups,  520 

Tartar  necromancy,  522 

Tenures,  39S 

Teraphim,  571, 572 

Tezcuco,  161.  Supplied  with  water,  163 
Theatres,  fountains  in,  recommended,  540 
Thebes,  a  wonder  at,  81 
Themistocles,  43 
Theodorus,  of  Samos,  5 
Thirst,  modes  of  quenching,  11.  Sufferings 
from,  31,  32 

Tinkers,  Chinese,  20,  24S 
Tlascala,  159.  Its  water-works,  160 
Tobacco  smoking,  270,  454,  477.  Engine  for 
cutting,  323 

Toledo,  old  water-works  at,  294 
Toltecs,  160 

Tools,  5,  S7,  132,  172,  268 
Toothed  wheels,  71.  72,  114, 121 
Tornados,  482 
Torricelli,  187,  188 

Tourne-broche,  75,  76,  565.  Eolipilic,  396, 
398, 429  *  ' 

Towers,  war,  304 
Toys,  87, 268 

Traditions  of  the  Mahomedans  and  Scy¬ 
thians,  12.  Arabs,  95.  Peruvians,  167 
Trajan,  his  directions  respecting  fires,  309 
Traps  for  drains,  562,  563 
Tread-wheels,  73,  74,  76,  116,  117,  152 
Treasury  note,  copy  of  an  old  one,  300 
Trees  of  Australia,  509.  Of  silver,  brass,  &c. 
538 

Trevithick’s  pump,  280 
Tricks.  See  Juggling. 

Triton,  musical,  of  silver,  534 
Trombe,  or  shower  bellows,  476 
Troy,  fountains  at,  49 

Trumpets,  speaking,  273,  342.  Ear,  379, 573 
Tubal  Cain,  his  bellows,  232.  See  Vulcan. 
Turkish  fountains,  31.  Fire-engines,  316 
Tutia,  carrying  water  in  a  sieve,  198,  386 
Tympanum  for  raising  water,  110,  114 
Tyre,  a  well  at,  38.  Glass  mirrors  made  at, 
121 

U 

Union  joints,  326,  459  • 

V 

Vacuum,  B.  Porta  on,  379.  Produced  by 
steam,  407,  489.  In  open  tubes,  482 — 496 
Boiling  sugar  in,  495 
Valentinian,  anecdote  of,  196 
Valves,  232,  235, 268,  307,  555,  556.  Safety, 
387,391,447,451 
Vapor  engines,  441, 472,  473 
Vases,  ancient,  16, 17.  For  lustral  water,  387 
Vauxhall,  engines  at,  434.  Gardens,  445 
Vegetius,  old  translation' of,  177,  207,  21" 
430,  522 
Weneering,  87 

Ventilation  of  mines,  ships,  &c.  488 
Venturi,  experiments  by,  478 — 480 


608 


INDEX, 


Vestals,  195—197,  383 

Virgil,  quoted,  3,  11,  12,  13,  34, 117,  238,  302 
Vision  of  Mahomet,  98 
Vitruvius,  quoted,  9,  34,  109,  113,  117,  124, 
139,  192,  244,  266,  269,  392,  395 
Vulcan,  bellows  of,  232,  239,  240.  Trip  ham¬ 
mers,  568.  Imprisoning  chair,  573 

W 

Wagons,  steam,  423,  424 
Walrus,  climbs  by  atmospheric  pressure,  183 
Wars,  warriors,  3,  308,  359.  See  preface. 
Watches  and  clocks,  71,  122,  323,  350,  441, 
542—547 

Watch  chains,  323 

Water,  its  importance  in  nature  and  the  arts, 
9,  302,  358.  Supposed  identity  with  air, 
395,  418,420,421,572.  Worshiped,  33— 
37,  565.  Penalty  for  stealing,  43.  Fresh 
dipped  from  the  sea,  519 
Water  beds,  178.  Bombs,  349.  Canes,  372. 
Carriers,  S3,  84.  Closets,  561.  Hammer, 
367.  Lute,  451.  Power,  4S0.  Rams,  368 
—371.  Spouts,  477, 510.  Wheels,  125,282, 
56S 

Water- works  .at  Hamath,  116.  In  Japan, 
125.  At  Babylon,  133 — 135.  Of  the  Peru¬ 
vians,  165 — 172.  Mexicans,  160 — 162.  At 
Augsburgh,  Bremen,  Toledo,  Paris,  and 
London,  294,  295,  296.  Old  ones  described, 
438.  In  America,  298.  Roman,  267,  480 
Watt,  145,  258.  See  preface. 

Waves,  366,  367 
Wedge,  268 
Weather-glasses,  375 
Weeping  images,  108 

Wells,  24—49, 52,  71,  241, 565.  Solon’s  laws 
respecting,  27.  Reflections  on,  48.  Venti¬ 
lation  of7  4S8.  Worshiped,  33 — 37,  665. 
Ancieit  American  wells,  50,  160 — 167. 
Their  examination  desirable,  50 
Wheels,  flash,  94.  Other  wheels  to  raise 
water  109 — 116.  Wheel  of  fortune,  11S. 
Scoop  111.  Persian,  115.  Capstan  77. 


Wheels,  tread,  73—76,  116,  117,  152.  Cog, 
71,72,114,121 

Whistles,  in  Peruvian  bottles,  17.  Chaldean 
cups,  201 
Whitney,  Eli,  359 
Whitehurst’s  water  ram,  368 
Wilkins,  Bishop,  quoted.,  103,  104,  39G,  418, 
429—431,566 
Windlass.  6S — 72,  573 
Wind-mills,  125,  139,  151,  158,418,  572 
Wines,  concentration  of,  440.  Mixed,  517. 

Siphons  for  tasting,  195,516,  522 
Wine  flask,  Savery’s  experiment  with,  454 — 
455 

Winifred’s  well,  miracle  at,  37 
Winnowing  machine,  70 
Wire,  ancient,  2,  87,  121,  162,  323.  Mill  for 
drawing,  923 
Wirtz’s  spiral  pump,  363 
Woden’s  well,  35 
Woisard’s  air  machine,  473 
Women,  early  experimenters  on  steam,  391 
Wooden  hams,  70 

Worcester,  Marquis  of,  his  century  of  inven¬ 
tions,  64,  140,  362,  428—440,  539.  His 
steam-boat,  43S.  Steam-engine,  437.  His 
character  and  death,  439 
World,  the,  an  hydraulic  machine,  505 
Wynken  de  Worae,  quoted,  314 

X 

Xerxes,  his  chair,  4.  Sends  a  distaff  to  his 
general,  283 

Y 

Yoke,  83,  117.  Description  of  an  Egyptian 
one,  84 

Yucatan,  ancient  wells  in,  164,  165 
Z 

Zem  Zem,  the  holy  well  of  Mecca,  35,  42 
44,  45 

Zeno,  his  quarrel  with  Anthemius,  393 
Zodiac,  signs  of,  S5 


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